Peter Baron
1938-2022
It is with sadness we announce the passing of Peter Baron on September 5th at the age of 84. Predeceased by his father (Stephen), and mother (Mary), two wives Pat (Donnelly) and Sheila (Collier), and three grandchildren Fergus, Phoebe and Azra.
Peter leaves behind his brother Don (Olga), his two children, Steve (Fiona) and Joanne (Frank), and three stepchildren, Stuart, Todd (Leslie), and Kim. He will be profoundly missed by his 7 grandchildren: Brendan, Jayna, Caelan, Devyn, Madeline (Hannah), Quentin, and Simone (Quinn), as well as his nephews, Bill and Gerry, who kept him amused with phone calls and letters.
Born in Enderby BC (March 3, 1938), Peter began life on a small farm in Grindrod BC lacking electricity and running water. What followed was a bit of a nomadic life chasing family employment to Nickle Plate Mine, Allenby (Mill) and back to the Grindrod (Mill) homestead. After high-school, he began his adult life as an auto-mechanic in Salmon Arm BC. Simultaneously, he continued his education graduating from the Chicago Vocational School in Edmonton. He was also always proud of the fact that he was only the 9th person in the province to hold a BC Government Automobile Mechanic Certification Qualification. Following his promotion to shop foreman at Columbia Auto Customs came a move to Kamloops and a service manager position at Eveready Motors Ltd. Peter then changed careers and began the rest of his working life in the real-estate business, first in a short-stint as a salesman, followed by a long successful career operating his own prominent Real Estate Corporation, Pyper Realty, for 30 years. An early career side gig as an appraiser and a late career addition as an arbitrator, book-ended this period of his life.
Retiring in 1998, Peter began to explore the wider world for the first time, traveling extensively to various locations. He also continued his recreational passions of hockey, bike riding, and stock market investing, as well as his service and social activities that ranged from Rotary to Probus to ballroom dancing to appreciating the performing arts.
Peter believed he had achieved no great status in life but had served his community. He often noted that it was people who were important to the success of an undertaking not physical assets and he tried to conduct his life according to this premise. This was evident within both his service to his occupational community and the broader community as a whole. His occupational service included his Presidency of the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board, multiple stints (6 years total) on the Real Estate Council of BC, and a Governor of the Real Estate Institute of BC for 4 years. His community service included sitting on school parent councils, board membership on the United Appeal, President of the Thompson Valley Credit Union, and twinning his love of biking with fund raising with rides for the Lung Association in a variety of locations.
A particular community service that occupied a great deal of Peter’s dedication was Rotary. Peter joined the Rotary Club of Kamloops in 1979,serving as President in 1993-94, and remained a member until his passing. Peter really believed in helping those in developing countries with vaccines. Eradicating Polio was really important to him due to the reality that as a small child he had witnessed the effects of the disease on children he knew and its devastating impact on the community.
Peter also liked to point out he wasn’t much of a hockey player but he did try (a hallmark of his personality). He once suggested that this was the result of his teacher making him change the hand he wrote with when he was in school leaving him right-handed with left-handed skills. He did cherish his career year where he finished 2nd in scoring in the North Okanagan Hockey League, and his membership on the 4-time NOHL champion Salmon Arm Aces. He finished his career with “the over 70 boys” as a strong stay at-home defenseman. He similarly observed that the rest of his athletic career was not all that illustrious despite participating in the BC senior games 4 times in the bike racing where his best finish was 5th in a time trial event. But Peter also noted “I don’t do hill climbs.”
Overall, Peter was known as the guy with a thousand sayings. A man who made friends easily and could hold long conversations with complete strangers. A creative person who was always generous with his time, understanding and support for others.
In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, Western Canada Theatre Company, or Rotary Foundation.
A celebration of life will be scheduled for Spring 2023.
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Death notice for the town of: Kamloops, Province: Colombie britanique