Obituary of Donald Towell

With heavy hearts, the family of Don Towell of Goulais River, ON announces his death on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 at the age of 83. Born in 1931, Dad was the second eldest of 13 children of Chris and Emma Towell (nee Aiken). His early years were spent in the Thessalon area until the age of 18 when he became employed at Algoma Steel. In the late 1950's, shortly after he and Mom were married, they moved to Goulais River where they raised us, their six children. Dad has left us with many years of memories to cherish. From the Shetland pony he brought home complete with a harness and racing buggy; to the fun that we had as a family with the Goulais River ThunderHawk Snowmobile club; the many weekends spent cross-country skiing at Glendale; the dances at Blueberry Hill; the numerous family weddings we attended (he loved to dance!); the extended-family reunions in Thessalon and Searchmont; and the many spring times spent tapping trees and boiling maple syrup. There were fishing trips and camping trips too, but the outdoor pastime he was most dedicated to was the annual hunting seasons. Dad hunted all his life. Nothing made him more happy, or proud, than to go hunting with his sons, sons-in-law, many nephews, grandsons and close friends, most notably Dave Lawrence and family from Durham, Ontario. Dad simply thrived on the camaraderie that was hunt camp. Whether it was a successful hunt or not, you can bet there were many laughs and lots of good stories to tell afterwards. Just as one hunting season ended, he would start planning and looking forward to the next. In fact just last week he received a moose tag for the upcoming moose season. Suffice to say, the hunt camps at Glendale and Iron Bridge will never be the same without him. Dad is survived by his wife, Margaret (nee Howard); daughter Rhonda Cronin (Jim), son Jeffrey (Kim), son Zachary, daughter Cathy Wilcott (Terry), son Michael (Susan), son Patrick (Laurie); grandchildren Nicole Page (Curtis), Sara Keating (Matt), Chris Towell (Tanya), Justin Towell; Meghan Towell, Giordan Zin, Austin Zin, Lauren Towell, Donald Towell, Amanda Towell, Aaron Towell and Adam Towell, and four great grandchildren Kiara and Tiberious Schofield; Addison and Reed Keating. Predeceased by his brothers Chris, Joel, Warner and Gerry (Joan). Dad is survived by his sisters Iris Gillespie (late Bill) of SSM, Brenda Teubert (Uwe) of Kelowna, BC, Marlene McKinley (Don) of SSM, Sharon Pinder (Dave) of SSM, Wendy Notte (Dominic) of Windsor, ON, Judy Rynard (John) of North Bay, ON and twin brothers Gordon Towell (Lee) of SSM and Garland Towell (Elva) of Kentville, NS. At Dad's request, cremation has taken place and a visitation will be held at Northwood Funeral Home Cremation and Reception Centre (942 Great Northern Road 705-945-7758) on Monday August 17, 2015 from 11:00 a.m. until time of memorial Service in the Chapel at 1:00 p.m. His final resting place will be in Goulais River Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, we ask that memorial donations be made to the Goulais Fire & Rescue.