Mike Wallis (nephew)

Entered June 16, 2017 from Kamloops BC

Condolences to Kens Family for the loss of a great and kind man, who lived well, worked hard, cared for others and spilled enthusiasm to everyone he touched, even little God Son Michael.

Everybody knows that Ken's Mom loved to bake, and how her family loved her to bake. As a young boy, when there was a freshly baked cake that Ken knew he wasn't supposed to touch, he would take a whole side off the square cake instead of a slice, and thought his Mom wouldn't notice because it was still symmetrical. Grammie figured it out really quick.

Ken did all his building and car repairs himself, often creating new parts from some miscellaneous items he collected in our basement. We never had much garbage, because he could always make something out of nothing. He fixed our washing machine with a skipping rope, built a model boat using an alarm clock for the motor, and when he built his sailboat in high school, he even made the sails for it himself. He had the amazing ability to see purpose in all things, and could always figure a solution to any problem.

My kids laugh at me because whenever we go into a store and I see something I really like, I predictably will say "Well, I could make that at home", and I take a picture of it and put it on my list of things to do. My Dad always had a lot of great ideas, and projects on the list of things to do. He honestly could build anything and fix anything and with limited resources, and make it last forever. Whatever he did was with such precision it was made to last. It was tough to hire workers for any projects, because few people worked to his standards. He showed me it is a great thing in life is to have high standards of excellence, and see that you can make anything, often out of nothing.

Ken loved the challenge of living without technology. The cottage property he bought was only accessible by boat for many years. We dug the sand from a hill, loaded it on a barge, unloaded and strained it and used it for cement for the foundation. There was no hydro, so our cement was mixed by a motor powered by a generator. The property was cleared using chain saw, axe and crosscut saw with two handles. Footings were dug out by hand, and we used dynamite to remove some rocks. We used to carry our water using pails up the hill to the cottage. Marianne asked me once "how come you are Aquarius, the water carrier and WE have to haul these pails of water?" But as time went on, we got more conveniences - a water pump, hydro and a road. But there was immense satisfaction of creating something by just using your own hands.

My Dad was always happiest in nature and had a real connection with animals. We spent many weekends hiking or cross country skiing on the Bruce Trail. He loved to walk our dog down by the Credit River and watch the salmon swim upstream using the fish ladder. He had the amazing ability, to see the beauty of nature in a bird or flower everywhere. If the flower was amongst a field of weeds, or surrounded by gravel or mud, he would have honest and authentic appreciation of its beauty. It reminds me always to appreciate beauty in life, even in places you don't expect to see it.