My condolences to the families of Kelly. I knew Kelly for many years and also worked with him for many years, mostly at Sitka Log Homes in 100 Mile House. Together, Kelly and I developed log building details that challenged our craftsmanship and furthered our skills. He was also a great teacher and had patience for many younger builders. Although he could also test anyone's patience at times as well! But that's what made Kelly, Kelly. I'll miss him and I'm sure he's having a cold one up there somewhere, laughing at all of us! Cheers my friend! I'll be thinking of ya!

I had the pleasure of accompanying Kelly several years ago on a trip to Park City Utah. Kelly was going to be setting up a log house for a Doctor and I was his driver/ watergirl/ photographer.

We drove for 16 hours straight from Creston to Park City and I got to see some amazing scenery. We spent a week there and the best part was seeing my brother doing what he loved best and what he excelled in . At this time he was in his late 40's and could climb the heights and scale those logs like a goat and he was wearing sandals! I was in awe watching him work ....he truly was a craftsman! I will be forever grateful for being able to partake of the excitement of a log house being erected by my brother and the team and for the hours in his company .

For those who knew him, my brother Kelly was as tough as nails. Yes, he was never afraid to take on anyone, anytime, but he demonstrated this characteristic from early on. One of the more impressive cases I remember was when he was a young teenager. We moved out to Surrey from the suburbs of Richmond in the early 1970s, a big part of which was to have acreage and get some horses.

The trouble was, nobody in our family had a background in horses or knew how to ride. Well, Kelly took it on and first figured out how to ride on a so-called tame, but large horse named Whiskey. He then tried to tame the nasty little pinto pony named Brandy. With that under his belt, we decided to up the game and got a largely untamed quarter horse named Cinder.

Well, the day came when Cinder was due to head off to get bred and she refused to go into the dark horse trailer that was supposed to take her to the stud farm. After kicking the heck out of the trailer, the guy who owned the trailer and us, there was lots of handwringing about the stud fees that had been paid and the time slot that would evaporate.

Did I tell you Kelly was full of ideas too? To solve the problem, he suggested that he ride the damned ornery horse, that had been barely trained for riding, the five miles to Cloverdale to keep its appointment. I can’t recall whether he also had to ride it back, but I was damned impressed by his gumption to not only get on the horse, but brave the traffic and narrow shoulder along the roads that led to that stud farm.

I have many fond memories like this, of someone to admire and look up to, but will need to now share them with you as we can no longer relive them together.