Beverley Robert Charles was the second eldest son, born Saturday February 5, 1944 in Hanover, to Dorothy Jean (Knapp) and Roscoe Blair Gallinger. His father Roscoe was born April 10, 1922 in Hanover and his mother Dorothy was born January 27, 1928 in Chesley. They were married October 3, 1942.

Baby boy Larry joined the young couple in 1943, followed by Bev, then Ronnie was born in 1947, Sharon in 1949 and Jeff joined the family in 1956.

Bev attended Chesley Public School up until grade eight and to Chesley High School for grades nine and ten. He then went into the work force. He spent a great deal of his work life at Heirloom in Chesley, He also worked at Durham Furniture, Findlay Pallet Factory in Scone and Wayne Schwartz’s recycling tire plant in Hanover. Perhaps it could be said, however, that Bev’s claim to fame was helping to build the Harvey’s/Swiss Chalet in Hanover!

Bev met, dated, and married Nyhla “Lorraine” Schwartz. Seemingly their courtship was in secret as the kids know little to nothing of that period of time in their parent’s life. Even Aunt Bonnie knows little of it, and we all know that Aunts know all the secrets!

The nuptial was held August 21, 1971 at St. John United Church in Chesley. Ken Warmington and Katie Schwartz were their witnesses and The Rev. Harry Stevenson presided. Their reception was held at the Royal Canadian Legion in Chesley. A really cute story is told of how Bev and his brother Ron had their hair permed, by Clara Schwartz, the day before the wedding. Apparently Lorraine was not so impressed.

The two newlyweds first lived in an apartment in Chesley and little Rob soon joined them. By the time they were living in a trailer on the Schwartz farm little Renee had also joined them. Another story is told of the time Rob put a spoon in a socket while living in the trailer and of how Charlie the dog lived with them.

Speaking of dogs, the Gallinger family always had a dog, and indoor dogs too! In fact, they always had pets. But sadly enough, they never did have cats.

They did not live long in the trailer as they then rented a big red brick house in Chesley. Neither of the children liked living there and one frightening memory is of a beehive in the bathroom. Lorraine and Bev were soon able to purchase a home on 4th Street in Chesley. It was the very same house that Bev’s brother Ron and his wife Bonnie had wanted to purchase. (And they remained friends, imagine!) The house held a couple of secrets, however, as the basement always flooded and there were ants in the cupboards. In short time, Rob and Bev put a sump pump in the basement and Bev was able to finish it off, putting in a huge wood stove and having a very hot ‘man cave’ well before the term ever became popular.

Renee and Rob lived in this home until they left home. Then, in time, Renee and Andrew would come to visit at the red house and bring baby Gary. A really cute story is told of Gary scooting over, in his crib, to the wall and pulling the wallpaper border off! Of course, being grandparents nothing was ever said by Lorraine or Bev to discipline Gary!

As a young man, Bev was fantastic on a pair of roller skates. He even raced…aggressively. Being quick on his feet, Bev was also a terrific dancer. He loved to do the twist and was great at it! His brother Ron was much better at the slow dances, whereas Bev could really move!

To know Bev is to know of his great love for eating. Driving with the family to Guelph for a meal at Ponderosa was a common occurrence as was driving to Paisley or to Gerry’s at Southampton for french fries. However, the latter meant the family had to take their own cutlery and plates. (Really?) Travels to Kelly-Joes in Varney with the Schwartz’, to Norm’s on Thursdays for fish and chips, to Dornoch, and out for pizza also took place. However, it was Fridays at McDonald’s that really stood out as the family ate in the car as Bev would still have his work clothes on. (Awwww.) A beautiful and recent picture of Bev and Gary was taken while at Kettles on Highway 6!

At home, Bev was pretty much a meat and potato kind of guy. He didn’t like rice but seemed to enjoy everything else. Lunch often consisted of a pound of bologna and a loaf of bread! Then there were the salt and vinegar chips. The thing is though, they weren’t really salt and vinegar chips…. Or were they? Both Ron and Bev have the habit of buying plain chips and pouring their own vinegar and salt onto them. They never, ever, ate commercially produced salt and vinegar chips. (Go figure!)

His absolute favourite food? Anything with sugar in it. (Hee, hee.) He loved hot hamburg, cherry pie, sweet corn and, of course, his Pepsi. For one reason or another, Bev had quite the habit of only drinking half a can of the Pepsi, and only half the cup of coffee, as well. Paying $2 for french fries out of the machine in Chesley, was also something Bev would do regularly. (If you haven’t tried them, you really have too! They are quite good!)

And didn’t he love his smokes. Bev started out smoking Player’s Filter and progressed to Canada Goose. In the last years, Bev took to cutting the filter off the cigarettes. (Imagine!)

Bev worked for everything he had in life. Nothing was handed to him on a silver platter. Times were tough, on occasion, for Lorraine and Bev, but they made it through each and every time! He was a forthright man who could speak his mind. A gift he has passed onto his children. (Well, maybe Renee more so than Rob!) And one can really appreciate the honesty and lack of game-playing that goes along with that!

Bev was not a demonstrative man and didn’t spend much money on the kids. However, when it came to discipline, it was Lorraine who was charged with that task. It has been said though, that Bev could be a ‘grumbly bear’ and had little patience, especially when it came to bureaucracy. Yet there was the time that Renee drove the station wagon through the garage and he never said a word to her. It was enough for Bev to know that his daughter was not hurt!

Bev had a good heart. No one can contest that! In fact, comments on social media state what a fine, nice, sweet man he was! “A kind, generous, warm-hearted man gone way too soon.” “A great neighbour and an even better man!”

Indeed, Bev did have a good heart. He was forever taking people to appointments, setting the garbage out, picking up mail, cutting grass, and clearing snow for his neighbours. The truth of it is, Bev was always out, bombing around. He loved to drive, almost as much as he loved to eat. Trips to Tim Hortons and the Slots in Hanover were of the upmost importance. It is speculated that in Bev’s loneliness and aching for Lorraine he kept himself busy by not spending a lot of time in his home.

In order to accomplish all of this, Bev was always up early. However, that also meant that he was in bed usually by 6:00 p.m.. He would then get up for a couple of hours and head back to bed. He enjoyed watching movies, in particular action movies, which may have also included action packed Westerns. What it didn’t include was space movies. Bev detested space movies. (This author agrees, whole heartedly!)

Bev loved to tinker and he was really good at it. His habit has also given his family lots of fond and funny memories. A weekly routine of visiting especially Chesley Community Church’s second hand store, the Salvation Army and Re-Store in Hanover was established by Bev. After making the rounds one week he couldn’t understand why there was nothing new to see or purchase the next week. (Too cute!)

Yet other cute stories are told of how Bev would spend $5.00 to buy something and then spend another $5.00 (or more) to fix it up! Bev’s speciality was old radios. He even had to build a cabinet to house all of his radios! In truth, Bev ended up with two or more of m any different items; two lawnmowers, over forty clocks, several knife sets and too many candy dishes for only one person. And then there is the one golf cart (he didn’t’ even golf!) and the wagon (which he spent $80.00 to fix up)!

Bev also had computers….. Five laptops and a number of desk tops. These were used to look up the values of his finds, check out the prices of parts, visit Kijiji, and read the obituaries.

Bev absolutely loved taking the trailer and going to look for wood. Now, this did get him in trouble at times. But it was well worth the trouble that it got him in! Bev loved being in the bush, cutting wood! He and Lorraine were members of the Chesley Horticultural Society. They lovingly watered the flowers at the cenotaph. Time spent sitting in the gazebo with their neighbours, drinking coffee on Thursdays, on Old School Road was also time well spent. Both Lorraine and Bev worked with Mr. Beitz to have the gazebo built. Sadly, it hasn’t been used as much since Lorraine passed away.

Bev was not much of a traveller but he and Lorraine did go out west a couple of times to visit his brother Jeff and her sister Katie. They also went with Bonnie and Ron to Las Vegas in addition to going to Woodbine for the horse races. There was the memorable 30,000 Island Tour in the glass bottom boat as well as the visit to Santa’s Village.

Family time spent at the Gallinger trailer at Sauble Falls and their own trailer, that Rob helped them buy, at Cedar Rail all made for great memories. New Year’s Eve parties with Ron and Bonnie. Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries with the Schwartz family are also precious remembrances.

Bev did love to fish! Outings with Ron and Larry in search of pike, bass and trout and taking the boat out on Chesley River were essentials. Even this past summer the boat was taken out at least three times.

Last but not least are two more cute stories. There was the time that Bev traded in the family’s black blazer for a wood panelled station wagon! Ask the kids how mad Lorraine was! Bev was king of the road in that vehicle while the rest of the family would crouch down in embarrassment. And more recently, there was the blender incident. Ask the family about this one!

Sadly,Beverley “Bev” Robert Charles Gallinger of Chesley, passed away suddenly at home on Thursday, August 31, 2017 in his 74th year. Loving father of Rob Gallinger of Allan Park and Renee (Andrew) Kent of Hamilton. Cherished grandfather of Gary Kent. Bev leaves to mourn his brothers, Larry (Helen) of R.R.#1 Beachville, Ron (Bonnie) of Chesley, Jeffrey of Mission, B. C. and his brother-in-law Ken English. He will be remembered by the Schwartz family, Kathleen “Katie” (Randy) Brookes of Kelowna B.C. and Wayne (Vida) Schwartz of Waterloo. Predeceased by his wife Lorraine (Schwartz) Gallinger, sister Sharon English and parents Roscoe Blair and Dorothy Jean (Knapp) Gallinger. Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Thursday, September 7, 2017 from 1 p.m. until the time of the memorial service at 2 p.m. Inurnment in Chesley Cemetery. Memorial donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.