Read Harry Richard Sumner's Obituary & Leave Condolences

In memory of

Harry Richard Sumner

Parksville, BC, Canada

May 1, 1948 - August 27, 2018

May 1, 1948 - Aug 27, 2018

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Harry Richard Sumner
Loved and respected, Harry died unexpectedly from a severe heart attack. He is sadly missed by his loving soul mate of thirty-seven years, Miriam (Mimi) Shell, sister Dianne Snider, daughter Corrina Myles, grandson Jesse Myles, their families, and many friends and clients. We remember his warm, genuine hugs and easy going, soft-spoken manner. He had a great sense of humour; we 'cracked each other up' and laughed often. Harry loved history, geography, geology, physics, chemistry, biology and all the natural sciences. He took great pleasure in watching many science and nature programs. Harry also read non-fiction and remembered so much of what he learned.

Harry was an electronics technician, tree faller, dangerous tree remover, licensed arborist, garden centre tree lot salesman, and then became a journeyman landscape gardener. He was a professional gardener who gave consultations and lessons in pruning and plant choices before retiring. He took pride in his own garden and home always enjoying looking after both. His yard is full of trees and shrubs that he planted and nurtured over the past twenty years. Eventually, he put in a bog and pond of which he was very proud though the plants kept wanting control.

Harry was also a craftsman, very good with tools, resourceful and creative. With wood, he made many items for the yard and home including shelving, tables, garden boxes and handy items like sieves and straining tools for soil development. Harry rebuilt a wheel barrow using two old ones and took great pleasure in such projects. He could and did fix just about anything and everything, generously helping others, too. He always shared his knowledge and tools happily and without hesitation. With leather, Harry made many belts and wallets. Most recently, he crafted several leather holders perfectly shaped to fit his various garden hand tools. In the last few years, Harry revisited his childhood interest in drawing and sketched many scenes from our life. He also took some life drawing and painting classes and found himself drawn to painting with acrylics. He finished several with pleasure and pride painting what he saw and from photographs we took. His last painting is of First Period Mayan ruins near Tulum, Mexico, where we visited January 2018. Some of his nude life drawings hang in our nieces house in Amsterdam!

As well as by his garden, craftwork and paintings, Harry will be fondly remembered for his big friendly smile, his gentle, loving nature and how enthusiastically he shared his knowledge.

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