Obituary
ROGER DOUGLAS GRIFFITHS
It is with much sadness that we share the news of the passing on July 24th, 2021 of Roger Douglas Griffiths in his 83rd year. He will be greatly missed by his children, Kim (Blair Neely) of Stratford, ON and Greg (Candiece Griffiths) of Saskatoon, SK, and his grandchildren, Grace, Georgia, Max, Jasper and Jasmine. And also by his nephew, Kyle Turk of Key West, Florida, with whom he played online chess with daily over these past many years.
Roger was born in Birkenhead, England, younger brother to Brian (deceased) and older brother to sister Jean (deceased). Roger was active with school, his gruelling newspaper route (uphill both ways!), gymnastics where he focused on the vault, and rugby (where he twice broke his foot!) in his teenage years. During WWII his siblings were separated and sent to live with relatives in safer places. He loved his time with his Aunt Hilda during this period.
As a member of Britain’s Royal Air Force, Roger lived and traveled extensively across Europe and the Middle East. He slept in tents, rode camels, directed airplanes and made some good friends. He also took some great photos and we will cherish these more than ever now.
He met his former wife, June Chatfield, in Ipswich in 1966. They wed in 1967, had two children and moved to Canada in 1969. Roger spent his career mostly at Sperry Univac where he traveled across the country, repairing – and teaching employees how to repair – mainframe computers. As children, it was fun to visit Dad’s work on Sundays when he would print for us the Peanuts characters – so novel in the early seventies!
Roger’s main hobbies were hiking, camping, going to the drive-in and sailing his Mirror Dinghy. Our family became a “sailing family,” racing every weekend and spending a week every summer at Killbear Park with our extended “sailing family” of OMDA.
Once separated from his wife, Roger took to living on a sailboat full-time. He studied celestial navigation and every other imaginable boating skill and set out alone to sail to Florida from Port Credit, Ontario. He made the trip down and back in one piece and had many a story to prove it! Roger was courageous, adventurous, and was like a fish out of water when a lake was not in sight.
In these recent years, Roger took to writing and it was exceptional. He’s even had a story published to on an online outlet with the editor looking forward to more. And Kyle shares that to the very last day he was a “brilliant and patient” chess player, beating him in games 90% of the time! Not bad for 82 years old!
We all will miss him tremendously.
Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be sent to the Boys and Girls Club of Saskatoon, where children who might not otherwise can learn the game of chess and be introduced to sailing!
Arrangements in care of Chelsea Krentz – Mourning Glory Funeral Services (306) 978-5200.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Roger Griffiths July 24 2021..
Mourning Glory Funeral Services
Death notice for the town of: Saskatoon, Province: Saskatchewan