Obituary of Edward Desmond Sykes

With heavy hearts, we share the passing of Ed Sykes who left us peacefully on June 22, 2025 at the Fort St. John, BC hospital.

Ed was the husband of June and the loving father of Albert (Pauli), Darcy (Derek), Chad (Joanne) plus many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He was born on November 23, 1941 in Stavely, Alberta and lived on the family farm while going to school. Life was riding horses in the mountains, hunting and being in the outdoors. From there he moved on to Banff, Alberta working at various jobs. An apprenticeship for automotive mechanics was taken at SAIT, Calgary, Alberta and he was the service manager at various stations in Banff. Ski-dooing became one of his great joys along with riding horses in the mountains. He put his mechanical skills to good use, stock car racing in his spare time. Ed also worked at the Sunshine Ski Hill, in Banff where he was in charge of snow grooming.  It was a fun time and he forged many long-time friendships. In addition, Ed was the volunteer fire chief in Banff from 1965 to 1976.

In 1976, the family moved to Hudson's Hope, BC where he lived the remainder of his life. While there, with the help of his family and friends, he built a beautiful log home along the Peace River. He worked for BC Hydro as a general tradesman and was the volunteer fire chief from 1987 to 1991. Again, he loved riding horses in the mountains and helping with the high school rodeo and 4H horse clubs. Motorcycles became a fun way to move around and he also took great pride in fixing up his 1951 Mercury truck. In his later years he learned how to build acoustic guitars which kept him busy in the shop. Over the years his many skills included mechanics, carpentry, log house builder, horse trainer and luthier.

Once retired, Ed and June started to travel by RV for the winter months, visiting the USA and Mexico for many years. They also spent winters in South East Asia visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China; plus a few more trips to Costa Rica and Peru visiting the ruins.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Hudson's Hope fire station on August 3, 2025. Everyone is welcome come by to say farewell to a great man who will be remembered for his humour and laughter.