Gerald George Key passed peacefully at home February 6, 2021 in Penticton, BC
and leaves to mourn his wife Violet (McInnis), his daughter Jill of Alberta,
and his sons Kevin, Richard and Jason of British Columbia. He was
predeceased by his son Ernest (2008), and his first wife Julia (Waldowski),
who passed in 2011. The youngest of a family of eight, he was also
predeceased by his mother Florence and father Ernest, his brothers Daniel,
Lester and Wallace, and sisters, Norma, Phylis, Opal and Eileen, and leaves
numerous nieces and nephews.
Jerry was born in Hughenden, Alberta on November 16, 1928, of a father of
English ancestry (born in Ontario) and a mother of Norwegian (born in
Florence, Washington State). He raised his family in Saint Albert, Alberta
where he held roles in the community, particularly with the Lions Club. A
coastal Kwakiutl-carved totem pole he preserved and painted stood at the
entrance to Lions Park for a third of a century. He was renowned for
donating blood, and consistently gave to the Canadian Red Cross for so
long, they did not have an award pin as high as the numbers of years he
had donated. He worked professionally in the Edmonton area as well as
Richmond, BC, where he retired, and spent 5 years with the Coast Guard
Auxiliary, before retiring to the Okanagan in 1996.
Jerry rests with his son Ernest, who he also predeceased, in the Lakeview
Cemetery, overlooking Okanagan Lake. The family thanks the staff at the
hemo-dialysis unit at the Penticton Hospital for their years of care to Jerry,
and donations may be made to a kidney cause.
