Bill Hammer

Bill’s love affair with the Shuswap began with his arrival in Canoe in 1958.  His physical self left Salmon Arm on October 2nd, 2021 saying We Are One.

Bill and Ellen started their early married life with their two kids being owner operators of Canoe Garage.  There are many cherished stories of Bill being the mechanic there - a few favourites: Friday chocolate cake, washing machine explosion, a dime for a home run, and dog food sandwiches - ask about those ones.

Bill loved being active.  It was one of his musts.  Coaching, umping and playing softball, golfing, curling until he was 89 (he is quite pissed off to be missing out on free curling this season), square dancing and water skiing. While at the cabin boating, barbecuing, almost any card game to name but a few.  He used his intelligence and could fix or MacGiver most anything.

He and Ellen RV’d across Canada and down through the US the year Bill retired from Salmon Arm Insurance, some of their happiest times was socializing with the RV club and travelling with family or friends to Jamaica, Hawaii, along with many other vacation destinations.

Every plant, shrub, and tree on his little plot of land thrived by his hand.

Another quality and expectation was be generous. His 60 year tenure and life member of Elks was a point of pride.  Bill was one of the driving forces behind buying Broadview Community Park and getting the Elk’s Hall built.  He literally gave away a million dollars (yes, seriously) through his generosity & volunteerism with the Elks lodge.  Balancing profit and generosity when he was a car salesperson at Ebert motors in Haney BC would have been interesting. Bill would always look after and put his clients, staff, or fellow workers first.

Bill was determined (some may say Hammer stubborn) - he conquered sight loss, hearing loss, back pain, knee replacement, having his leg crushed by logs, traumatic injuries in his Comet on highway 97 by Bairds and lung cancer.  If he could say what he laments, because he was stolen by a medical oversight hear his voice saying I had plans for Thanksgiving; I wanted to see my work as project inspector at Steve and Melissa’s home completed; I want to hold my third great grandchild; and I had Christmas wishes to give away. 

We will all miss his big strong hugs the ones that were kind and almost deep enough to last through a lifetime. 

Left to cherish his immense loving heart and his laughter are his wife of 67 years Ellen, son Steve and Melissa, daughter Cheryl (John predeceased), their grandson Jesse, Karly, two greats Lily and Izzy, granddaughter Blaire, AJ and their “a half” (on the way), step grandson Dalten, his sister, three brothers in law, many nieces, nephews, and treasured long time friends.

At Bill’s request, please celebrate and/or remember him in your own way.

A zoom link invitation may be forthcoming to join in for a red wine, scotch, rye, or coffee to say goodbye (No water) If you would like an invitation to chime in or join this session please  send your request to bugsh@telus.net