Lester Frederick Hill

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved father and Papa Lester Frederick Hill on September 21, 2022 with his family by his side, at TBRHSC after a short but courageous battle with cancer.

Lester was born to Frederick and Florence Hill (Calder) on September 14, 1951 in Fort Frances Ontario. He grew up in Fort Frances with his 2 brothers and sister and many cousins. It was in high school that Lester met his future wife Jo-Anne (Tesarsky) and they were married June 3, 1972. After they got married, they moved to Thunder Bay to pursue their respective careers. Dad worked as a certified body shop repairer for a few years, then eventually went to Toronto to take the appraisal program, then started his job at Co-operators Insurance as an Appraiser/Adjustor. Dad worked at Co-op for 27 years and finally retiring early in 2005 at the age of 55. After retirement, mom and dad built their dream home “up the lakes” at the cabin on Rainy Lake in Fort Frances. They moved there permanently in 2007 and enjoyed the beautiful views for 15 years. He was always keeping busy and in 2008 he started his own appraisal business called Loon Appraisals. He loved it and as he could be as busy as he wanted and enjoyed the travelling that his work required. He eventually closed down his company but did contract work with other insurance companies for many years and worked as recently as January 2022.

Summers were spent at the cabin in Fort Frances with many of his friends and family always joining us. Dad always loved having a cabin full of laughter and good times. Known as “Fozzie or Foz” he would always “easily” convince his buddies to assist him with a job or two at the cabin with a case or two of OV beer. He loved to give tours on Rainy Lake to visit the Little Mermaid; the hieroglyphics or go bar-hopping by boat to Sha-sha's and the Thunder Bird Lodge for their delicious but dangerous Long Island teas. Dad also enjoyed many years of Insurance league baseball which would usually end in a bonfire at our home on Euclid Ave. His Co-operators colleagues were like family to him. Dad also loved to garden and was always found in the huge garden at the Euclid Ave. home. When they moved, the garden got smaller, but was bountiful.

Lester was Papa to his grandchildren, Ashton, Alyssa & Owen; they were his pride and joy! You could always catch him going to their hockey or football games or attending Alyssa's dance recitals since she was 3. He would always come to town for all of their birthdays and would spend every Christmas with us.

Lester is survived by his son Ryan and daughter Lindsey (Michael) and his grandchildren Ashton, Alyssa and Owen. He is also survived by his Sister Gwen Beange, his brother Leonard Hill (Linda), sisters-in-law Valerie LaPointe (Francis), Barb Schmidt and Linda Hill. He is also survived by his daughters' mother-in-law Louisa Edwards and many nieces and nephews and cousins. He also leaves behind his little puppies Kato and Keira.

Lester was predeceased by his wife Jo-Anne in 2019; as well as his brother Darrell Hill in Nov. 2021; brothers in law Blake Beange and Richard Schmidt and his daughters' father-in-law Bob Edwards. Also predeceased by his father and mother Fred and Florence Hill.

We would like to thank the Cancer Centre Dr. Anthes & Dr. DelPaggio and the amazing nurses for their wonderful care over the last year. We would also like to thank the ER team, Dr. Piper and the ICU team, Dr. Kovacs and nurse Cari for their compassion and understanding of his wishes as well as the wonderful care we received during this difficult time.

The family invites you to Lester's memorial service on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at the Westfort Chapel, Everest of Thunder Bay; 420 W. Gore St. at 11am.

A private family interment will be held at a later date.

If friends should desire, in lieu of flowers, donations the TBRHSC Cancer Centre or the NICU would be greatly appreciated.

Condolences may be made through
www.nwfainc.com