Thursday, October 26, 2023
I met Nils in 1971 in White River when posted there with the Ont Dept of Lands and Forests that transitioned to the OMNR in 1973 when we joined the Wawa District. Our families have been friends for over 50 yrs. We made countless fishing and hunting expeditions over the years and he was always the life of the camp even well into the night when his snoring kept everybody awake if you didn’t get to bed before him LOL. I gave him the moniker “Sailor” in our Kenora deer camp in deference to his Navy years and it fittingly hung with him over the years.
He was very talented as he could fix or build most anything as exemplified by the refurbishing of the former Beaver Rock Lodge cabins in Lake Superior Park making it into a first class girls Junior Ranger Camp and he always made himself available to help friends with their projects such as Bill and Sylvia Mills’ cabin on Longbow Lake that became our deer camp for many years.
As in most aspects of life humour keeps the spirit alive and Sailor was an inspiration in that regard. The one moment that stands out, and there were so many, was the winter of 74 when moose hunting out of the old blacksmith shop at Kenshoe Lake. We were hunting an area we called “the farm” ,as it always harboured moose in late winter, and after a long trek Sailor came upon some moose and dropped a big cow with one shot and then the bull stood up. When he tried to take the bull he discovered that the action on his semi-auto rifle had frozen; it was -40F that morning. He quickly discovered that his system embraced a paucity of the morning- coffee-effluents since after trying to thaw out the rifle to no avail after peeing on it no less than twice, the bull just walked away disdainfully. To really appreciate this story you’d need to have been there to hear Sailor tell it in great detail, it was a priceless moment LOL.
The family is wished sincere condolences from all of us including my son Tom in Geraldton, our buddies Kevin, Eddie, Eric, Couter and Dave that hunted out of the Kenora camp, Slyvia Mlls and bro Moe in Kenora, Ron and Kathy Doyon in Thunder Bay and many others.
Rest in peace Sailor, you were a special friend never to be forgotten.
Ron Alton, St. Joe’s Island
