It is with great sorrow that we announce the peaceful passing of Don Goff on Monday, November 19, 2012 in the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Care Hospice in Kamloops, B.C. at the age of 86, after a brave battle with cancer. Born in Buchanan, Michigan in 1926, Don lead an adventurous life. He joined the US Merchant Marines at the age of 18 and was an oiler in the engine room of supply ships to the troops. These ships were hunted relentlessly by German U-Boats but his ship always made it through. He met Norma in 1945. She was 15 but it was love at first sight. They married in 1948 and on November 1st of this year were able to celebrate their 64th anniversary. They lived in Ketchikan, Alaska for a few years, where their first child was born, then moved to Washington State until the early 1960’s when Don moved with his family to the Ashcroft Area and bought the Wagner Creek Ranch at the southernmost end of Upper Hat Creek. He was one of the first ranchers in the area to run Angus Beef Cattle. His children grew up on the ranch and enjoyed round ups, brandings, haying, and fishing in local lakes and streams. For many years he drove the school bus from the ranch, where it was parked overnight, to Cache Creek and Ashcroft, picking up all the children along the way. Everyone knew him from the tip of the Hat Creek Valley to highway 97 and those children and their parents kept in touch with him and Norma for many years to follow. When he sold the ranch they moved first to Cache Creek, then into a house on Government Street in Ashcroft where they resided off and on until, due to health reasons, they moved to the Riverbend Senior’s Residence in Kamloops.
Don is survived by his loving wife, Norma, brother Dick (Dorothy), children Terri (Ken), Vicki (John), Susan (Don), Barbara, and David (Brandy-Jo), grandchildren Herb, Angelica, Michael, and Grace, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Don’s Life will be held at the Zion United Church in Ashcroft, B.C. on Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 1:30 with refreshments to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Care Hospice in Kamloops, B.C.
“…and God touched his fingers and he slept.”
Arrangements entrusted to Kamloops Funeral Home
250-554-2577
Condolences may be emailed to the family from
www.kamloopsfuneralhome.com