Board

My thoughts on Stefan Board.... some fact and some fiction (around the details..)
LIVED LIKE AN ARROW...
Shot by a bowman strong and accomplished. It flew straight and true, through headwinds, tail winds and cross currents. The bowman was Stef. The arrow was his life.
It wasn’t always so. In his youth he rebelled against a school system that would force his round soul into a square box. This got him into trouble, trouble he took ownership of and fixed. He realized if he had to fit into a square box for the sake of those around him, he needed help. He joined the Army. He toed the line and learned some life skills along with some practical ones which he soon put to good use. The Army and he agreed that they were not a good match and he left – I’m pretty sure on good terms...
Stef found work at Stelco where he became a welder. I met him, living next door on Homewood Ave where he and his wonderful Annie had a home and started a family. He was proud of being able to get back from down by the bay to Homewood Ave faster than any of his workmates who drove while he peddled his push bike. He had a warm and generous nature and soon took me into his life having perhaps sensed that I didn’t know many people in town having moved recently from Toronto.
Not long afterwards he and Annie upped camp and moved to Restoule to take up life as homesteader, welder, mini farmer and apiarist. He built a welding truck that was a marvel of ingenuity. It had steel cabinets for all his welding gear and a lift for his motor bike so he could take it to remote sites and come home weekends or when he could get away without the expense of trundling the large truck home. He worked on bridges and other steel structures and was sometimes short changed by contractors who would disappeare after being paid themselves. Did it get to him? Not on your life. Like an arrow he continued to fly straight and true. Bitterness was not in him.
He kept in touch and I was invited to ski with him and his group of skiers on several occasions. Most notable were trips to Owl’s Head. More Stef was revealed to me here on one particular occasion. The owner’s daughter who had been brought up in the lodge and worked there all her life, was a pretty woman, never married and not the happiest sole. I spent some time chatting with her to try and share her load. I heard how she felt cheated in life by being so closely tied to the lodge. I empathised with her hoping to give her some support. I left her with just as long a face as I had found her. Not long afterwards I heard her laughing and looked over to see Stef chatting with her and laughing along with her. He didn’t go down to people; he brought them up to his arrow and carried them along until they could fly on their own – if just for a short time. Typical Stef: Flying straight and true like an arrow.
He had asked her to join us on the hill for the fondue he and Annie had organized later that day. When she didn’t come, he went and got her. Back on the arrow she came.
Stef died like he lived: Straight like an arrow; quick and to the point. It was a death any thoughtful, clear thinking person wants. It is hard on those left behind but only so long as it takes them to realize what a sweet way it was to go. Early yes but can you imagine Stef incapacitated and dependent on others? No way. The arrow didn’t slow down and gradually give up its flight. It just stopped in mid flight. Do I grieve his going? No. Do I miss him? Like a brother. My one hope is that one day as I am going for a late night pee, he will arrive on his arrow and scoop me up to take me to wherever he has gone.
I cannot be with you all at this last gathering in his name. I am sorry for that. I hope I have added something to the vision you have of Stef and that you will take the time to share with me the visions you have. We all see things from different angles and each perspective adds something to the others. We can never see the whole but we can get closer.
Keep well. Keep in touch. Safe travels. And fly like an arrow.
Rod Innes

I have known Stefan since his days as a ski instructor at Nipissing Ridge where he introduced many people to joys of alpine skiing. His mantra was look well down the hill and then float like a butterfly. I still keep that in mind!
Since that time I came to know him as a unique individual who lived by his own rules, a proud husband and father, a lover of nature and a great skier.
Stef will be sadly missed by many!

Ron McMillan

Stefan often said the universe gives us what we need, not what we want.
The universe brought us together as I was hitchhiking home from grade 9, Stef had just left the army and was driving home after visiting his girlfriend.

My view is that people that intuitively know how to do something don’t need a piece of paper from a school.
Shakespeare had only 7 years of schooling, Beethoven didn’t go to music school, Michelangelo didn’t go to art school, honey bees are not supposed to fly
Today scholars study their work but do nothing original
Stefan became a master welder at Stelco, a skilled sailer at RHYC, a snow ski instructor, a skilled water skier on the Grand River
He took up Karate and began running to Stelco at the other end of Hamilton
Stefan taught me how to waterski, he started Boards Bottoms to repair and maintain snow skis in the basement of his Hamilton home and had me as his trusty minion

But wanted more

One day he told me he had bought a farm up north and was going to support his family using the barter system, he could teach skiing during the winter and trade welding for food and other essentials.

I visited him a few time in his rustic old farmhouse and he and his family visited me at my cottage a few times where we capsized his sailboat in freezing cold March water, his car with trailer rolled down into a big old oak tree missing the cottage, the car needed repair, the Oak tree still has the scar. We all survived.

Stefan introduced many to the incredible edible spectacle of on hill fondue – all were welcome

In the spring of ’75 I visited Restoule to introduce him to my girlfriend, he thought Marilyn was a catch, so we got married in ‘77

The Barter system was a novel idea but welding & ski instructing was paying the bills

But he wanted more

After Marilyn & I got married, Stef decided to try farming bees
By this time he discovered there was nothing he could not accomplish
He created a sweet empire of Soy milk and Honey

The rest is history

Stef became very successful and an authority on Bee Farming, all without a degree, but scientist tell us a Bee should not be able to fly.

I am honoured the universe brought us together – Stef was a friend to everyone, achieved more than most and can now soar like an eagle with his bees that can’t fly

There is so much missing from this obituary, his accomplishments were many, the people he touched are legion.
We are all honoured to have been his friend.
As Stef said often, the universe does not give us what we want, it gives us what we need.
The universe introduced us when he picked me up in his mom’s car on his way home from visiting his girlfriend Ann.
I was about 14 yrs old on Longwood Rd hitchhiking home from Westdale High School.
Calder Weatherston