Obituary of Everett Fleming

FLEMING, Everett Russell October 16, 1928 - November 2, 2015 In his 88th year, Everett passed away suddenly at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre after a brief illness, following treatment for a rare carcinoma. Everett was born in a farmhouse in Pickering Township, the second of six children born to Russell and Doris Fleming (nee Wood-Jenkins). Everett grew up on a dairy farm during the Depression, attending a one-room school house and driving a bread route at age 13. After graduating Whitby High School with top marks, Everett went straight to work to support his family. He experienced modest success as a door-to-door Fuller brush salesman and later selling Burroughs adding machines. He found his first true calling when he joined the post-war reconciliation program of Moral Re-Armament - a faith based movement operating globally - as a full-time volunteer in the mid-1950s. He travelled the world with MRA, encountering new cultures, making life-long friends, and meeting his beloved wife of 44 years, Frederica (Freddy) Bull. They married in 1962 in Tokyo, where her diplomat parents were posted. They went on to work on Mackinac Island, Michigan, for several years, and finally settled in Toronto in 1969 to raise their two daughters Anne and Katie. There Everett found his next calling in finance at AE Ames. He built a successful 40-year career, surviving the M&A whirlwind of the 1980s and 90s to end up as an investment manager at the Royal Bank of Canada until his retirement at age 80. Throughout his life Everett was dedicated to music. As a teen, he accompanied his local Baptist youth group on the accordion; he later provided weekly organ preludes at St Augustine's of Canterbury Church for over 40 years. He led countless family Christmas singalongs on the piano, and even brought music to the vets in K Wing at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in his retirement. His other great passion was golf, which he played regularly and wherever he travelled. An enthusiastic member at the Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto, he never missed his weekly 7 o'clock Monday morning games with his sister Nancy and brother Don. Other retirement pursuits included weekly lunches at the Toronto Club and playing bridge at the York Club. Everett was predeceased by his wife Freddy in 2007, as well as by sister Ann and brother Gordon. He is survived by his daughters Anne (Michael Piaskoski) and Katie (Michael Court-Hampton) and his four granddaughters Roksana, Jacquie, Ava and Abby, all of Toronto; sister Betty Beeman and brother Don Fleming (Joyce), both of Whitby; sister Nancy Nicholls (Jim) of Burlington; and many cousins, nephews and nieces. The family will receive friends at the HUMPHREY FUNERAL HOME A.W. MILES - NEWBIGGING CHAPEL, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue) from 2:00 - 4:00 and 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, 2015. The funeral service will be in ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY CHURCH, 1847 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 6, 2015. Condolences and memories may be forwarded through www.humphreymilesnewbigging.com.