David (Dai) Lewis Roberts

It is with gratitude for a life rich with adventure, we announce the passing of Dai, a husband, father, step-father, grandfather, uncle, and friend.

Dai (David) Roberts was born Feb 19,1936 in Liverpool, England to his parents John Roberts, a surgeon, and his wife, Enid (nee Jones), both of the Welsh Calvinist Methodist community. The family settled in the heart of rural Anglesey, North Wales for the war years. After the war, they moved to Bangor, North Wales where Dai’s life of sailing commenced along with his sister Leah and brother Trevor, sailing in Treleda, a Menai Straights 20 foot one-design sloop.

Dai attended Stow Boarding School and Loughborough University of Technology, graduating in 1957 as a civil structural engineer. Dai’s first engineering jobs were in London, including the tunnelling under the Surrey docks. He spent happy, social times in London, primarily at the London Welsh Club, where he met Eurwen Jones. They married in 1959, three days before immigrating to Canada, landing in Toronto.

Dai was a natural engineer, with an insatiable curiosity and a propensity to problem-solve, invent, fix, plan, and explore.

In Toronto, he was a tunnel engineer for the St Patrick’s subway station, under University Avenue. When this completed, Dai and Eurwen commenced driving across Canada, camping and towing the sailing dinghy they had built, prior to the building of the Trans Canada Highway. They eventually settled in West Vancouver and had three children, Bryn, Sian, and Dylan (Griff).

Dai managed various interesting construction projects across BC, including numerous highways, building a government fallout shelter in Nanaimo, Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, many high-rise apartments, industrial buildings, and a few custom homes. Perhaps the most interesting projects were building the Whistler Peak Chair and the Whistler Express Gondola.

While engineering was a lifelong passion, his greatest love was being on the ocean. Dai owned six large sailing boats over the years. He raised his family as sailors and they spent months aboard boats for many years in the beautiful waters of British Columbia, permanently imprinting a love of life on the water. Hi son Bryn became a Canadian Coast Guard officer and then a super yacht captain in Mallorca, Spain. Sian partnered with a yacht racer and after 10 years of cruising in Lake Ontario purchased a Dutch canal barge in Europe. Dylan was never far from the ocean and nature, spending his final years in Tofino, B.C..

Dai sailed two of his boats across the Pacific and back; on “In the Mood” with his second wife Carol and her daughter, Carrie. With his wife, Wendy, they spent 10 years sailing a 50-foot ketch, “The Welsh Dragon”. They explored the entire West Coast, including significant time in Haida Gwaii, around Vancouver Island and all the way to the Alaskan border. They operated a charter business for a number of years and also entertained many friends and family. The freezer was usually full of fresh caught salmon and halibut. Dai sailed over 100,000 nautical miles over the years, much of it by celestial navigation.

Always curious and looking for new adventures, he obtained his pilot’s license and bought a Cessna 172 to explore BC from above. After a few years, he observed that it was potentially more dangerous than being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and decided to stick to the seas.

His community work reflected his varied interests. He was an early member of the Eagle Harbour Yacht Club, very much involved in it’s rebuilding after a major storm. He was on the executive for seven years, and was Commodore in 1976. He was a founding member of The Rotary Club of Bowen Island and spearheaded the installation of 20 defibrillators across the island. He was an active member of the Foundation for Global Community where he made lifelong friends. Dai had a deep love and respect for our environment; on behalf of the Western Canada Wilderness community, he managed the building of the Witness Trail through Clayquout Sound to allow others to experience it’s beauty.

Dai often remarked that he had a wonderful life with family, friends, and so many adventures within a life on or near the ocean. He has said that similar to an Arbutus tree, he could only flourish within sight of the ocean. His was a life of adventures and he states that his passing is simply the start of another big one. On June 25th, by his own choosing, he "slipped away from his mooring" to sail across the “unknown sea to the unknown shore”, with Wendy and Sian by his side.

He is lovingly remembered by his wife Wendy Roberts, children Bryn Roberts (Linda Perusko Roberts) and Sian Roberts (Kevin Dunal), step-children Leontyne (Alan Burdett), Sebastian Hanna (Vicky Reynolds) step-daughter Carrie (Dan Griffin), Dustin Dockendorf, grandchildren and step grandchildren Megan, Sophie, Liam, Kara, Hailey, Alina, Owen, Bodhi, Eli, great step-granddaughter Kya; brother Trevor, nephews and nieces John, Karen, Glynn, Susan, and Yvonne, step nephews Andrew and Christopher, brother-in-law Peter Forsythe and sister-in-law Daphne (Jim Bradley), and many friends. He looks forward to catching up with those who have gone before him, on the Unknown Shore.

A service will be held when family is able to gather, some months away, and will be announced. In the meantime, please raise a glass to a life well lived. In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charity of your choice.

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The poem, “The Unknown Shore” by Elizabeth Clark Hardy, really resonated with Dai, conveying his next adventure exactly as he envisioned it:

https://www.bluemoment.com/poetry/unknownshore.html