June 8, 1932 - February 4, 2022
It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Michael James Smith; a strong but gentle man. He succumbed to his battle with cancer February 4th, 2022 after spending 10 weeks in the hospital. Mike was born June 8, 1932 in Brighton, England.
He lived his young life in an orphanage in Redding, England and at the age 15; left and went to sea and worked on the big freighters; travelling to many places in the world and living in New Zealand for six years.
Mike arrived in Toronto, March 9, 1953. He worked at odd jobs before he felt the lure of the road where he and a friend, rode 3 speed Raleigh bikes on gravel roads, west from Toronto to Regina. Mike loved Regina; again working odd jobs, but finally felt the pull of the ocean and moved on to Vancouver.
He worked for BC Hydro as a draftsman and enjoyed being sent outdoors to do snow testing and stream gauging in preparation for the Bennett and Revelstoke Dames.
Taking early retirement in 1989 with his wife Martha, they moved to Vernon. On his first trip up the mountain, he met the back country skiers and that started his life with the Vernon Outdoor Club, skiing, hiking, cycling, snow shoeing, building and maintaining trails and loving it all. Sadly, his wife Martha passed away.
Mike was an outdoors man; enjoying fishing, hunting and competing in archery. He was always building things, welding, wood work leather and also had an interest in cameras; developing his own photos, and was a classic "mister fix-it".
The next stage of his life was spent with Ardelle; his partner of which both were immersed in activities in the Vernon Outdoor Club. They had 25 wonderful years living the life they both loved. For the past 15 years and 3 months of every summer, was spent in Moosehaven Resort on Hathaway Lake in the Cariboo. Their second home. Fishing, paddling and cycling.
Mike was a private man; a man of few words, but a true gentleman; kind and helping others always with no thought of reward. This was his nature. He was a humble man with a quiet demeanor; a doer, not a talker and a wonderful sense of humor. He will be sadly missed.