We regret to advise of the death of Sapper Gordon Turner Hamilton (Ret’d) on 1 May 2010 in Kitchener ON in his 97th year.
Gordon grew up on the shores of Victoria Lake on the edge of Algonquin Park in Ontario. He attended school in Madawaska ON and worked as a cook’s helper in logging camps before joining the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Engineers in 1940. He landed at Bernieres-sur-Mer in Normandy with the 16th Field Company on D-Day. He stayed with the company through France and the Low Countries and was discharged in 1945.
Gordon had met his wife in England. She immigrated to Canada in 1948 and they were married in Pembroke ON. The experience of growing up “back at the lake” prepared him well for a 31-year career as a conservation officer with the Department of Lands and Forests, Pembroke District. As a young man, Gordon had been an excellent poacher and this likely aided in his superb skills as an enforcement officer. Apparently, many poachers were very relieved when he retired in 1979. When he retired, Gordon and his wife moved to Pigeon Lake near Ennismore ON where they lived until they relocated to Kitchener ON to be closer to their family. He was a member of the Fred Gies Branch #50 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Kitchener.
Cremation has taken place and there will be no ceremony at his request. As expressions of sympathy and to honour his life-long commitment to nature, donations can be made to the Canadian Wildlife Federation.