David Norman Harry Weatherall was born on July 28th, 1965, and welcomed by his parents Warren Arnold and Lois Alma (Coulter) Weatherall. He was the younger brother to Catherine, Linda, Carlene and Douglas. He started his life living on a dairy farm located on the 6th of Elderslie. He attended school at the nearby Elderslie Central before moving up to Chesley District High School. In 1980, the Weatheralls made the decision to move into town and found the perfect spot – on Centennial Street! Unbeknownst to him, this move brought him four doors down from the love of his life. Shannon Helene Schopf moved to Centennial Street a few years later… into the same house David and Shannon call home today!
With high school behind him, David was off to attend Conestoga College in Kitchener where he completed a three-year program in Business Administration. Always striving for more, he moved to Thunder Bay where he obtained his BA in Business Administration at Lakehead University, he graduated in 1990. Within this time, 1988 to be exact, David built up the nerve to ask Shannon out, and as we can all assume… she happily said yes! Three years later, August 10th, 1991, family and friends would gather together at St. John’s United Church in Chesley to celebrate the marriage of two people in love. The newlyweds soon found their own home in an apartment on the main street of Chesley. David was working construction with Hastings before becoming the Sporting Goods Manager at the Canadian Tire in Hanover.
Together, David and Shannon welcomed their eldest daughter Rebecca in 1994 and their family was made complete with the arrival of Meghan in 1997. By this time, the Weatheralls called 3rd Ave. S.E. home and David was commuting to work at Uniroyal in Elmira. In 1999, Bruce Power held a job lottery and though his chances were slim (6 out of 600) David took a chance and put his name forward. Fate was truly on his side because not long after he got the call that he was one of the six chosen. David was an SNO (Supervising Nuclear Operator) and enjoyed the people and challenges that came with his work. He, in good humour, would tell the girls, “Well I’m off to the salt mine,” before heading out the door with his lunch bag in hand.
David’s love for sports like baseball, curling, golf, and hockey began in his youth, and he remained active until the day he died. When he wasn’t playing the sport himself, he was watching and cheering on the girls. He was Rebecca and Meghan’s #1 fan, with a few more admirers along the way. David would regularly volunteer to help chaperone sporting events and on one occasion even treated one of Rebecca’s teams to dinner at Chuck E. Cheese. What a dad!
I am even told that David was able to enjoy a good game of golf with his girls, as they fondly remember playing several rounds with Dad at the Par 3 course in Port Elgin, whereby he was to be “parenting”. Like most of us, he made the transition from competitive sport to more laid-back men’s leagues and finally Oldtimers. In his day though, David was talented and participated in several of the infamous East vs. West hockey tilts in Chesley. As you can imagine, following sports on television often occupied some of David’s free time. Though the style in which the Colorado Avalanche team played made them his favourite, he had a soft spot for a good Leafs or Blue Jays game.
David, along with his family, enjoyed travelling. Together, they experienced Ireland, London (England), the Golden Coast (California), New York and Washington. Their most recent excursion took them to the warm beaches of Jamaica. He spent a week on the beach with a cold drink in his hand. And when asked if he needed a refill his motto became, “Why not.” He was also a collector of old Canadian coins and honestly cash in general – as he kept it old school and would always keep some on him. He liked to jokingly use the line, “If you can’t pay for it in cash, you can’t afford it!” If David wasn’t playing a sport he could be found with a book in his hand, authors like John Grisham and James Patterson are stacked on his nightstand. If it was a really good one, he might even have it done in one day!
David was also known to multitask, but not the way you might think. I am told that you were guaranteed to come home and find him watching TV, most likely CNN as he was addicted while sitting in front of his computer playing a farming simulator game AND reading a book…! Another favourite thing of David’s was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Tim Horton’s coffee. It wasn’t out of the norm for David and Shannon to have three or four large double-doubles in their fridge at any given time…. Just heat them up and go! All joking aside, David really just enjoyed spending time with his family, whether it was watching Glee or trying to guess who it was on Masked Singer with Meghan or talking sports with Rebecca. He truly treasured being a father.
David was an intelligent man who was known to always ask the right question and have all the answers. He fit into the mould of the strong, silent type, but could also be witty and funny when needed. David also loved animals. As the girls grew up, there were bunnies, a guinea pig and dogs running around the Weatherall household. Although he never actually agreed to any of them coming home, David would slowly come around and often loved them just the same as the others. In more recent years, Hanna and Gage have been his beloved four-legged companions.
David passed along a great deal of knowledge in his short time on Earth, and no one benefitted from that more than his two daughters. He always encouraged them to remain calm and orderly when making big decisions. He supported their quest for further education, advancing themselves, and establishing a career. He was a big part of these two independent women, whom he lovingly called his daughters, who mourn him today. On Thursday, June 1, 2023, tragedy struck, and David was taken from all of us way too soon. Thankfully, we all have many fond memories and time shared with David, that will allow him to live on in all of us for many years to come. Gone, but never forgotten!
Beloved husband of Shannon (Schopf). Loving father of Rebecca and her fiancé Brandon Smit of Wawa and Meghan of Chesley. David will be dearly missed by his mother Lois, and siblings Catherine Weatherall of Chesley, Linda (Jay) Robson of Ilderton, Carlene Weatherall of Meaford, and Douglas (Barbara) of Thamesford, as well as Shannon’s sisters, Debra (Allen) Tenney of Peterborough and Sandra Tenney of Walkerton and their families. He was predeceased by his sister Janet, in infancy, brother-in-law Doug Tenney, and his father Arnold.
Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Thursday, June 8, 2023, from 11 a.m. until 12:45 p.m., with a memorial service to follow at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Heart & Stroke Foundation or Grey Bruce Animal Shelter would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
