November 1, 1935 – November 4, 2019
It is with deep sorrow and much love that we remember the life of Robert (Bob) Alva Eveleigh who passed suddenly at his home on November 4th, 2019 just 3 days after his 84th birthday. Beloved husband of Margaret (nee Gourlay). Son of the late Dorothy (nee Bowerman) and Harry Eveleigh. Brother to Faye and Rexford (dec). Father to Margaret (Michael), Janice, Robert and Stephen. Grandfather to Andrew, Simon and Alex. Uncle to Paul, Judy, Richard, Susan, Sharon, Heather and Terry.
Bob was born in the old Picton Hospital on Hill Street and spent his childhood in Prince Edward County. He would often reminisce about the family farm on Mowbray Road: the long summers growing and picking tomatoes for the local canneries, the incredibly high winter snowdrifts that made getting to school difficult, and the challenges of trying to misbehave while having a mother who was both a teacher and the principal at that very school. Bob’s strong, farm-raised, work ethic remained with him throughout his life and was applied to any task he undertook.
Bob went on to complete a degree in electrical engineering at Queens University. A fond memory he had of those years was of a geological expedition to northern Ontario: the bag of rock samples he collected during that trip travelled with him during his life.
He met the Scottish-born love of his life at a church dance in Montreal and the couple was married on a chilly April day at Picton United Church in 1959. The pair remained inseparable for over 60 years sharing both the joys and the tribulations of raising four strong-willed children.
His career with Bell Canada saw numerous moves throughout the years: Montreal, Ottawa, New Jersey, and Toronto. The family eventually moved to a 150 acre farm in Erin Ontario in the mid ‘70s. During this time in Erin, Bob rediscovered his deep love of farming and would spend many hours in the fields, often conscripting his unsuspecting children into heavy manual labour which they still remember and complain about to this day.
The family enjoyed many summers at a cottage Bob built by himself in Quebec. He would often tell stories about his toddler daughters clambering over unstable wood beams during the construction as well as the times not one, but both of his sons ill-advisedly tried to walk on water off the dock.
The pair travelled around the world but his favourite trip was to Devon England where he indulged his strong interest in genealogy; tracing generations of Eveleighs through church records and cemetery walks. He also enjoyed meticulously tracing his mother’s PEC Bowerman-Moore heritage back to the 1700s.
Upon his retirement in 1995, Bob and Margaret returned to his roots in Prince Edward County, buying the beautiful but neglected Sills-Hepburn House overlooking Picton harbour. They would spend the next 20 years lovingly restoring the heritage house to its former grandeur.
After a long life well-lived, Bob now rests in Cherry Valley Cemetery, his plot fittingly overlooking a Prince Edward County farm field.