Walter Wilson Doyle

Walter Wilson Doyle of Victoria, BC, died on July 6, 2018 at the age of 96. He was dearly loved and will be sadly missed by his wife of 68 years, Joy (Hollingsworth) Doyle, his children, Reg Doyle and Miriam (Bruce) Pyett, his grandchildren, Graham Pyett and Meredith (Liam) White, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Walter was the second youngest child born to Ferman and Cora (Foster) Doyle, and is the last of the eight siblings to pass away. He was raised on the family farm near Eldersley, SK, and was educated through grade 12 at Clashmoor School. Wally liked to joke that he held a high school reunion every summer because he was the only graduate the year he finished! Walter attended Normal School in Saskatoon and upon completion went off to teach at a rural one-room schoolhouse. His teaching career was cut short by WWII; he joined the RCAF and served as an armaments instructor before going overseas to England towards the end of the war. Upon leaving the Air Force, Walter went to the University of Saskatchewan and graduated with a B.S.A. (Mechanics) in 1951. While at university, he attended a reunion of his Normal School class where he met the lovely Joy Hollingsworth (whom he didn’t really know well when they were both in school). Sparks flew and they were married in 1950.

Less than a year later, they were off on a big adventure together. Walter and his pals, Jim Rooke and Art Strautman, went to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan to manage a 10,000 acre farm project for the Food and Agriculture Organization. After a three-year stint in Africa, they returned to Saskatchewan where Walter worked for Allis-Chalmers and the Department of Agriculture Lands Branch before becoming the manager of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Farm Service Centre in Melfort. In 1976, he was offered his second African adventure directing a rain-fed wheat project in Zambia, another three-year project. Walter rounded out his career as the Director of Facilities and Equipment for the Farm Service Division of the Wheat Pool at the head office in Regina.

He retired in 1987 and moved to Victoria the following year so that he would never have to experience another Saskatchewan winter. He did, however, enjoy many Saskatchewan summers at the family cabin at Kipabiskau Lake. Walter was an active member of I.O.O.F. and Rotary. He served two terms as Councillor for the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists, was a director and then president of the Nipawin Credit Union, and served on Melfort Town Council for seven years. Before and after retirement, Wally and Joy loved to travel. In addition to their African adventures, they enjoyed trips to Europe, Israel, Ireland, China, Southeast Asia, Hawaii and more. As a Husband, Dad, Grandpa, Uncle and Friend, Wally was a kind, intelligent, easygoing and practical man who lived a long, full life...and we are celebrating that.