Obituary
Last Tuesday afternoon, a week short of his 98th birthday, John Kenneth McIntosh passed away peacefully in North Island Regional Hospital with his beloved Marian at his side. March 6 would have been their 68th anniversary. Ken was born on March 1, 1923 in Whitewood, Saskatchewan to John Logan and Mabel Florence McIntosh as their first of four fine sons. Two year-old Ken soon packed up and moved with his mom and dad to the Peace River Country—by far the most beautiful corner of Alberta—to begin a grand family farming adventure eight miles west of Grande Prairie. Sixteen years later he was a Grande Prairie High School grad and had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce. Then for four long war years, Ken kept search lights burning bright and Lancaster bombers flying day and night from a RAF base in northern England. Back from overseas in 1945 to resume that family farming adventure, a young man with big dreams used a Veterans Affairs grant to buy his first tractor, a Fordson. Land was cleared, brush burned, crops grown, cattle raised, and Milldale Farms was launched with brother Gordon. On March 6, 1953 Ken married Marian Horton and a partnership that spanned seven decades blossomed. Three good kids came along, and in time seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren followed. Public service was an important part of Ken’s working life, and took various forms, including serving as Vice President of the Farmers Union of Alberta, as a member of the University of Alberta Board of Governors, and as a director of the Alberta Crop Insurance Corporation. By 1975 the farming years were done and a 20-year run of nearly full-time RV-ing with Marian had begun. A Holiday Trails membership took them to every corner of North America; including a stint shepherding caravans of fellow RVers through Mexico. They spent many winters camping off-the-grid in the southern deserts, and many summers enriching the lives of their kids and grandkids, spread far and wide. They drove a little Toyota Tercel to Newfoundland and back; a camper van to the high Arctic and back, and east again to retrieve a newly graduated son and his belongings from Toronto. After devoting a few more good years to caring for family members throughout the Peace Country, in 2012 Ken and Marian became Islanders. Their move to beautiful Courtenay gave them great joy, and gave rise to many memorable extended family gatherings and meals at their lovely England Avenue home. For many years Ken was a tireless and able chronicler. His daily journal entries were distilled into succinct annual reviews treasured by his family, and eventually into elegant memoirs of a well-lived life. During his final years, Ken was grateful for the kindness of the many Comox Valley Seniors Village caregivers who became his friends. John Kenneth McIntosh was a good and honourable man, who will live on in the memories of those fortunate to have known and loved him.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Ken McIntosh March 1 1923 February 23 2021 (age 97)..
Telford, Toneff and Boyd Burial and Cremation Centres
Death notice for the town of: Courtenay, Province: Colombie britanique