William Johnstone Wilson

Bill Wilson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Gordon and Lilja Wilson, both in their thirties. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with an M.A. in English, he taught English Literature at Mount Royal College in Calgary and at Columbia College in Vancouver, serving as Head of the Department for some years in both colleges. He was an excellent teacher, incorporating history, psychology and philosophy into the study of individual works of literature, and, with his great sense of humour, was an inspiration to many of his students. Music was a great love throughout his life, especially classical, jazz and the Beatles. He completed Grade 8 in piano in his youth and was saddened that life and other activities diminished his ability to play well later in life. He supported local arts organizations, including the Vancouver Opera, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Arts Club and Bard on the Beach. Bill loved travelling, especially to Europe, where he could walk in the footsteps of Shakespeare, Dickens, Keats, Mozart and Beethoven and countless other luminaries.

Bill was devoted to his children and was delighted, in 1978, to achieve a long-held dream of showing Europe over three months to his three daughters, Kathleen (15), Denyse (13), and Christine (10), along with his new wife of only a few days, Lynda. Later, they took their son, Aaron, to Europe twice, and to various places in Canada and the U.S, inculcating in him a similar zest for travel as Bill had He loved golf –celebrating his best-ever score of 76 in 2003—and curling--achieving a rare 8-ender as skip with his team in the late 1980s.

Bill achieved 33 years of sobriety, contributing over 25 years of active service to his home group and later, to the extent that his declining health permitted, to another group. He provided by example as well as through sympathetic listening and wise counsel great mentorship to many individuals through those years. Many have expressed great sorrow at his passing.

His first wife, Shelagh Reid Wilson, has predeceased him. His second wife, Lynda Haskins, with whom he shared nearly 48 years of attempting in small ways to make the world a better place, will remember him for his wonderful sense of humour, his depth of knowledge on a wide range of topics, his love of family, his loyalty and, especially, his desire to be of help and succour to her. He will also be greatly missed by his children: Kathleen Wilson; Denyse Wilson and her husband, Michael Zeitlin; Christine and her husband, Paul Moore; Aaron Wilson and his wife, Lisa Topolniski; his sisters: Carol Ann and her husband, Ron Hays; Mary Lyn and her husband, Dwight Blix; and his grandsons: Max Moore; Daniel, Jonathan and Leo Zeitlin; and Charlie Wilson-Topolniski as well as his niece and nephews.

A celebration of Bill’s life will take place at the Shaughnessy United Church hall at 1533 West 33 Avenue, Vancouver at 1:30 pm on Saturday, August 12, 2023.

For anyone desiring to commemorate him, his family would appreciate donations being made to Doctors Without Borders or the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.