Condolence: Joan, your many friends here at the university were so saddened to hear of Don's passing. Your love for him was an inspiration for us all and knowing the depth of that love and devotion means we can try to understand the depth of your loss. Please know that we're thinking of you and praying for you and your family during this incredibly difficult time.

Condolence: Dear Joan We were deeply saddened to hear of Don's sudden passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Joan and Don's family and friends. Wishing you all moments of peace and comfort at this difficult time. Our heartfelt condolence and may God comfort you. Love Ed,Connie,Christopher,Jenny,Jay

Condolence: Dear Joan, We are very saddened to hear of your loss. May your heart and soul find peace and comfort. We are thinking about you and sending our love. Love Mat and Brianna

Condolence: My deepest heartfelt sympathy goes to my dear sister, Joan on the loss of her hubby. I know you loved him dearly and will miss him endlessly. I know, the road ahead will be difficult at first for you; but you will get through this. Remember, that Don will live on in your heart forever, through all the memories you hold dearly. He will always be with you. I want you to know, that you are not alone, and that I will always be here for you, along the way. Also, my deepest sympathies goes to Don's family and friends that loved him. I hope, in the days ahead, that you find comfort through your fondest memories of Don, to help ease your loss. I will miss Don and the times that I spent with both Don and Joan together. I will miss his humour, his laughter, the smokes we shared together, his art, his advice, our little talks, and the kindness that he always extended to me. I know, I cannot change the fact that he is gone, but I can wish for his spirit to soar high and free. I am truly happy for him, that he is now, a free spirit again and is no longer trapped in a broken body. May we all walk joyously through life. Live. Laugh. Love. For we are only here for a short time; and live each day, as if, it is our last.

Condolence: Dear God Thank you for bringing Don into my life. Dear Don Thank you for being my beloved husband in life. Thank you for tapping me on my shoulder and asking me if I would like to roller skate the night we met. Thank you for dating and courting me and asking me to be your wife. Thank you for being my inspiration, giving me your love and being my loving partner through life. Thank you for laughing, loving, and sharing your interests and life with me. Thank you for holding my hand as we walked through the parks, through the shopping malls, along the beaches, and streets in the neighborhoods we lived. Thank you for your spontaneous and sometimes sarcastic humour that made me smile and break out in laughter. Thank you for caring for me in my times of sickness and health. Thank you for loving our family of many cats. Thank you for changing the litter box for all the years you were able to do so. Thank you for singing as we listened to the music we loved to share. Thank you for dancing with me even when you didn't want to. Thank you for being faithful, loving and a devoted husband to me. Thank you for introducing me to spaghetti, pizza, your collection of the The Beatles, Moody Blues, and Fleetwood Mac music. Thank you for tolerating my addiction to playing Elvis music in our home. Thank you for watching tv and movies with me. Thank you for watching the BBC and keeping me up-to-date on current events. Thank you for sharing family times, events and quiet moments with me. Thank you for helping your Mom and Dad build their retirement home and helping them manage their lives during the difficult periods of illness that followed. Thank you for helping your Mom after Dad died. Thank you for holding me in your arms and allowing me to snuggle as we slept though the night. Thank you for sharing your ideas, thoughts, incredible knowledge and insight, drawings and stories with me. Thank you for saying you forgave me for the times my patience wore thin. Thank you for listening to me when I needed to talk or endured other pains or troubles in life. Thank you for telling me to be careful driving each day when I left home. Thank you for telling me that you were glad to see me each day when I came home. Thank you for reaching out to me to hold and squeeze my hand. Thank you for telling me that you loved me. Thank you for all the love you gave me, the special times we shared, and most of all for being you. I love you so very much my darling. You were my strength, my comfort, my life. I will hold you and all that we shared together so dearly and forever in my heart. I will miss you so. You are free of your body now. Do sing, draw, write, laugh, walk and dance. Take care of yourself. This is just a separation right now. Someday I will join you and we can pick up where we left off through eternity. Like the song "Songbird" sings, I'm singing it to you now my darling, "I love you, I love you, I love you." Forever yours, Love always through eternity, Your wife, Joan

Condolence: Dear Joan I am so sorry about Don's passing. It was a real shock to me. It made me realize how sudden life can change. Don was often in my thoughts. I hope he is in a better place and his suffering has ended and he will have peace for eternity. Joan when you feel better, please come up and spend a few days with us; it will do you good. You can sit by the pond and enjoy nature and recharge yourself. You are welcome anytime.

Condolence: Dear Joan I was sorry and shocked when I heard. I hope Don is in a better place and at peace. Jason mentioned some very nice memories that we shared. I will always cherish the times we had together.

Condolence: A Reflection of Fond Memories of Don The following is an excerpt from an email between Don’s nephew, Jason Stoedter and his mom, Judy on May 5, 2016. Hi Mom I'm very happy that you were able to make it back down to Joan's in her time of need. I’m sure that your presence will be very beneficial in this bleak time. I don't want Joan to be sad because this takes away from the dear times that her and Don shared. Don is no longer trapped in a bed staring at four walls and can’t do anything to maintain himself; and Joan is no longer trapped having to care for someone that has no ability to take care of themself; 24-7. Now, is the time to remember the good things about Don when he was mobile; like how they spoiled us little kids with umpteen “Star Wars” toys; how his art work was so great; how he could build a plastic model and make it look real life; how he could talk about sci-fi and other interesting facts until late into the night. Don changed the person I became today from his artistic view on life. It inspired me to explore the different venues that he viewed as important. To this day, I still like models, comics, sci-fi, cartoons, etc. I’ll always remember going for ice cream with Joan and Don and remembering to choose chocolate cause that was what I knew Don liked and I wanted to be like him. I will never forget sleeping over and poring through all his books on sci-fi and “Conan” and art on their bookshelf after everyone went to bed. Yes Joan, I explored after you all fell asleep. Josh and I used to play when we were little, of Joan and Don coming to visit us in Wiarton; I would take a suitcase that I think holds jars of pennies today and pretend it was Don’s brief case full of his latest drawings to show the family. I was always impressed by Don’s artistic skills and wished I could have developed mine to the same level as his. Unfortunately, that never came about; but, this still sticks with me today ... as yet again, I purchased a bunch of digital ink pens yesterday in hopes of maybe trying to draw something in the summer again when I’m on holidays. I guess what I’m trying to say is Don enlightened a piece of my creative brain that I didn’t get from anywhere else and that’s how I will always remember him. I’ll never forget the giant picture of the pirate drinking wine; I’ll never forget driving to Toronto to go to hobby shops, and then watching the show, “Dark Crystal”. I will never forget the X-mas party where everybody was fighting and we left and watched “Star Trek”. I will never forget how excited I got hearing you two were coming to visit. I’ll never forget him taking me with him to his model club; I’ll never forget him reading scary stories under candle light in their Oakville apartment. I’ll never forget that you all owned “Gremlin” cars and that Don’s was pale blue. I’ll never forget that Don had the record by “Electric Light Orchestra” that I played over and over. I’ll never forget that he liked his smokes and coke. I’ll never forget that he got up at 3 a.m. to draw. I’ll never forget that he brought a lot of fun times to us little kids. I also know how he would have hated having to draw "Care Bears" when I know he really wanted to draw "Batman" ... well maybe not Batman ... well something more along the likes of what he liked. To this day, I still disagree with him the YF-23 was the more proficient fighter jet than the WF-22, hands down ... but, I guess some US congressman agreed with Don's vision ... boy were they both wrong on that one. Anyways, to this day, I always have a blue pencil ready for sketching. Hi Jason. Thank you Jason for remembering. Don would be smiling right now and Joan is laughing. Joan says she remembers those times well. Don did leave a good impression on you. I remember how you wanted to draw just like him. It's amazing, I hope Don realized that he made such an impact on your life.

Condolence: Our heartfelt sympathies to you all on the loss of Don. Joan, you were his devoted, loving and caring wife and his life was enriched so much by having you at his side to share it with! We remember fondly the visits we enjoyed with the two of you and the many great movie nights we shared. You are in our daily thoughts and prayers. Love, Don & Monica

Condolence: Joan and family, We are saddened to learn of Don's passing. Joan has shared so much of their life together over the years, that it feels like I knew Don. You are in our thoughts daily Joan. We hope you're doing as well as possible whilst surrounded by your loved ones. Take good care, Tanya