Dad died March 9, 2025, at night, peacefully in his sleep.
Our family asks for privacy. But donations to the Red Cross in his name would be appreciated.
Both the Canadian Red Cross and B.C. Health Care system were fantastic supporting his final days.
All palliative care was delivered in the home. Better than the hospice or hospital, in our experience.
___________________
I’d always liked the photo below on a German document. Dad had it posted on the fridge.
We could assume it was a military I.D. from his years serving with the Canadian Armed Forces in Deutschland — BUT it turned out to be his German Fishing Licence from 1962.
I’m posting this photo as it preceded the injury suffered while Dad was playing hockey for the Canadian Forces team. He lost an eye from a skate to the face which led to a medical discharge from the Army.
… Dad loved fishing. He owned 6 boats over his lifetime.
End of life came shockingly quickly.
One day we were grocery shopping and downing chicken wings at the local eatery. The next his bodily systems began to shut down.
One of the first warning signs was a loss of interest in watching his favourite TV shows: Hogan’s Heroes, Perry Mason, Matlock, Father Brown, Bonanza, Beverley Hillbillies, Green Acres.
Dad loved routine. Every day the same schedule. Any change not appreciated.
Here’s a slideshow of photos from his retirement years. Dad died age-94 — still with a driver’s licence.
Dad and I spent many days at French Creek Marina watching birds in the river delta.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Mom & Dad bought insurance in 2014 which paid for most of their funeral expenses. In fact, all we had to do was make one phone call to a 24 hour / day number and most of the arrangements were made for us. It simplified things immensely when we were grieving.
In addition, they’d simplified their estate as much as possible. We still had one investment that required probate, but the rest was very easy.
Rick McCharles 
Sorry to hear about your dad, Rick. Sounds like he lived the life he loved and loved the life he lived.
Thanks Rocco. His father died at age-48. A brother age-44. Dad certainly defied the odds right to the end.
Hi Rick, sincere condolences on the loss of your father, Eric. Many memories of him from long ago.
Jim McLuskey
Thanks “Mr. M”. Of course Mom and I are often talking about the OLD days. Dad remembers best the construction of your home. All the best. I’ll stay on with Mom so she can continue living in her own home. I’ll wish her HAPPY 96th BIRTHDAY from you this month. – Rick
Yes, please wish her a happy birthday from me. Thank you
I am so happy that I got to know your dad. Not much, but I do remember working with him one summer when he was building houses for Skinner. We (Rich, too) must have been just one step above completely useless but both of us were super eager and your dad was super patient. You might think it would not have been so easy to be so patient after downing eight or nine cups of coffee but the coffee never seemed to affect him and Rich and I learned quite a bit, eventually.
Probably my favourite memory of your dad was when he (and my dad) came together to collect their wayward sons from a security guard at the building site of the soon-to-be new Mount Royal College. Everybody else escaped as you would have, too, had you not decided to save your runners from rhe muck.
I was expecting thunder: instead, we got a boys-will-be-boys spring sunshower. They seemed mostly interested in how we managed to survive our jump “from three stories down”, as the security guard had relayed to them. I wonder how much that moment affected my own dadding.
We used to deny, then worry, then laugh at how much we seemed to be turning into our dads. Seeing the sketch of you (below all the comments here) makes me accept how inevitable it all is. We are all some mashup of this and that but there can be no denying, looking at that drawing, that some part of Eric Maurice McCharles lives on in his son.
Thanks Robert, … I mean Brian.
I’d not thought about our death defying jump from the 3rd story for some long time. 😀
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