Obituary for Glenn Aaron Shaver
SHAVER, Glenn, Aaron - After a long, happy and productive life, at 97 years of age, Glenn Aaron Shaver died peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of August 28th. Glenn was a thoughtful, dedicated and loving husband to Cherry, father to Susan Holton (Marcel), Pat Tretina (Allan Mott) and Gail Webster (Don), grandfather to Jennifer Tretina Nelson (Tony), Rory (Tanya), Patrick, Kelsey (Joe), Max (Arielle) and great-grandfather to Justin, Charlotte Cherry, Lilah and Anna.
Our father was born in 1922 on a dairy farm in Finch, Ontario. He sometimes characterized his school years as negative and discouraging and he would recount being told by a teacher that he would never make anything of himself. Fortunately that was not true and, as a young man, he experienced several great teachers who forever shaped his personal and professional life. Glenn graduated from the University of Guelph where he excelled in maths and science. Teaching became his professional passion, and for 25 years he was an influential Physics and Science teacher at Belleville Collegiate Institute (BCI). There, his approach was, in his words “… to build people up, not tear them down…”, the opposite of his own early educational experience. In 1960 he worked with a group of science teachers to establish the Quinte Regional Science Fair. On retirement, he began a second 25 year career as a Pastor, Elder and Youth Counsellor at several churches, including Desert Stream Christian Fellowship in Belleville.
It was at a weekend party at Guelph University where he met Cherry Carss, the beautiful, young registered nurse from Arnprior, Ontario who would become our mother. They married in 1950, and several years later, settled in Belleville and lived happily on Wright Avenue for 60 years.
Glenn was the kind of father and grandfather every little kid should be lucky enough to have. He played with us, taught us to build a tree fort, to plant a garden, to watch the constellations and the satellites in the night sky and to paddle a canoe. He had a resourceful and inventive mind and could figure out how to do anything – the results were not always beautiful, but they always worked! To “shaver it” is our family code for an ingenious solution, the kind that would impress our father.
His faith remained strong and he was positive and resilient despite many years caring tenderly to Cherry through her long, sad decline from Alzheimer’s Disease. He missed her loving companionship, and wonderful cooking, terribly.
Our sincere thanks to his caregiver and friend Terri Lynn Hardy, as well as the kind staff at Hastings Manor who helped our father these last 2 years.
There will be a visitation on Tuesday September 10th from 2 – 4 pm and 5 – 7 pm at John R. Bush Funeral Home, 80 Highland Avenue, Belleville, and a private family burial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, the Heart and Stroke Foundation or another charity of your choice. To share memories of Glenn and for online condolences, please visit www.rushnellfamilyservices.com
Our father was born in 1922 on a dairy farm in Finch, Ontario. He sometimes characterized his school years as negative and discouraging and he would recount being told by a teacher that he would never make anything of himself. Fortunately that was not true and, as a young man, he experienced several great teachers who forever shaped his personal and professional life. Glenn graduated from the University of Guelph where he excelled in maths and science. Teaching became his professional passion, and for 25 years he was an influential Physics and Science teacher at Belleville Collegiate Institute (BCI). There, his approach was, in his words “… to build people up, not tear them down…”, the opposite of his own early educational experience. In 1960 he worked with a group of science teachers to establish the Quinte Regional Science Fair. On retirement, he began a second 25 year career as a Pastor, Elder and Youth Counsellor at several churches, including Desert Stream Christian Fellowship in Belleville.
It was at a weekend party at Guelph University where he met Cherry Carss, the beautiful, young registered nurse from Arnprior, Ontario who would become our mother. They married in 1950, and several years later, settled in Belleville and lived happily on Wright Avenue for 60 years.
Glenn was the kind of father and grandfather every little kid should be lucky enough to have. He played with us, taught us to build a tree fort, to plant a garden, to watch the constellations and the satellites in the night sky and to paddle a canoe. He had a resourceful and inventive mind and could figure out how to do anything – the results were not always beautiful, but they always worked! To “shaver it” is our family code for an ingenious solution, the kind that would impress our father.
His faith remained strong and he was positive and resilient despite many years caring tenderly to Cherry through her long, sad decline from Alzheimer’s Disease. He missed her loving companionship, and wonderful cooking, terribly.
Our sincere thanks to his caregiver and friend Terri Lynn Hardy, as well as the kind staff at Hastings Manor who helped our father these last 2 years.
There will be a visitation on Tuesday September 10th from 2 – 4 pm and 5 – 7 pm at John R. Bush Funeral Home, 80 Highland Avenue, Belleville, and a private family burial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, the Heart and Stroke Foundation or another charity of your choice. To share memories of Glenn and for online condolences, please visit www.rushnellfamilyservices.com