William Elwin Sinclair

It is with the deepest sorrow imaginable that the family announces the passing of WILLIAM ELWIN SINCLAIR peacefully at his home in Geraldton on February 3, 2011. Born on May 10, 1917 in Strathadam, New Brunswick, he left home at the age of 18 to come to Ontario to work cutting pulpwood with a bucksaw for his Uncle Frank Sinclair‚ At an early age, he lost his thumb and 2 fingers on his right hand in a harvesting equipment accident, yet he overcame that disability and accomplished more in his life than most people ever do with all 10‚ By the age of 24 he was running a bush camp with 35 men‚ During the forestry part of his life he worked in Longlac, Geraldton, Hurkett and Port Arthur. While working in the bush, it became his job to purchase draft horses to haul the wood‚ As a lover of all creatures great and small, it really bothered him to see the horses being hurt in the bush and he was so very happy when the forestry operations became mechanized and horses were no longer used. Part of his employment road led him to working on tug boats rafting wood on Lake Superior in Port Arthur‚ While there he met his "Peg", Marguerite Tansley, the love of his life, whom he married on June 23, 1941‚ Marguerite's dad, Roy Tansley owned a timber harvesting/sawmilling company , Roy L Tansley and Son‚ Bill soon became a partner in the company and the name had to be changed to Roy L Tansley and Sons‚ The company operated for many years at Camp 51 on the Sturgeon River just outside of Geraldton. He was always fascinated with cars and in 1950 left the forestry operations and purchased the General Motors dealership in Beardmore and called it Sinclair Motors. He was a self-made man without a lot of formal education, yet he taught himself to be expert at carpentry, automechanics and plumbing‚ In 1957 he built a new house in Beardmore (Tansleyville) all by himself ! After Leitch Gold Mines closed, he purchased the Imperial Motors facilities in 1962 and relocated his GM dealership to Geraldton where he successfully operated it until 1983‚ Not wanting to leave his house in Beardmore, he moved it, bricks and all, to Geraldton in 1963 where it sits today overlooking Kenogamisis Lake. Prior to leaving Beardmore, he was instrumental in designing and building the Moose Mountain Ski Hill operations and spent countless hours operating a bulldozer to make it happen. He was a long time curler and won many events and prizes‚ One of his favourite sports was fishing‚ He had an incredible memory and could recite verses after having only studied them for a few minutes‚ On certain distant fishing trips he would usually recite the Fisherman's Prayer: "I pray that I may live to fish until my dying day and when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray, when in the Lord's great landing net and peacefully asleep, that in His mercy, I be judged big enough to keep� And if there were one that the Lord would want to keep it would be him! His sense of humour was unique and ever present‚ He always wanted to accomplish things with his hands and was never happy watching "make believe" shows on TV. He never did a lot of talking but when he did, the words were always important and significant‚ He never wrote very much because of his self-proclaimed "limited" education, but when he did the words were always meaningful and people took note‚ In 1980, when Canada assisted in rescuing 6 Americans from Iran, he wrote an amazing letter to Kimberly Clark's CEO in response to an ad that they had published thanking Canada‚ As a consequence of that letter, he was invited to attend a dinner with the CEO and Canada's Governor General Ed Schreyer and was presented with an award in recognition of his words. He is a proud member of the Kenogamisis Masonic Lodge 656 AF & AM and a Shriner‚ Never asking for help, he would give anyone the shirt off his back and secretly assisted many people‚ He never complained and was always more concerned about others than he was about himself. Coming from a farm, he always had a garden‚ The list of all of his accomplishments and attributes cannot all be listed here‚ He was not just a good man.. he was a great man and a truly genuine person... one in a million. He is survived by his son Roy-Geraldton, daughter Susan-Thunder Bay, grandchildren Kevin-Edmonton, Kerri (Rocco)-Thunder Bay, Tiffany (Kevin)-Thunder Bay, Troy-Thunder Bay, great grandchildren Lacey (Dave)-Thunder Bay and Angela-Thunder Bay‚ In the absence of their Father, he was really more a Father to Kevin and Kerri than a grandfather. He is also survived by wonderful nephews and nieces in New Brunswick and their families too numerous to mention here. He is predeceased by his beloved wife Marguerite in 1996, his Father Mark, his Mother Charlotte, his Sisters Lillian, Annie, Helen, Elsie and Veda, his brothers Weldon and Robert, Father in law Roy Tansley, Mother in law Beatrice Tansley, Son in law Ken Lind. A graveside service will be held at Riverside Cemetery in Thunder Bay on Wednesday, February 9 at 11 AM‚ In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill's memory may be made to St. James Anglican Church in Geraldton. "A million tears can't bring you back nor can anything we do. Somehow I hope that you can see how much we all love you. The way you laughed, the words you said the kindness that you gave The memories of the things you did we will forever save. No words exist that can express how wonderful you were The world's a truly better place for having had you here You may have thought yourself not special but that would be untrue In all the world, throughout all time the most special one is you�"