Gerald Smith Finlay

Gerald (Gerry) Smith Finlay, was born on December 16,1933, in a tenement at 39 Bangor Road, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the 4th of 7 children born to hard working and loving parents, George Jack Finlay and Sarah Alexanderina Thomson Forret Finlay. Although times were hard for the families in the 1930s and 1940s, Gerry had a happy childhood with his family and friends. He was not an angel at school and was up to mischief, the same as any other boy. Hard to believe when you know the man he became.

His father was good at making things out of wood and would make toys for the children for Christmas, (he was good at carpentry) a skill which was passed on to Gerry who built and fixed many things throughout the years, from a big dolls house for his daughter Alex to tables, units and even a house.

Gerry joined the Boys Brigade (similar to the Scouts but more on the military side) when he was 6 years old and enjoyed many years of fun, games, camping trips with his brothers and friends. Into adulthood he became a Boys Brigade Leader helping to run the local company.

At 15, he left school and started work at Henry Robb’s Shipyard in Leith in the loft. Once he turned 16, he started as an apprentice loftsman (this is a draughtsman but drawing the ships to full scale) drawing in big hangars. He continued this line of work and eventually did this on the computer at various shipbuilding companies around the world, from Leith in Scotland, Lima in Peru, Brownsville, Seattle and San Diego in USA and Vancouver and St John’s in Canada.

Once he completed his apprenticeship he was conscripted into the army for 2 years between 1955 and 1957. He was based in Colchester and Aldershot in England where he earned his parachute wings.

Gerry was billeted to Glencorse Barracks, Penicuik, Scotland for his last 10 weeks. It was while at Glencorse Barracks that he became friendly with a guy from Loanhead who later introduced him to Marguerita McIntosh.

He met and fell in love with Marguerita McIntosh (Rita) in 1957. They went out together and became engaged, marrying in 1959. Gerry and Rita had a daughter, Alexandrina (Alex). They had a happy life, living close to Rita’s family in the Roslin area of Midlothian, Scotland. Strike action was threatened at Henry Robb’s shipyard and Gerry and the family moved to Peru for contract work for the Peruvian Government and stayed there for 4 years before returning home to Roslin. They were on the move again to Barrow-in-Furness with Gerry’s work but strike action was again threatened which was when Gerry moved to Brownsville, Texas. Unfortunately all the moving about was to be the demise of his relationship with Rita and they parted.

He started bowling at the age of 17 when he was introduced to the game by his work colleagues. He continued playing bowls during his lifetime where he excelled and taught others, achieving many trophies on the way and even playing and coming 2nd in the Canadian championships, being pipped to the winning step by 1 point.

When in Canada in the late 1970s, Gerry met Mona Leaker and they married in 1979. They were together for a while but eventually divorced in 1987 although they stayed good friends. They decided to remarry in 2000 and Mona sadly passed away in March 2009.

In 1990 Gerry became a Grandad, it was one of the proudest moments of his life. He adored and was so proud of his grandson, Rory. Once Rory was a bit older, he taught him how to play bowls and they would go to Dalkeith Indoor Bowling Club every Saturday morning, without fail, finishing off at Troy cafe for lunch. He was also the proud Grandad at Rory’s wedding to Lauren in 2016 and was over the moon when his Great Grandchildren Lucas and Arabella were born.

In his retirement, Gerry found time volunteering in various ways. These included running the social club in the Lynn Valley Kiwanis building, helping the RCMP in some traffic improvement initiatives such as number plate checking and speed monitoring and also driving people home from bars to reduce the risk of drink drivers. All part of the newly formed North Van Community Police (NVCP).

He met Bonnie Robertson on 31 December 2010, who would then remain his lifelong companion. Gerry brought Bonnie back to Scotland to meet the family and see how beautiful his country of birth is. Alex researched both of their family trees and on a few trips to Scotland, took them on a trail of their ancestors, which they loved.

Bonnie’s family were also so welcoming of Gerry and he spent many days in their company over the years. Bonnie’s family had adopted him.

When health limited his ability to bowl anymore, Gerry rekindled his love of darts and also introduced Bonnie to it. As often in his sporting interests he regained his competitive edge and won a series of trophies, including singles championships, pairs and league wins. Gentleman Gerry was his darts nickname and this was emblazoned on his darts shirt. It was a term that truly described him throughout his life.

Unfortunately covid played a part in preventing any further trips to Scotland and Gerry’s health started to deteriorate from 2022 onwards. Bonnie and her family have been a great support during these difficult times.

Gerry was devastated when he found out that Rita, his first wife, had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on 20 March 2024, as he and Bonnie had become very close to Rita during their trips home to Scotland.

When Gerry passed away at home, it was in the company of Bonnie and close family, who had all travelled from Scotland to see him on holiday. Those last couple of weeks seeing his great Grandchildren, brought a lot of joy to him.

At 90 years old, he’d lived a long and fantastic life. However, in the past couple of years, age had began to catch up with him and with deteriorating health in recent months, we can all take comfort that he is at peace now.