Obituary of Harry Weightman

CELEBRATING THE LONG LIFE OF HARRY WEIGHTMAN Harry Weightman passed away peacefully at Amica Retirement home in Markham on January 6th 2020, at age 99.1/2. Harry was born on July 26th 1920 to Harry and Maude Weightman in Bournemouth, England. His sister, Amy, was three years his senior. For their growing years, Harry and Amy lived in the Bournemouth area, attending boarding school, while their parents spent several years in Nigeria, where their father was the chief civil engineer, overseeing railroad construction for the British government. Schooled until the age of 16, Harry attended Radio College in North Wales, and became a licensed radio officer. He joined the prestigious Marconi Company and became part of the Civilian Service of the Merchant Navy. As Harry gained experience, he moved to larger ships as a Radio Officer. He spent 9 years at sea, 1937-1946, mainly during the second world-war. He was assigned to approximately 15 different ships during this time and saw many parts of the world. Three major events occurred during the war for Harry: • First, on July 18th 1940, he was torpedoed in the Atlantic Ocean while traveling from Argentina to Liverpool. The famous German U boat, U99, surfaced alongside the lifeboats, the captain checked that they had enough water and provisions and said “Ireland is three to four days in that direction”. All thirty five crew members survived. • Second, in early 1941, he married the love of his life Margaret Isabel Rawlins, a nurse from Bournemouth and the daughter of a gentleman farmer from Wiltshire. They met at a very traditional British afternoon “tea dance”. Margaret and Harry were married for just over 70 years, until she died on May 8th 2011, at age 93. • Third, on Sept 4th 1944, in Bournemouth, England, they welcomed their son Clive Harry Weightman into the world, their only child. After the war, Harry joined British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in Hurn, England and in 1948 moved with BOAC to Heathrow Airport, in their aircraft ground electronics team. His entire career was with BOAC/British Airways (BA) and Bristol Aerospace, working on aircraft electronics. He was so proud to be chosen by BA to be their electronics representative in Seattle for 2 years, at Boeing, for the large 747 project and then by Bristol Aerospace to be the rep on the Concord project, his final project before retiring. Harry and Margaret moved to Toronto, Canada in 1989 to join their son who had emigrated in 1972. Here, they lived a full and active life, enjoying all that Canada offers. Harry was an amazing and wonderful husband for the last 3-4 years of mum’s life. She was in a care home and dad hardly missed visiting a single day in that entire period, spending 2-3 hours every day, including giving her the daily lunch. After Margaret died in 2011, Harry moved to live in Amica, a retirement home in Markham, where he met another wonderful lady, Dorothy Whitmore Saya. It was a true pleasure watching these two 90yr olds have a cuddle and a quick kiss. Unfortunately, Dorothy passed away in June 2017, but left dad with many fond memories and also Dorothy’s daughter Pat, who has been an angel in disguise and adopted dad for the last few years. In the last 2 years another lady came into his life, Penny Yee, as a regular companion. Penny has been dad’s second angel as he struggled with various health issues. She has been my daily eyes and ears over this period. Often helping me with things far beyond being a companion. Dad often said to me “she has been my right arm”. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff at Amica, especially Christine and Cathy, also Dr Wise, his GP. You have all been wonderful people to dad over his 8 years here. Harry is survived by his son Clive (married to Barbara), his three grand-children Melanie (married to Mike), Brian (married to Gill) and Peter, and his five great-grand-children Madison, Sydney, Sam, Daisy and Matilda. Dad…you had a great, long and wonderful life. I will miss you. All my love, your son Clive XXXX