May 28, 1932 Helsinki, Finland to Jan. 19, 2014 Victoria, Canada.
A good and gentle man, a proud Finn, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, Paul died in peace at Victoria Hospice. He is sadly missed by wife Deirdre, children Heidi (Craig), Jari (Kaija), Katrina, and step daughter Erica (Dylan) as well as sisters Inge and Kristina (Sweden) and Rode (Finland) and grandchildren and great grandchildren in Canada. He was predeceased by father Nestor Blomkvist, mother Tynna Keinanen, and sister Lisbet Virtanen.
Paul came to Canada in the 1950s, working first in mining, then opening Paul’s Bakery in Sault Ste. Marie before being called by his Lord to work for seniors. When in his 30’s, he upgraded himself from Gr. 9 to a Masters in Social Work and began work as a nursing home administrator. He developed seniors housing in Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC for not-for-profit boards. His family is proud of all he accomplished, although he did his work for the glory of God.
Grateful thanks to Dr. T. Rosenberg, Dr. E. Swiggum, Dr. E. Fretz, Heather and the Home Care Nurses as well as to the kind and caring staff of Hospice Victoria, the Red Cross Loan Cupboard, and Pastors A. Hewlett and D. Fuller of the Open Gate Church and Pastor Jukka Joensuu of Emmaus Finnish Lutheran Church.
Memorial Service to be held at Grace Lutheran Church, 1273 Fort Street, Victoria on Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. followed by a private family inurnment at Royal Oak Burial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice or to Threshhold Ministries/Victoria StreetHope, 105 Mountain View Drive, St. John, New Brunswick E2J 5B5.
McCall Bros. Funeral Home
www.mccallbros.com
11 Responses
To Deirdre and Katrina and Erica and all our Western family. The Chassels of Ontario all had the privilege of meeting Paul on several occasions. He was delightful and wonderful to be with. His dry Scandinavian humour was a constant delight to us, and we loved to debate world issues and spiritual interests with him. His baking was such a wonderful and generous example of his spirit. He did so much good in the world, and was the ideal supportive family guy. . His work was especially valuable for the disadvantaged. He will surely have had a blessed journey to the his creator. We all wish we could be there to support Deirdre but we know there are many friends there for her. Lots of love and thoughts from Celia, Ian, Jeremy, John Peter, Cameron and Rob. The Cousins from Ontario.