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Edward Laverne Ivall, 85
Passed away quietly at his home in Atikokan, Ontario on Dec. 12, 2002 at the age of eighty-five in the loving and caring company of his wife Ann.
He is survived by his four children Faith, Lynn (Suzanne), Heather (Chris) and Glenn (Nancy) and eight grandchildren. Ed, who had been a long time resident of Atikokan, Ont., was born in Fort Frances on March 13, 1917. His early years were spent in the bustling town of Rainy River with his six brothers Albert, Jim, Joe, Les and Art and his three sisters Irene, Meryle and Marion - the children of Joseph and Anna Ivall.
On Aug. 19, 1941 at the age of twenty-four, Ed enlisted in the Calgary Regiment of the Canadian Armed forces and after marrying Ann on Feb. 28, 1942, shipped-out from Camp Borden two weeks later. After training in England as a tank driver, he saw action in the ill-fated Dieppe Raid and later on the Sicilian and Italian campaigns. Shortly after one of his tanks blew-up in Ortona, Ed returned to civilian life on October 15, 1945.
With his wife and two children, Faith and Lynn, he started a business as a commercial fisherman off Tomato Island on Lake of the Woods. Then in 1953 he moved to Atikokan, Ont. and for the next twenty-five years worked in Steep Rock iron mines. He particularly enjoyed exploring the rugged wilderness of Northern Ontario hunting, fishing, canoeing and prospecting -an interest shared by all his children.
At home, Ed was a natural born story teller and the yarns he spun to his children about trolls, ogres and leprechauns were later published in a book titled A Leprechaun Fairy Tale. But, Ed was also a visionary and an inventor. He developed concepts for everything from fire alarms, to childproof medicine caps. To extension cords that lit-up when plugged in, to a plane locator for downed aircraft - products that would only appear in the market many years later. In retirement, he returned to Rainy River, the town filled with his boyhood dreams and started a hobby farm. For him and his wife those were truly their golden years.
But perhaps Ed will be most remembered by his family and friends for his friendly, sociable nature and his great appreciation of life. He would often look up at the stars and marvel at God’s creation giving “the Good Lord his due credit.” The Great Depression had made him realize “you should never complain as there is always someone worse off than you” and he never did complain even in his declining years when it was a struggle to stay alive.
In passing he wrote, “Only in memory of a few do we in a moment of thought come to life once more by being seen as we once were.” Many, however, will remember him - he was a very special, gifted person.