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In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar
PAOLINI, Neil Arthur - today, in the early morning of March 6, 2021, Neil A. Paolini, RCNVR, passed away at age 97 at Sunnybrook Veterans Centre, which he had entered last February 2020. Neil was proud of his WW II service in the 'wavy navy' and served the majority of his career on the Algerine class minesweeper; HMCS KAPUSKASING.
PAOLINI, Neil Arthur - It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of our father in the early hours of March 6, 2021, quietly and peacefully in his sleep, at the Sunnybrook Veterans' Centre, Toronto. Born Nello Leonardo Paolini, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the youngest of 6 children to Valentino and Caterina (nee Tazzini), who immigrated from Arezzo, Italy in 1908/12. Married to Patricia (nee Ryan - deceased) for 68 years; father to Douglas (Elvira), David (Sue; Joanne – deceased), Gregory (Sabrina), and Andrew; grandfather to Erica, Alexandra, Michael, Laura, Sarah, Daniel, Christopher, Patrick, and Mark; great-grandfather to Violet, Lily, Luke and Evan. He attended L'Ecole Catholique St. Ignace for elementary school, followed by Sault Collegiate Institute for high school. After WWII, dad attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1948 for Preliminary Engineering. In 1949, he transferred to Queen's University, Engineering, Civil Faculty. He graduated in 1952 with an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering and was awarded the Martin Wolf Scholarship in 1951. Our dad was very athletic growing up. His greatest success came in basketball. In 1948, playing for the Soo Algos, he won both the Ontario and Canadian Intermediate Championships. He also played basketball at McMaster and Queen's. Dad's WWII military service began when he was assigned to the HMCS KAPUSKASING. The "Kap" escorted ships from Europe by meeting them halfway across the Atlantic, then onto New York, Boston or Halifax. He was honourably discharged on December 18, 1945. His engineering career started with Dominion Bridge, in the Soo and then to Toronto in 1963, and eventually to York Steel, Ontario Hydro, and finally Stelco, in Hamilton, from where he retired at age 65 in 1989. He then started his own consulting firm, ProWeld Engineering, which he continued to operate until the age of 95. Dad stamped his last set of blueprints in late January 2020. Dad was a welding and structural steel expert. He was a member of many professional organizations and in 2013, he was honoured by the Canadian Welding Society with a lifetime achievement award. His real love was for his family. A loving husband to our mother Patricia whom he loved until and beyond her passing in 2019 at the age of 93. Dad loved being around the family pool with the grand kids and enjoyed Sunday family dinners. As great grandchildren started appearing, he relished his time with the new babies who lit him up every time he saw them. To him, family was, is, everything. Our father spent the last 13 months of his life in the Sunnybrook Veterans' Centre in Toronto where he received the best of care. Given Covid and the inherent restrictions, there were, thankfully, virtual visits. Staying "with it" to the end, on March 5th, he informed the Nurses' Station that he wasn't going to physiotherapy as he "just wasn't up to it". Twelve hours later, he passed away, quietly and calmly. He was in no pain or discomfort. Would it be that we could all write a script like that. Our father will be missed, but he certainly led a tremendously full and fulfilling life. Thanks for sharing it with us dad. Love you. A Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Transfiguration of Our Lord Catholic Church on Friday, December 17th, at 11:00 a.m., followed by interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery. (The Toronto Star 11 Dec 2021)
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