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Neil Currie
February 28, 1928 - December 27, 2013
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<div itemprop="description">Neil Lawrence Currie, February 28, 1928 to December 27, 2013 <br /> <br />It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of dearest Neil peacefully on December 27, 2013 at age 85, after a lengthy struggle with heart disease. He leaves his cherished wife Margaret, his son Tom (Heather Boyd), daughter Naomi (Hank Glogowski), son John (Sandra Deonarine) and daughter Anne (Chris Epp); and five grandchildren (Jessie, Ethan, Alyssa, Laurel and Conner) and his sister Edna Halliwell. He is predeceased by his brothers Roy and Ralph. <br /> <br />Neil: Writer, photographer, born engineer and inventor, a constant example of &lsquo;lending a hand&rsquo; and a welcoming home. His mother (Hilda Jantenen) was an immigrant from Finland, who arrived in Canada via Ellis Island, New York. Neil retraced her steps from the port in Finland; but, was unable to see her farm which is now part of Russia. His father was born in Neepawa, Manitoba originally of Scottish descent. Neil&rsquo;s parents settled in Turtleford, bringing up their family in a one-room log cabin until moving &lsquo;to town&rsquo; where Neil&rsquo;s father ran the power plant. Neil was born in Turtleford, Saskatchewan on February 28, 1928. Small town, prairie culture ethics of hard work, the value of frugality were a way of life in the early days in Saskatchewan. This formed Neil&rsquo;s character of hard work, honesty, self-reliance and resourcefulness. <br /> <br />Neil left home at 18, after Grade 12 and went by bus - arriving in Toronto with the money he had earned in the harvest, driving a team of horses - doing the job of men who were away at war. Soon he was driving a delivery truck for Eaton&rsquo;s department store. He left Toronto to work with London Life in London, Ontario and supported himself as a cub reporter and photographer for the London Free Press while pursuing a degree in Economics at the University of Western Ontario. Too young to go to war, he was in the Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant in the Executive Branch. While serving in the Navy he met his wife: Margaret May Thornton Samuel, who was interning as an occupational-physical therapist (U of T) at Stadacona naval base, Halifax. One year later (1957) they both graduated and were married. <br /> <br />Before marrying in 1957 Neil joined the Government of Canada&rsquo;s Foreign Service as a Trade Commissioner, competing with hundreds of applicants. He served with distinction as Consul and Trade Commissioner for over 30 years in Bogota, Cleveland, Chicago, Lagos (during Biafran War), Ottawa, Johannesburg (introducing sanctions against the apartheid government), Dallas and Toronto with short assignments in the Middle East and China. <br />Neil&rsquo;s mum Hilda lived with the family for 30 years of their nearly 60 years of marriage. Throughout his life his favourite place on earth was the cottage on Lake Chandos in the Kawartha&rsquo;s, which he designed and built himself. He began building the cottage in 1961, while living in Chicago and continued to have an endless supply of domestic and creative projects &lsquo;on the go&rsquo;, at any one time. Neil was great at fixing things and able to repair anything. He was a meticulous handyman and mechanic on all the family cars. <br /> <br />His interests centered on family, ongoing improvements to the cottage and reading. Shortly after retiring, Neil went back to his roots in northern Saskatchewan (1987 - 1997) to be elected as the Liberal candidate for his home riding. Although successful in winning the Liberal nomination, he had a consistent record of defeat at the polls while enjoying the process of getting to know the people in the extensive riding of North Battleford &ndash; Meadow Lakes District. Besides his ongoing improvements to the cottage, he constantly read about Canadian politics for a book in progress about the Canadian English/French challenge. Neil also researched the Currie family tree and organized more than one family reunion including Australians, Canadians and Americans. <br /> <br />From 1996 until 2012, Margaret and Neil split their time between Sanibel Island, the cottage and family whether in Ottawa, Thimphu, Dhaka, Regina or Toronto. They traveled extensively to Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Finland, Russia, Australia and all over North America. They drove annually to Sanibel Island, Florida and spent their summers at Lake Chandos before re-locating to Toronto in 2012. After Labour Day in 2010 he wrote a poem entitled &ldquo;The Silence of The Lake&rdquo;. The lake is silent. The chickadee told me personally. The raven cast it wide over the treetops. And the loon has reclaimed the night.&rdquo; <br />According to his wishes there will be no funeral. A memorial gathering with his family will be held at the cottage this summer to scatter his ashes, with a gravestone marker in the family plot in Turtleford. <br /> <br />Condolences can be made on-line under Memorials at Turner &amp; Porter (www.turnerporter.ca). <br /></div>