John Calla
August 30, 1929 – November 20, 2015
John passed away at home surrounded by family and friends. John was born in North Vancouver to Carmelo (Carmen) Calla and Catherina Maria (Mary) Calla. John married the love of his life, Margaret (nee Ljunggren) in 1948 and was married to her for 65 years. John’s beautiful Margaret passed away March 22, 2014.
John was predeceased by his parents, son Terrance, daughter Kathleen, and his siblings, Antonio (Olive), Victor (Betty), Francesco, and Nicodemo. He is survived by his sisters Angelina Gauvin, daughters: Deborah (Norman) Ralkie, Penny (Patrick) Giesbrecht and his son David (Shirley Arda), daughter-in-law Mary Calla.
John and Margaret lived in North Van, Aldergrove and settled in W. Vancouver for many years. They moved to Qualicum Beach in the mid 1980’s with the thought of retiring. John was in the concrete business his whole life. He thrived on hard work and physical labour and restarted in business again in the Oceanside area. He taught countless men a trade and turned many boys into men in his lifetime.
John was a character with a sense of wisdom carved from a lifetime of experience. He had a wicked sense of humor that was cutting edge. You can be sure if you ever met him that you would never forget him. He did things his way as the song goes and spoke his mind and intention clearly and with hand signals for effect, at times. His sayings and behaviors will be missed and never forgotten. He was made of hard stuff - a self made man with the heart of an army - loving, charming, hard and soft, clever and dependable. He was an amazing husband who cared for his wife when she had a prolonged illness. In recent years he became a short order cook, taxi driver, and a mentor for his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on the acreage known fondly as “Callaland”.
His hobbies included: swearing, directing, RV-ing, ballroom dancing, cooking, building pagodas and gardening. He left a legacy of children, 12 grandkids and 20 great grandkids.
A special thank you to all who made it possible for John to be home, to go home. Thank-you Norm Ralkie Sr., Norm Ralkie Jr., and Andrea Kingsley, Kelly, Tyler, Alex and Alisha Jones, Cheryl and Wes Coyle, Lyn Warrington, Jennifer Huebschwerlen, Dr. Desai and Lorin, Home & Community Support, Oceanside Hospice and Yates.
Graveside service to be held at Murrayville Cemetary at a later date.