O’Connell,
Peter John
May 12, 1938 — October 15, 2003
Peter died peacefully at the end of a two day stay in the Campbell River hospital after a mercifully short battle with cancer.
He was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and grew up in Val d’Or, Quebec, as the son of the manager of the Sigma gold mine. With mining a part of both sides of his family, he entered that career path, and worked in a number of gold and silver mines in Quebec and northern Ontario, the last one as manager, before joining the CIL family at their CXA explosives accessory plant in Brownsburg, Quebec. It was as marketing/sales manager of that facility that he attended an explosives distributors’ convention in Barbados, where he met Ettie, and in 1984 moved to the Island where they married and worked together running Crawford Explosives Ltd.
Peter and Ettie enjoyed a number of retirement years together, with golf during spring and fall, curling three times a week at the Comox Valley Curling Club during winters, and spending happy, long summers at the cottage he built in the mid 70s at Lac au Loup in the Laurentians, close to his children and five grandsons.
Peter is survived by his wife Ettie, daughter Crystal, (Michel) and their sons Ryan, Ashton and Dustin, son Michael (LeeAnn) and their sons Christopher and Benjamin, stepson Troels, as well as sisters Margie, Kathie (Jim) and Sue (Jarl). He was predeceased by his son, Patrick and sister, Sally.
A service of remembrance was held at Piercy’s Funeral home in Courtenay, B.C. on Saturday, October 18, 2003.