ROBINSON, Philip Handfield
Peacefully at the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre, Ottawa, on Monday, October 27, 2014 at the age of 97. Beloved husband of the late Marjorie (Elliot). Cherished father of Ian (Dorceta), David (Fiona), Bill (Jacquie), and Glen (Nancy). Loving grandfather to Justine, Shaina, Graeme, Emma, Hayden, Andrew, Melanie, and Heather. Predeceased by his sister Helen Beverley MacFarlane, brother Francis Barlow (Barry) Robinson, and Barry's wife Frances Kerr. Born in Stanley, New Brunswick, but raised in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Phil was always a Bluenoser at heart. Although his father was an Anglican priest, the celestial messages that most inspired Phil were those transmitted by radio. From the first crystal set he built for himself as a child, radio was both his vocation and his avocation. He received his amateur (Ham) radio licence during the 1930s and participated actively in the hobby for most of his life, most recently with the call letters VA3 PR. In September 1939 he joined the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and was later commissioned as an officer, serving overseas with the 2nd Division HQ Signal Regiment in North West Europe. He returned to active service during the Korean War as a radio instructor in Kingston, ON. In civilian life he worked in communications and electronics jobs in locations as varied as Trois-Rivières, QC; Resolution Island, NU; Turkey; Iran; Mill Village, NS; Hall Beach, NU; Resolute Bay, NU; and Ottawa, retiring eventually in Kenmore, ON, where he became known to his many friends in the Ham world as "the Duke of Kenmore". Special thanks to the staff of the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre for their always excellent care while he was a resident there. Family and friends are invited to pay their respects at the Daley Family Funeral Home, 6971 Bank St. (between Scrivens Dr. and Metcalfe corner) on Friday November 28 from 1-2 pm. A service in memory of Phil will follow at 2 pm, after which there will be a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations made to the Winchester District Memorial Hospital or the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre would be most appreciated.