Leslie George was born Wednesday, June 5, 1946 to George Edward “Leslie” and Eva Winnifred Dollie (Bonner) Waghorn, in Owen Sound. And being that he was eight pounds when he was born, his family and close friends often referred to Les as “Butch!”
Les’ older sister Louise was born in 1938 and his older brother Edward “Ted” Gordon had been born in 1941. Les attended Hillcrest Public School and West Hill High School in Owen Sound. Sadly, Les’s mother died in 1965 when he was just a young man, at the age of 51.”Luckily, his father, whom Les was close with, lived until 1982, almost a further two decades.
Leslie learned at the knee of his father, and quickly gained a passion for woodworking. His first job was at Fitters electric shop in Owen Sound, as a cashier and then went onto work in the office at Black Clawson-Kennedy’s (a leading manufacturer of propellers for marine craft as well the heavy machinery required for the pulp and industry paper). While working in these locations, Leslie also moved around a bit and resided in different places. After leaving Owen Sound he moved in with his father at the cottage in Sauble Beach for a while, before buying a property on Spry Lake near Oliphant. He later moved into Tara and finally to Chesley in 1999 with his sister Louise. Les’ final job was in Chesley with Durham Furniture. One of his biggest disappointments in life was that he always had to leave his place of employment because of the companies’ bankruptcy. Imagine that! However, through all Les’ moves, he always considered Owen Sound to be home.
Aside from woodworking (mostly tinkering away in his basement shop), Leslie had numerous passions. He was very musical and played the trombone, tuba and violin, along with the occasional additional instrument in the Owen Sound City Band as well as the Military Band also in Owen Sound. He enjoyed model trains, and always desired to get his own “N” Scaled collection up and running in his basement. He also enjoyed his time in front of computers in his work. He was first introduced computers in his work placements and soon gained the expertise to complete a variety of tasks on them. His most recent project was designing a new floor plan for a home that he and Louise wanted to build in Owen Sound. Sadly, this was a task that he did not get to complete.
Leslie just picked up the enjoyment of reading later in life. In fact, he just read his first book in the past 15 years and then proceeded to read a lot more recently. He most appreciated mysteries with his favourite author being James Patterson. As if that wasn’t enough, Leslie also had a passion for Owen Sound sports teams. He was a long-time season ticket holder of the Owen Sound Attack. In fact, he would be quick to tell you that he attended the very first Plater game ever played in Owen Sound at the beginning of the 1989-90 season. Over the years he also followed the Owen Sound Grey’s as well as the lacrosse teams in Owen Sound, most recently the Owen Sound Woodsmen.
Being an animal lover came naturally to Les and he had a number of dogs over the years. His dogs were truly his companions. Dogs are gracious and forgiving so they didn’t mind that Les could sometimes be stubborn, opinionated and well, set in his ways. However, they would have loved the fact that he was also kind and hard working. Les’ sister Louise also loved his kind heartedness as he was her caregiver for the past two years. She also thought of her brother as her best friend, as he would do anything for her.
Sadly, it was only Thursday that Leslie’s health started to fail him. He experienced a blot clot in his right arm and was soon transported to Guelph for surgery. Unfortunately, that was not the only clot Les had, and he passed away on Saturday, January 14, 2017 in his 71st year.
Loving brother and best friend of Louise Breen of Chesley. He will live on in the memories of his nephews, Mike (Stacy) Breen and Will (Adele) Breen and their families, his cousin John Waghorn as well as his many close friends. Les was predeceased by his brother Ted Waghorn and his wife Judy and his parents, Leslie and Eva (Bonner) Waghorn.
Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Thursday, January 19, 2017 from 10 a.m. until the time of the funeral service at 11 a.m. Interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound.
Memorial donations to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, The Arthritis Society or The Kidney Foundation of Canada would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
