My dad passed away peacefully in his sleep early in the morning of March 13th 2021 at the age of 69 with his wife by his side.
He was born in England. At the age of 1, he moved to Ontario. In Ontario he grew up, went to school and met his wife Donna and started working for Shell. In the 80s he headed west and wound up working for Shell Chemicals helping to transition them into the computer age.
In 2001 he was given the option to transfer (with family in tow) to Texas, England, or Rotterdam and he chose the Rotterdam option and ended up there for 6 years. This allowed him to take the trip to Egypt that he had dreamed since he was a young man fascinated with all things archaeology (he often recalled his time spent one summer on a dig and had the time of his life uncovering old pottery and ruins). The trip was only in Dutch but that didn’t matter to him. My brother and I translated what we could for my parents because we were taking dutch in school and he knew enough to tell us all of the things that we missed translating.
After the stint in Rotterdam they moved back to Calgary for 11 years to enjoy retirement, and then to Lucan Ontario so that they could be near to their children, and he could work on the old japanese motorbikes that he was most passionate about. He even managed to get an exact match of the first bike that he ever rode.
He is survived by his wife Donna of 48 years, his two children Sean [Maaike] and Derek [Hana], his grandson Liam, his brothers Malcolm [Terry] and Stuart [Laura], and predeceased by his mum Elizabeth (2010) and his dad Roy (2014). Ian will also be forever remembered by his numerous aunts, uncles and cousins in Australia, and his dear friends and colleagues.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the heart and stroke foundation.