EARL JOSEPH LOUSIER
March 10, 1924 – February 09, 2011
Earl passed away peacefully in Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre after a short battle with the after-effects of abdominal-aneurism surgery and a massive stroke.
Earl was born and raised in Bowsman, Manitoba and began his career in the forest industry as a young man of sixteen. He followed his Uncle Arthur Durrand to British Columbia in 1941 and found a full-time job in the mill at Penny, British Columbia. He fell in love with the mountains and the scenery in central British Columbia and vowed to never leave. Earl worked in the forest industry in the Vanderhoof – Fort St. James – Prince George area for about 45 years, with the mill at Engen his lasting legacy to the industry. Earl loved working in the bush and building things from the ground up.
Earl and his son, Danny, built an A-frame cottage on a lot on Fraser Lake. Many weekends over many years were spent there enjoying the serenity and beauty of the lake. Earl also had a love of farming and purchased the farm at the junction of Highways 16 and 41. The farm remains in the family today.
Earl’s first love in sports was baseball. He played a great deal while he was a growing boy and spent a number of years coaching Little League baseball and umpiring men’s softball in Vanderhoof. Earl was a big-time fan of the Montréal Canadiens, and a small-time hockey player, volunteering to play goal for the Vanderhoof Bears in 1953-55. Those were championship years for the Bears and, despite the injuries, Earl was very proud of his courage – he had never played goal before. Earl was also an avid curler and was a mainstay at bonspiels in the central interior of the province. He worked hard for the building of the first covered ice rink and the first curling rink in Vanderhoof.
In his later years, Earl was convinced to do a bit of snow-birding to Arizona for a few years and to venture as far away as Europe on a memorable trip. Not one to talk a lot about himself when he was younger, his story-telling abilities grew as he aged and he relished the opportunity to talk about his childhood, his experiences in the forest industry, his brief life in Penny, and the lives of his parents-in-law, Joe and Mary Pastor. He learned to bake and would jump at every chance to bake a pie for any of his grandchildren – Earl’s specialties were banana cream and lemon meringue.
He was pre-deceased by his wife, Theresa (nee Pastor), his parents, Daniel and Violet, his two older brothers, Arthur and Ernest, his younger brother, Donald, and his cherished little sister, Lorraine. He is survived by his first family: son, Daniel Lousier (Bernadette Letchford), Theresa Ann (Clifford Harrison), Bonita (Clifford Fawcett), and Lorraine Lousier (Adam Fisher); eleven grandchildren (Christa, Monique, Marisa, Lia, Carlina, Danelle, Matthew, Kenton, Jared, Delena, and Eric) twelve great-grandchildren (Mayson, Tyreed, Jaxson, Charity, Breeyelle, Madison, Abigail, Caleb, Rafe, Torin, Rylan and Acadia); and by his second family, Irene (Lousier), Christina Swan, and Sydney Anne Swan.
Contributions to the BC Heart & Stroke Foundation in his name would be appreciated.