GERRY RADFORD
Gerry Radford passed away peacefully at the Huron Shores Hospice in Tiverton on Nov. 19, 2021.
Gerald Grant Radford was born on March 9, 1964 in Gladstone, Manitoba, the third son of Ronald and Maxine Radford. That same year, the family moved to the town of Strathclair, where Gerry spent the first ten years of his life, attending elementary school, beginning to take piano lessons, participating in various team sports and swimming lessons, and taking frequent trips and camping holidays with his parents and his two brothers, Doug and Laurie.
In 1973, the family moved to the town of Rivers, Manitoba, where Gerry spent the remaining days of his childhood and youth, attending the elementary and high schools, excelling at schoolwork, playing hockey, joining the Boy Scouts and venturing to a jamboree in Nova Scotia. Most importantly, he began to study drumming and joined the Rivers and District Highland Pipe Band. Throughout his teenage years, Ron and Maxine ferried Gerry across the prairies to highland games, competitions and band performances at community events and parades. Gerry attended the pipe and drumming school at Qu’appelle, Saskatchewan and served as a drum instructor at the International Peace Gardens Festival, on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota.
Shortly after graduating from high school, Gerry set out to make his mark on the world – first heading to Windsor, then Whitby where he worked as a technician contributing to the building of the Darlington nuclear plant. He continued his drumming interests and activities, joining the Macnish Distillery Pipe Band and participating in highland games, band and drumming competitions and parades from Montréal to Toronto, and Detroit to Chicago. Gerry’s summers were a whirlwind as he juggled a heavy work week at the plant and the travel and touring of the pipeband circuit every weekend. But he loved it and would talk at length about the adventures of being “on the road” with Macnish. A highlight of those years for Gerry was playing with the 78 Frasier Highlanders out of Toronto and traveling to Scotland to compete in the world championships.
In 1993, he moved to Kincardine to take up employment with the Bruce Nuclear Power Development, where he worked until his retirement in 2016. Gerry made his home in Kincardine with the warmth and friendship of the community, the beauty of Lake Huron and surrounding counties, and in a home he established one block from the roaring waves of the lake. He continued with his highland drumming activities, taught drumming at a local school and travelled to visit family and friends. He enjoyed golfing, tennis, cross-country skiing, following his favorite Canadian rock band Rush, and driving the winding roads of Bruce County in one of his many cars.
Gerry was dedicated to his cats Donner, Daisy-Mae and Dizzy-Doo, his constant companions on cold wintry evenings, wrapped up with the many books that he read…although the wakeup call for feeding at 4 a.m. was not always appreciated.
Gerry is predeceased by his father Ronald Radford.
He will be dearly missed and always remembered by his many cousins, aunts and uncles; his mother Maxine Radford; his two brothers, Laurie and Doug, and their respective wives, Miriam and Cindy; and by his two nieces Mikaela and Kesia. May Gerry rest in peace.
A funeral service to honour Gerry’s life was held at the Davey-Linklater Funeral Home in Kincardine at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021.
Memorial donations to the Huron Shores Hospice would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
Portrait and memorial available online at www.daveylinklaterfuneralhome.com.