Gordon Maxwell

GORDON MAXWELL
It is very hard to sum up such an amazing man’s life but we did our best to include as many memories from as many of his children and grandchildren as we could while also trying to keep it as brief as a 94 year summary could possibly be.
Gordon Lennis Maxwell was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan on January 15, 1929 to Lennis and Dorothy Maxwell. He was the 3rd born of 7 kids; Irene, William, Gordon, Dorothy, Roy, Donald and Cheryl.
The following part of the history was written from grandma/grandpas memories that they had put onto paper. Grandma didn’t do all of this work for nothing, so we are going to read the main parts of what she had to share.
Gordon started school at Greenwood in 1935. His time before and after school was filled with doing chores.  In the winter he learned to ski, and he would ski to school behind his dog, Bruce.  When he was about 13 he was able to drive a stock team of horses and helped during threshing season at the Creech’s.  For a while he lived at Uncle Norman’s and Aunt Kathleens where he helped with chores and drove their kids to school.
In the winter they would go north of the river to cut down Christmas trees, then set them up on an empty lot in town and sell them for 50 or 75 cents each.
He finished grade 8 in 1943. During the threshing season he helped Uncle George around the district. When the harvest was finished he went into town and lived with Uncle Doug and Aunt Ivy (where Weaver Park is currently situated). He milked cows and delivered milk from door to door. He also picked up cream from the CN train station and took it to the creamery.  With the money he made he purchased a model T Ford truck and around that same time his dad got his first tractor. This is when he became interested in mechanics, while working on his tractor and other machinery. He would eventually purchase various cars to work on.
Grandpa remembered driving tractor for Don Donaldson, and digging a dugout for Ray Ockindon. He would also pick up mail from the CN and take it to the post office for Charlie Johnson.  He worked at Carl Vessey Service station until he purchased a gravel truck which he drove for a year or two.  He then went on to drive a transport truck for Roy Mills.
Grandma and grandpa’s love story began in the latter part of the 40’s when grandma was 13 or 14 years old.  How they met we will share with you straight from grandma’s handwritten words:
“I was becoming friends of older people and old enough to do household chores. Our milkman was Bill Kitteringham and he was married to Louise. I was offered a few duties being out at Louise Kitteringhams during the summer months. That’s where I first met Gordon.  Louise’s kid sister Dorothy was dating Gordon at the time. I told my mom I sure hoped he would drop dating Dorothy so he would go out with me. I dreamed of having him as he was someone I could see myself spending a lot of time together with.  Lousie also had younger brothers who played good dance music at district dances. But, Bill said I would do a lot better going with Gordon as he was a more steady person and we were more suited for each other.  So we did go together until September 4, 1951 when he proposed. We got married on November 12, 1951 (my sister Irma’s Birthday) at the St. Johns Anglican Church.  Mom fixed a lunch that evening so that after our service at 4pm, we had a meal and then went out to Greenwood for the dance.
With their love grandma and grandpa built a family. Together they had 7 children. First came Marilyn, followed by Glenda, Wendy, Arlie, Lennis, Robert and Doug.
Looking back on their early childhood memories, Marilyn always admired grandpas fairness, integrity and how honorable he was and she often thinks that if she would have listened to his advice, a little more than trying to do things her own way, her life would’ve been a lot easier.
Glenda loved tagging along with her dad. She was his helper. Bringing in the cows, milking, cleaning stalls, and plucking chickens were some of her fondest memories of the early years. She also remembers sneaking into the back of grandpas car when he was going to town and about a mile into the drive he would say “you can come out now”..
Wendy recalls her dad always looking after things whether it was pulling her out of mud puddles or scaring porcupines off of the front step, he was their protector and that was his way of showing love.
Auntie Wendy found a poem that sums up grandpa quite perfectly as a father:
He never looked for praises
He was never one to boast
He just went on quietly working
For the ones he loved the most.
His dreams were seldom spoken
His wants were very few
And most the time his worries
Went unspoken too.
He was there….. A firm foundation
Through all our storms of life
A sturdy hand to hold on to
In times of stress and strife.
A true friend we could turn to
When times were good or bad
One of our greatest blessings
The man that we called dad.
Grandpa opened Top Service Centre where grandma, Auntie Glenda and my dad Lennis would help him build bicycles and test drive motorcycles after he fixed them.  Grandpa also drove school bus and of course it is well known that he was the original driver and maintenance man for the Lloydminster Handivan which started up in 1980. Grandpa was incredibly compassionate and the passengers he transported always felt safe and cared for in his hands. Grandpa often went above and beyond his duties. In a letter we found from the Vermilion Auxilary Hospital in 1986 they wrote “Dear Gordon we would like to express our appreciation to you as the handivan driver. Your kind, courteous obliging service is much appreciated. Thank you for taking time on Christmas Day to enable our residents to have Christmas with their families”… to all of us this isn’t shocking to read that Grandpa would spend his Christmas Day ensuring that others were able to be with their loved ones for Christmas. In the words of Auntie Arlie “Dad  always lived and modeled the heart of a servant and gave generously”. In 1995 he officially retired and handed the keys over to his daughter Glenda who continued on his legacy with the Handivan.
After retiring, grandma and grandpa would spend their winters in Arizona. He loved their time with family and friends visiting, golfing or playing in the shuffleboard league. They couldn’t wait to bring home all of the oranges and grapefruit that they picked off the trees and grandpa made sure they were all vaselined up to prolong their life so that we could enjoy them… He also had a trophy in hand to show us from winning his shuffleboard league.  For Nicki, checking on their house and putting in their mail was her first job and grandpa went through the process and task list thoroughly every year that they left even when she already knew the process quite well.
As a father, grandpa was always quite firm.  But, this would all change as his first grandchild, Holly came along. Auntie Wendy recalls a softer, more affectionate side that she didn’t know existed.  And while there were still rules in place for the grandkids, those rules were completely thrown out the window once the great grandkids came along.
Everyone knows the infamous bubble gum machine. As kids we were allowed to take one bubble gum at a time and if he ever saw the bubble gum outside of our mouths we were never getting another piece of bubble gum again.  Well, once the great grandkids came along he couldn’t help them get the bubble gum out of the machine fast enough… and out came the ziploc bags so they could fill those up to the top to hold them over until their next visit too. Oh and grandpa thought it was hilarious when we moved all of the couches out of Hearthstone and found all of the tiny wadded up pieces of chewed up bubble gum that a few cute little ones had tucked behind their couch.
Everyone in Lloydminster remembers his backyard on 32nd street filled with lawn mowers, bicycles, snowmobiles, whipper snippers and ride-ons. It didn’t matter if you ran into someone an hour away from Lloydminster everyone knew who the lawnmower man was in town and looking through some old receipts of what he charged people to tune up their mowers, it’s no surprise he had customers lining up to drop off their machines. Ebony can still describe the unique scent of grandpas backyard… it was a nice combination of gasoline and oil… Puttering around in his backyard and garage was grandpas favorite place to be and grandpa was more than willing to let the grandchildren follow him around and if they were willing to listen he’d even explain what he was doing each step of the way. Uncle Robert was often back there assisting him… The only time he would come in was if grandma called him in for lunch or dinner or if there was company over for a visit.  He was always willing to take a break if it meant a visit with a friend, cousin or any other family member. The kitchen table visits moved to coffee row at Arby’s with some of their closest friends. Grandma would walk there and grandpa would drive her home after their coffee time was over.
Grandpa loved his sweets. He was the ice cream man at the Payne reunion and he taught kids as soon as they were old enough to sit how delicious dipping your fries in a frosty was. Andrew remembers not being allowed to leave the table until he was finished eating all of his supper.. Grandpa got him out of it by asking to take him on a Handivan trip.. and then afterwards,  they snuck out for a banana split at Dairy Queen. It was a guarantee that if grandpa showed up to a hockey game or a ball game that he would have a pocket full of treats whether it be chocolate, werthers originals or some licorice for us kids… and we all remember the bottom of grandma and grandpas closet filled with boxes of licorice all sorts.
At Christmas time grandpa was Santa Claus, in charge of handing out all of the gifts from under the tree. He continued that role even when our family got huge and we moved out to the Blackfoot Hall. His famous fudge at Christmas time was a tradition that carried on since his children were small and if they were lucky enough to sneak out in the middle of him making it they might even get to lick the spoon
How many people in this room had a driving lesson from grandpa?  His course always consisted of the importance of being a defensive driver and some important reminders like always remembering to pump your brakes to save the brake pads and to never let your fuel get below half a tank.  Whether it was dirtbikes, snowmobiles, automatic or stick shifts, he taught most of us how to drive and this is often our fondest memory. I remember when I got the Driver’s Education award in High School, of all of the awards I received that year, I think that one made him the most proud… probably because he thought it was his award.  But, even after he was no longer able to drive he found other ways to teach the next generation. When Blake and Ryan were 4 years old grandpa would plop one of them on grandmas electric wheelchair and one of them on his knee and the lesson would begin. He would of course start them on snail mode and correct their mistakes and then after a few minutes he would tell grandma, mom and I that the girls needed a little more space to learn.   So, out they would go into the hallway at Hearthstone. Out of our sight he would crank the wheelchairs up to rabbit speed and off they’d fly down the hallway. It almost always ended in either bumper cars between the two wheelchairs or one of them running into the wall.  And then when we’d go out to see what was going on and he knew he had been caught, he’d wipe the smile off his face and say “what in the dickens, I don’t know how the speed got turned up so high”… Whether it was grandpa teaching Landon to drive on the hiway at 12 years old on the way home from checking oil wells with his dad and grandpa or my mom at 9 years old diving the station wagon at 60 mph down the road while grandpa crawled in the back to see what the squeak was.. You were never too young to start driving in grandpas eyes.
Grandma and grandpa loved to square dance and some of their fondest memories were through their time squaredancing with friends. Robert, Doug and Lennis fondly remember the yearly trips to the Penticton Square Dance Jamboree. Grandma and grandpa also loved to play cards and as Brandon reminded us of, grandpa was always sure to cheat and look at all of the facedown cards at one point or another in his game of golf. Horseshoes, ball games, washers and dominoes were also among his favourite games to play.
Grandpa loved to find a bargain and he was a collector… not of anything in particular but just of things.  Nicki remembers all of the trips to the “nuissance grounds” where grandpa would find perfectly functional treasures to bring home.. And the Riendeau and McColm kids remember all of the garage sales and auction sales that we would go to. Grandpa would pull out his huge wad of 2 dollar and 5 dollar bills.  He always found something, even if he already had 10 of the same things at home. If it was a bargain he was buying it, even if he turned around to sell it in his next garage sale. A perfect example of his bargains was when he had Jeremy and Jeff shingle his garage. Jeremy had never reshingled a garage using 4 or 5 different colours of shingles before, but that is what grandpa had provided for them. There must have been quite the bargain on those.
Grandpa was extremely generous not just with helping people out financially but also with his time. He would drive across the countryside to transport people to appointments, and he would never miss a graduation, wedding, funeral or a family reunion. He enjoyed his visits out to Rocky, Drumheller, Bruderheim and BC..  If you came to visit him you always left with a full tank of gas and there is absolutely no way he would ever let you grab the cheque if you were out for dinner. In fact that is the only time we really saw grandpa get worked up or angry, was when someone else was trying to take the cheque… Well besides that one time that grandpa caught our cousin Randy swearing at Jeremy, Jamie and Denny and he chased him all over the yard with a broom. But, grandpa taught us the importance of respect, like taking your hat off when you go into a house, opening the door for strangers, giving up your seat for someone else to sit down and picking up garbage even if it wasn’t yours. So many of us continue to do those things not because he forced us to but because he set that example for us.
Grandpa loved to make people think and to teach. In most conversations he would pick the opposite point of view as the person he was talking to even if he didn’t believe it himself, just to argue and make you think. I remember Uncle Paige and him talking about politics and I’m pretty sure they voted for the same political party, but they would always argue the opposite sides. It was all in good fun, and it’s sad that this is a skill that is lost in this generation.  Grandpa always incorporated a lesson into every discussion. One that sticks out for Jadyn is when he wanted her to show him how she could ride her bike without training wheels. She was scared but grandpa told her once she tries something the first time she won’t think twice about it the next time. She didn’t realize how much that has applied to all aspects of her life. Jordan recalls a good lesson in patience when grandpa would pass him a big bucket full of old batteries and would ask him to use the battery tester to find him a couple that still had a strong charge.
Although grandpa accumulated many things in his life, to him his greatest possession was always his family. He loved when Uncle Doug, Uncle Lennis, Arlie, grandkids or any other friends or family were coming to town for a visit.  He couldn’t wait to show them off to his friends. If you arrived with the great grandkids to Hearthstone you knew he was immediately going to throw the kids on his lap and take them for a cruise through the hallways to show them off to anyone who was around. Oh, and when my mom Arlie was going to play her guitar and sing for the residents in the dining room, grandpa always had to proudly carry her guitar to the dining room for her… beaming with pride.
The last few years since losing grandma have been tough on him and that along with the government regulations around covid it really took a toll on his memory. But one thing remained and that was the love his family had for him and that he had for his family. Whether it was his kids singing/playing guitar outside his window, Ryan and Blake setting up x’s and o’s on the window so they could play together or Wendy, Glenda, Arlie or Holly sneaking grandpa outside with a bucket of candy on Halloween so that Nicki, Jeff and Laura could pull up quickly and let grandpa hand out Halloween treats to the kids which was one of his favourite things to do. Our family always did our best to show up for him, just like he always did for us.
This grandpa  is the legacy you have created. It is one of unconditional love. It is one of showing up for the people you love.  Your 7 kids, 17 grandkids, and 17 great grandchildren have learned so much from you. You led a life full of compassion, selflessness and love. You were hardworking, noble and always a gentleman. You led by example in how you treated others and you were the roots that held our family together.  As you go to spend your eternal life in heaven with grandma by your side, you will be taking a piece of all of our hearts with you. Thank you for being the father and grandfather that led your family with grace and kindness. Like Auntie Arlie said in the final minutes of your life on Earth, you did good! We love you so much, and we are so happy that you are now back with the love of your life.
We love you grandpa!
Gordons family would like to thank the staff at Points West Living for their loving care. We would also like to thank Dr. Kevin Govendor for his care over the years. Thanks to Michael Stonhouse and the Anglican Church ladies for the lovely lunch. Last but not least, thank you so much to Glenn McCaw and all the staff that helped us through this difficult time.