Obituary of William Phillip Lampman

We celebrate the life of Bill Lampman who left us peacefully in Ottawa on December 1, 2022, at the age of 102.  He was born in Hamilton Ontario on February 18, 1920, the son of Frank and Margaret Moore and was raised on a farm near Sovereign and in Rosetown Saskatchewan.  He leaves very happy memories that are cherished by his friends and family.  He is predeceased by his wife of 69 years Margery Irene (nee Docking) in 2017 and his daughter Brenda Weinrauch in 2009.

He is survived by his sister Bette Milliken of Calgary AB, his daughter Judy (Grant Hopkins) Callingham, and grandchildren Kevin Lewis, Todd (Cara) Lewis, Christopher (Kelly) Weinrauch, Nick (Kate) Weinrauch, Christina (Tristan Eclarin) Callingham, and Johnathan (Bianca Papai) Callingham. Also, great-grandchildren Gavin and Owen Lewis, Isabella and Victoria Lewis, Mason Weinrauch, and Maliya and Luka Eclarin and many nephews and nieces.

After high school, he served in the RCAF from 1939-1945 as an armament instructor in eastern Canada training thousands of airmen from many different countries under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

After discharge from the Air Force, Bill settled in Saskatoon, enrolled in engineering at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and farmed in Sovereign in the summers. In 1948, he married his lifetime mate Margery whom he met at university.  He soon began his teaching career in Agricultural Engineering.  He moved his young family to Ames Iowa, where he earned his Master’s degree from Iowa State University in 1962.  He returned to teaching at the U of S and doing his research into such things as swine husbandry, feed mill construction and operation, oil testing, studies in poultry and materials handling which included developing the first fruit leathers.  He retired in 1985.

Bill had a wide range of interests and exceptional talents. These included making sterling silver jewelry, lapidary, ham radio, carving, old fashioned plate printing and photography. He is probably most known for this woodworking.  He made pens and segmented bowls on his little lathe until he was over 100 years old.  The family spent many happy summers at their cottage at Emma Lake where Judy and Brenda learned to water ski on skis he had made and learn to sail on a boat he had also built. There were two famous family sayings.  One was “Daddy Fix” as he could repair anything.  The other was “from 50 feet” which meant that we were being too much of a perfectionist and what we had was really very good and did not need any more work.

Bill and Margery enjoyed square dancing, camping with their 5^th wheel trailer club, and travelled extensively across Canada, the US and abroad.  He was active in many organizations including the Job’s Daughters, Eastern Star, Masons, Kiwanis and McClure United Church. He learned to play bridge and Kaiser after moving into the retirement residence.

Bill will always be remembered as a kind, generous and caring person who lived a full, rich life.  Even people who didn’t know him well found him creative, interesting and accomplished.  He kept his sense of humour, charm and gratitude until the end.  He left his quiet mark everywhere.

A celebration of life will be held in Saskatoon in the spring.  In his memory, donations may be made to Alzheimer Society of Canada or a charity of your choice.