George Gerald Valgora
April 15, 1938 – November 02, 2021
George Gerald Valgora, known as Jerry, was at his home in Oakville surrounded by those he loved when he passed away peacefully on November 2, 2021. Jerry was a loving husband to his wife Ruth Hawkins, a beloved father to his sons Jay and his wife Kathy, and Derek and his wife Page, and the cherished grandfather of Jesse and Julian. He is survived by his sister, Margaret Grishkin and his brother Richard Valgora.
Born on April 15, 1938 in rural Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Jerry was the first of his family to attend university, receiving a degree in Industrial Engineering from Pennsylvania State University (commencing a life-long following of his beloved Nittany Lions). His career took him from Bethlehem Steel and Buffalo Specialty Products in Lackawanna, New York, to Canadian Metal Rolling Mills, to become President of the Roll Form Group at Samuel, Son & Company in Mississauga, Ontario.
Jerry was fortunate to share the love of extraordinary people in his life. He met his first wife, Carole Lou Valgora when he worked as a lifeguard at the town swimming pool. Their marriage of 44 years produced two sons and spanned two countries; Jerry cared for Carole until her death in 2004. Jerry’s second marriage to Lynda Ross of Nakina, Ontario in 2006 provided four years in which they shared a mutual passion for travel and adventure until her death in 2010. Jerry was remarkably fortunate to find love a third and final time with Ruth Hawkins, originally of Manitou, Manitoba, whom he married in 2015. They enjoyed over five wonderful years together and she cared for him deeply until the end of his life.
And Jerry lived a life remembered for his adventurous and generous spirit. His life encompassed many friendships, crossed multiple borders, and enjoined numerous people from Pennsylvania to New York to Florida and from Canada to the United States. Jerry was known for his passion for the outdoors and for fishing, his lifelong pursuit of sport and exercise, as a raconteur with a remarkable memory for people and an ear for humorous detail, and most of all, for his passion for living life and his generosity in sharing it with others.
His love of the outdoors led Jerry to adventures that traversed the rocky streams of western New York where he raised his family in Hamburg, New York, to the ice cold lakes of Labrador in his adopted home of Canada where he lived in Oakville, Ontario. His flyfishing expeditions took him from the mountain streams of Russia to the wilds of New Zealand and to the grassy wetlands of Patagonia. But all of these were merely accessory to his most singular journey: to a beautiful and remote place he found in his youth, far in the north, where the sun shines until very late on a summer evening.
In this place he found a vast, forested, and nearly untouched island, surprisingly grand in its scale and primordial in its unspoiled character. And on this island he found one particular lake set on top of a mountain where it reflects the patterns of the sky in its cold clear waters. Since the days of his youth, Jerry traveled and fished in this place nearly every year of his life. And to this place he also brought his sons and his grandsons and his most cherished friends over the course of his life. And to this place his sons and grandsons will return with him once more.
Jerry loved the stories of Hemingway, and the poetry of Robert Frost. It’s not hard to find the words he would choose to encapsulate his view of friends and for life, as he shared them often. Whether over a good bottle of wine, or around the campfire at night, Jerry would recite these words from a 16th century metaphysical poet, and his reflections on the nature of man and our relationship to one another. The poem by John Donne that Jerry loved the most seems to speak both to the island he found and his feelings for those with whom he chose to share it:
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Friends and family will be received at the Kopriva Taylor funeral home, 64 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville, Ontario in Canada (905) 844-2600.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, November 6, 2021 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, and from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. For those that wish to attend a Memorial will be held to honor Jerry, the following day on Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 1:00pm, followed by a Reception with refreshments.
To celebrate Jerry’s love of the outdoors, the family requests that those wishing to honor his memory may consider donations to the Riverkeeper Alliance, dedicated to the protection of rivers, waterways, fisheries, and habitats in Canada and the United States:
Or the Atlantic Salmon Federation, dedicated to restoring the wild Atlantic salmon and their habitats:
Those traveling internationally are reminded of the Covid testing requirements found at: www.travel.gc.ca. Completion of the ArriveCAN app prior to travel into Canada is required.
SERVICES
Visitation
Saturday, November 06, 2021
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home Inc.
64 Lakeshore Road West
Oakville, Ontario L6K 1E1
Visitation
Saturday, November 06, 2021
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home Inc.
64 Lakeshore Road West
Oakville, Ontario L6K 1E1
Celebration of Life
Sunday, November 07, 2021
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home Inc.
64 Lakeshore Road West
Oakville, Ontario L6K 1E1
Reception
Sunday, November 07, 2021
1:45 PM – 3:30 PM
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home Inc.
64 Lakeshore Road West
Oakville, Ontario L6K 1E1
April 15 1938 November 02 2021
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de George Gerald Valgora April 15 1938 November 02 2021..
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home
Décès pour la Ville:Oakville, Province: Ontario