It is with broken hearts that we sadly announce the passing of Ronald on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Born in Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island on September 27, 1931, Ron was the youngest of six, all predeceased.<\/p>\n
Loving partner, husband and best friend of Barbara for 72 years of marriage. Father to their five children Nancy, Steven, Janet, Judy and Sandra. Grandfather of Erica, Lisa, Karlin, Shane, Jeffrey, Kiel, Jamie, Andrew, late Krystian, Jodi, Jordan and Brett. Great Grandfather of Sienna, Annikka, Chelsea, Marissa, Shaeah, Anika, Madison, Haydon, Krystin, Alexis, Zach, Mason and Olton. He was described by his grandchildren as the best man they knew and their idol. Much loved, respected and looked up to by all of his \u201ckids\u201d. They wanted it known that he was there for our first day on earth and we were honored to be there for his last.<\/p>\n
Ron was a Sgt. in the RCAF as a Flight Engineer for 26 years. He was the last living Flight Engineer to fly the Lancaster in RCAF. All Lancs on display in Canada, he flew. This was his favourite plane. While in the Air Force he flew all over the world and always brought something home for his kids. He bought his Model A in 1958 for 45 dollars and always told his son, Steve it would be his. He was a carpenter, plumber, electrician and Class A mechanic. Retiring to Gore Bay in 1976 he opened Armstrong\u2019s Garage which he ran for many years before fully retiring and moving to Sault Ste. Marie.<\/p>\n
He loved to share stories about his time in the Air Force, many adventures, close calls and collegial pranks. He was a proud Legion member for 55 years.<\/p>\n
He enjoyed square dancing while living in Nova Scotia, curling, wolf hunting in winters in Gore Bay on snow machines with friends, playing cards at the Legion and would volunteer to help where needed such as repairing the Angel Bus in Gore Bay. Anything that needed fixed, he was happy to help. His kids all benefitted from his skills in fixing our cars, building us sheds or anything else that was needed. He designed and built his house in Gore Bay and built another house nearby for his daughter. In the early 70\u2019s he converted an old school bus to a camper so that we could camp in Nova Scotia and travel to Gore Bay for a summer visit with family. His kids were his world as were his \u201cbabies\u201d his dogs Heidi, Furby, Sammy and Nova.<\/p>\n
He loved to garden, watching the Blue Jays, going to auctions and car shows, westerns, war movies and anything about airplanes. He enjoyed his toasted tomato sandwich for breakfast, KFC and Swiss Chalet were favourite treats.<\/p>\n
Surrounded by his family at Sault Area Hospital, Dad kept his sense of humour until the end. His last concern was that Mom would be taken care of and his babies, Sammy and Nova. He always told us he was not napping, just having a \u201ccrew rest\u201d. In your final crew rest, you will be loved always, husband, father, grandfather and friend. Much loved by many nieces and nephews, family in Nova Scotia and Manitoulin.<\/p>\n
As per his wishes there will be no formal funeral service. The family will gather around mom for a meal and remembrance. The family would appreciate donations in his memory to the Canadian Cancer Society, Royal Canadian Legion or St. Andrew\u2019s United Church (Silver Water, ON). Arrangements entrusted to Northwood Funeral Home Cremation and Reception Centre (942 Great Northern Rd, 705-945-7758). Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be offered at www.northwoodfuneral.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is with broken hearts that we sadly announce the passing of Ronald on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-927266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}