Obituary of Warren Smith

Obituary Our Dad, Warren Maurice Smith was born on April 21st, 1934. At Range 22 Section 34 6 west of the 3rd on the family farm at home, just outside of Pike Lake Saskatchewan. He was the youngest son of Orville and Darlene Smith, he had 2 older brothers, Robert and William and an older sister Joy. Life on the farm wasn't always easy for the Smith family. When Warren was only 6 years old his mother passed away from a heart condition and left Orville to raise 4 children on his own, the oldest being only 12. Dad grew up from the age of six without a mother. Dad shared many happy memories with us about his adventures and misadventures with his 2 brothers. One story that stands out in our minds happened when he was 9 years old. Dad's nickname at the time was "Little Beaver" due to his swimming prowess. He frequently rafted or swam across the South Saskatchewan River to a small island where he would trap muskrats. One day he rafted over to the island and while he was busy trapping, the river rose so high that his raft was swept away. He was unable to swim back across the river safely and was stranded for 2 days on his own and no one even came looking for him because they knew he would eventually get himself home....and he did. There are many, many similar stories we could tell about this young lad on the South Saskatchewan River! Dad received his schooling at Pike Lake School through to Grade 9. At the age of 14 he left home. At this time he worked for a local farmer, Ralph Pippin. He worked for Ralph for a year or 2 and at age 16 he saved up enough money and bought himself his first car a black model "T". He then worked for the government of Saskatchewan trapping coyotes and earned 25 cents a tail. At age 17 he began working as a Rodman on a survey crew for the Department of Agriculture. By age 18 he had worked his way up to an instrument man. He traveled with the surveying crew all over Saskatchewan surveying irrigation ditches to drain the land for the Saskatchewan farmers. He was particularly proud of one irrigation canal in Northern Saskatchewan that Dad always called "the ditch." The canal still works very effectively for the farmers of the area to this day. Dad has taken many of us to see "the ditch". In 1952 while surveying in the Paddockwood area he met Ruth Kathleen Thorburn on a hot July day and from that day forward they were inseparable. They married on April 21, 1954 on Dad's 20th birthday, at the Anglican church in Paddockwood. During their first year of marriage, as newlyweds, they moved 13 times following the surveying crew around Saskatchewan. On August 9, 1955 their first child Karyn Vera, was born in Porcupine Plain Saskatchewan. In 1956 Dad applied for a surveying job for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in Little Prairie B.C. (Now known as Chetwynd) He got the job and they moved lock, stock, and barrel from Saskatchewan to British Columbia. They moved in a 1953 - 2 door Chevy with Karyn's crib, highchair and a ringer washing machine in the backseat. When they were just outside of Hythe the door flew open when they hit a big bump and they just about lost everything, including Karyn. You have to remember this is before pavement, proper graded roads as it was the northern wilderness they were moving to. They lived in a skid shack in Little Prairie until May 1960. During that time, on February 18, 1957 Pamela Ruth was born. They have many fond memories of Little Prairie. Dad played hockey in the winter and both mom and dad played baseball in the summer. In the spring of 1960 Dad got a new job surveying for Brown and Root at the new McMahon refinery in Taylor, B.C. Hoping for bigger and better things they decided that they would move to FSJ before their next baby, due in late May, was born. Except on May 1, 1960 Gwen Beatrice was born 3 weeks early in Dawson Creek, which meant that Dad had to move Karyn and Pam along with all of their belongs to Fort St. John while mom was in the hospital in Dawson Creek. This must have been quite a trip for Dad, pulling a trailer from Chetwynd to Fort St. John with a 5 year old and a 3 year old. For the remainder of 1960 Dad surveyed at the refinery in Taylor. When the job at Brown and Root was over mom and dad decided, no more moving. They were staying in Fort St. John. Dad got a job at Pappy's Texaco Service station as an apprentice mechanic. He worked at Pappy's Service from 1961-1965. Dad remained good friends with Pappy until Pappy's death. They shared the same birthday just 20 years apart. During this time on May 3, 1962 Dorran James was born in the old hospital in Fort St. John. In 1965 Dad got hired as an operator for Texaco exploration. This was the beginning of his career in the Oil Patch. He worked for Texaco until 1979. At this time he went to work for Czar Resources a small start up oil and gas production company as their sole employee in Fort St. John. Under Dad's leadership Czar grew into an thriving company in Fort St. John. When Czar was boughtout by Ranger Oil, in 1995, Dad left Czar Resources and continued working in the oilfield as a consultant. He worked off and on for the next several years until his final retirement date of 2009. During his career in the oilfield he forged many lifelong friendships. As well, Dad and mom were very active in the community. Dad was a Commissioner for the Village of Aennofield and at the time they amalgamated with the town of Fort St. John in 1968 he became an Alderman. Dad coached Minor Ball for several years,. He was active in the Fort St. John Speedskating Association and, in fact, he ran the levels to survey the first speedskating oval in Fort St. John. He was always available to drive his children to sports events, practices, school activities and anything that the us kids were involved in, Dad was there. Dad was also very active in sports himself. He played in the Men's Fastball League for several years on the Beaver Transport Strays as a Centre Fielder. At age 56 he joined the Senior's Slowpitch Team and him and Mom travelled every summer to all parts of B.C. playing ball in the Senior Games. Mom and Dad really enjoyed travelling. They went to Alaska three times with their RV, travelled all across Canada with their friends, to Hawaii a couple of times and many trips to California, to visit Gwen. They really enjoyed their cruise on the Caribbean for Matthew's wedding. This spring they were lucky enough to travel to Phoenix to spend time with Dorran at his new house, meet with Pam and Craig in Palm Springs and visit Gwen and Robin in California. Remarkably, only three months ago, in June of this year, Mom and Dad drove to Pike Lake Saskatchewan for the 100th Birthday of the Pike Lake School. In between, family sports and travelling, Dad's ultimate passion was the out-of-doors. He loved to hunt, fish and just spend time in the beauty and splendor of nature. In the past there were several times that he was able to provide moose meat for our family and many neighbours. He was quite the hunter and fisherman! One of his best stories of fishing was when he was fishing with Dorran and Fred off the coast of BC. They were fishing deep for halibut and had been on the same hole for about an hour when they noticed the BC Ferry coming. It was a tough decision as to whether to stay or leave. The couldn't decide so they stayed. When the big waves came by a huge halibut grabbed Dad's hook. He fought the fish for an hour and got it to surface. Fred went to harpoon it but unfortunately it bounced off its tailbone and at the same the leader broke, losing the fish! Fred now calls that Warren's Hole. Mom and Dad lived in the same house on 82 Street for 48 years. The house changed in many ways over the years but what didn't change was the constant love and laughter over these decades. In 2008 they moved into Blue Spruce Villa and Dad often expressed how grateful he was for their new home. Dad was always big on gratitude! Dad loved his ever-growing family. Pam married Craig Okrainec in 1977 and Craig became like Dad's second son. Craig and Dorran enjoyed many duck hunting trips, which got even better when Craig got the difference between a real duck and a decoy! Dad also had a special place in his heart for his daughter-in-law Bev and son-in-law Robin. Dad was very proud of his five grandchildren, Ashley, Matthew, Mickey, Conor and Ethan. He was a special poppa to his great-grandchildren Lauryn and Hillary. Every year, for many years, a big family outing was heading out the bush to find the "perfect" Christmas Tree. This outing included weiner roasts, skidooing, cross country skiing and long drives in the country. This always included a hot flask of something to keep us warm, weather it was hot chocolate or hot rum. Dad had a fantastic sense of humor and a knack for finding humor in all situations. His special kind of humor is a hard thing to explain or describe but all of us who knew him have experienced it and laughed ourselves silly. Even when he was in the hospital in Vancouver just a few weeks ago when they would arrive to take him for tests he would exclaim "But I haven't had time to study!" We cannot possibly describe our Dad without mentioning his unconditional love for his dogs. Whether it was Bingo 1 to 5, Luke 1 to 4 or his precious Millie, he had an amazing connection with his dogs! There are lots of really complimentary words that we can think of to describe our dad. But if we had to choose just one it would be the word steadfast. Our dad was steadfast in his dedication to do the best job that he could at whatever he was doing. He had a work ethic that was second to none with the stamina to match. Our dad was steadfast in his loyalty. Once you 're in dad's good books you're there forever. Our dad was steadfast with his word and with his wisdom. He didn't say much but when he did we knew it was wroth listening to and worth heeding. Our dad was steadfast in his devotion to our mom and to us kids and to our kids and grandkids. He was the solid rock and foundation that held us up. We are all who we are today because of our dad. If so desired expressions of sympathy can be made in memory of Warren to the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation. Memorial Service OCT 3. 02:00 PM Mennonite Brethren Church BC, CA Services