PAUL SAUNDERS
July 3, 1924 to
May 17, 2010
Paul, son of John Robert Saunders and Laure Marie Louise Pirnay, was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Belgium. At the outbreak of WWII, he went to Britain where he became a quality-control inspector at a Mosquito Aircraft factory and also served in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.
After the war, he immigrated to Canada and moved to Toronto, Ontario. In 1952 Paul met Margaret at a party and as the saying goes, fell in love. They were married and raised two daughters, Anne and Patrice. It was in Toronto that he started his career in sales. Eventually his interest in real estate led him to become a Realtor. Later, he held a position as a Real Estate Consultant for a company called Paramount.
Paul’s many pastimes which were shared with his family included sailing; fishing; building boats, furniture, and buildings; playing chess; tinkering with radios, machinery and appliances; fabricating all-terrain vehicles and taking photographs-both still and movie. His interests greatly varied. Reading was a great passion; history was a favourite subject; as well he instilled in his children his abiding love for nature. Other cultures fascinated him, in particular he was interested with the First Nations Peoples and their culture.
Paul was fluent in French, had some Portuguese and a little Italian as well. He absolutely loved Classical music and was fond of dogs. It was hard to keep up with him at times because he had so many interests, but he was a lot of fun as well.
It was in the early 1980’s when he and Marg first became acquainted with Salt Spring Island and were so enchanted with it that they moved and built a home here. Paul quickly became a member of Salt Spring Island sailing club. He and Marg enjoyed the wonderful lifestyle on the Island-fishing, sailing, enjoying the fantastic sunshine and hunting shellfish.
As a husband and father, he was outstanding in his loyalty and kindness to his family. His advice was sound. Always ready with a joke, his sense of humour was keen and his tales of his early days in sales or experiences with government officials were hilarious.
As members of his family, we are very proud of him, his loyalty to us and to his country.
Recently, Paul passed away at Lady Minto Hospital and a private memorial was held.
We miss him very much.
Paul’s family