April 10, 2020
R. (Robert) Lorne Nicholson, formerly of Abbotsford and Mission, BC passed away in Kelowna on April 10, 2020, at the age of 86 years, of natural causes. He was born in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, and moved to the Fraser Valley as a small child. Lorne won the first Soap Box Derby, held in Mission in 1946 and again in 1947 when the winner advanced to Akron, Ohio finals. He was a member of Kinsmen in, Mission, BC, an avid flyer and long time member of the Abbotsford Flying Club and the Abbotsford Airshow Society. Lorne was a Master Mechanic and worked in the Auto Industry until the 1970's when he went to work for Monsanto, Phos Check Division in Abbotsford. Lorne was predeceased by his ex-wife wife Lynn Chadwick in 2011, and step grandson Kevin Stephens in 2015.
In 1980 he remarried, and he and his wife, travelled extensively and spent their winters in California and Arizona until he was transferred (1994) to California to manage The Monsanto Wildfire Equipment Division until 2000. They continued to live full time in Yuma, working at La Mesa R.V. in the winter and summering in Show Low, Arizona until Lorne's full retirement in 2008. In 2016 they returned to Canada and took up residence in Kelowna.
He will be proudly remembered and sadly missed by his loving wife, Jacqueline, his children Doug Nicholson (Laura), Pam Nicholson-Blackmon (Randy Neufeldt), Shelley Stout (Jack) and stepchildren Jo-Anne Hollander (Greg), Bill Stephens (Lori), Valerie Stephens and Donna Lee Bargen (Viktor), 25 grand and step grandchildren and 27 great and step great grandchildren, all who dearly loved Pappa.