David Allen Pask

Born in 1931, David attended the Lincoln City Boys Grammar School. While at school he played musical instruments, sung in a choir and worked for a year in an engineering job at the Lincoln water board in 1949. He started at Sheffield University in 1950 and graduated in 1953 with a degree in Civil Engineering. During this time he also attended the army cadets. After graduating National Service was in force in the U.K. but he did not pass the medical due to an earlier infection of tuberculosis when he was 15. His first job was for Tarmac construction building sea defences near Grimsby, England. After this finished he continued with Tarmac where he worked on a major road development near Birmingham. His next job was near Bristol. In 1955 he started at the water board in Lincoln, where he took up a position as a deputy to the Engineer.

During his time studying and working he had a love of motor bikes and travelled many miles to meet Sylvia his first wife from Lincoln who he married in 1956.

He also attended the local All Saints Church where he was the Scout master and sung in the choir. David was always building something. Initially building a canoe in his mothers garden. Then building a garage, retaining walls and a sand pit at their new home in Cherry Willingham near Lincoln. While at university he would go sailing on the Norfolk broads for holidays where his love of sailing started.

After starting at the Lincoln water board he then specialized in water treatment for various water boards during his career in Lincoln, Mauritius and Dundee, Scotland. David and Sylvia had three children, Robert, James and Elizabeth all born in Lincoln who lived in Margate and then finally raised in Dundee where David was the deputy engineer for the Capitol works at the East of Scotland Water Board. One of the major works was the building of the Backwater dam supplying Tayside with drinking water. During this period David designed and built the family home in the evenings in Milner Street, Dundee between May 1972 and May 1973. On leaving Scotland and arriving in Canada in 1976 to be with Flo he obtained a further masters degree in microbiology, in Newfoundland. With this additional degree he transitioned into the treatment of sewage. His final career years were spent in West Virginia between 1990 and 2004, working to assist small holdings sort out water and sewage treatment for a government clearing house. On retiring David continued his choir singing, helped where he could, and continued his passion for hobby electronics.

David is remembered by his family as a loving grandparent, a friend to the community and an avid scientist, even in "retirement." David's immense care and love that he showed for his grandchildren, great-nieces and great-nephews will be remembered as he became an adoptive grandparent to many of the younger members of his family. David's generosity, love and willingness to help others were among his most defining characteristics. He was active in the church choir at Cathedral Church of All Saints and a long-standing member of the Rotary Club.

David is survived by his devoted wife, Florence, his brother John and Arthur, as well as his children and step-children: Robert, James, Elizabeth, Philip, Carol and Simon and grandchildren: Jayne, Harold, Grace, Malcolm, Jackson, Livvy, Leo, Annie and Hazel, and numerous members of his extended family.

He left us too soon as Heaven needed help with decorations.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, December 23rd at 2pm at The Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Canadian Diabetes Association or the Rotary Foundation of Canada.