Obituary of William Donald "Wil" McNeil

William Donald McNeil, or Wil, or Willy, as some of us call him, was a well-travelled man, having lived in many cities in Western Canada throughout the years. However, he always called the Dawson Creek area his home and spent nearly half of his life living here. Wil was born in Kelowna, British Columbia on October 18, 1964 making him 52 years old at the time of his passing. He was the youngest of seven siblings, and by all accounts, was the baby of the family. Wil had a very special connection to his sisters and his mother, Helen. You can find the evidence of that here today on the faces of his sisters who have survived him, Gwen, Terry and Sherri, and also by how profoundly affected he was by the loss of his mom Helen and sister Sue. Anyone who knew Wil, knew that his most endearing quality was his loyalty and friendship. Once you became his friend, you were his friend for life. He often reached out to those he had not seen in years and made contact to see how they were doing and would often be the first one to offer support to friend that needed a shoulder to cry on. He never missed the opportunity to wish you a happy birthday or to call someone when he was in town to go out for supper, usually at the casino, to catch up. In fact, Wil would travel great distances to reconnect with his friends, often spending days on end inside the confines of a Greyhound bus to get to where he was going. That's why he earned the name "Travelling Wilberry". It's hard to say where he got his love of the Greyhound bus...maybe it started when he was just a little baby and his mom had to pack him and his sisters from Vancouver to Kelowna on a Greyhound after getting deported from the USA, or maybe it's because he just loved the scenery and sense of adventure. Wil was certainly an adventurer and loved to take in scenery, be it a river, mountain, ocean or park. More than likely though, he travelled the Greyhound because it was the least expensive way to get to where he was going. It's no secret that Wil was frugal. That's why we loved him as our chef at the golf course. He was a product of his childhood, a time where resources were scarce and waste was non-existent. He was a fantastic chef and skilled tradesman. He could make something from nothing on the spot-and it would taste fantastic. Wil loved his work and was good at it. He was happiest in the kitchen doing his thing and if you've ever worked in a kitchen you'll know how rare that is because most people that work in kitchens are usually not happy all the time. I don't ever remember eating something Wil made and it tasting bad. And my most treasured memories of Wil center around the kitchen. Whether I was creeping up on him to scare him, or finding him and Melanie hiding in the back corner gossiping, or laughing at him as he gagged on a gross smell, or making inappropriate references about his sexuality, one thing is certain: we had fun and life without him will not be the same. I feel as though his life was a gift to me. And today is our chance to say thank you to Wil for the special way he touched each and every one of us. Even though he was taken from us too early and we may feel cheated that he was granted so short a time on this earth, we must be grateful that we were blessed with knowing him at all. And now we must try to understand what it is that we are without him in our lives and that is going to be incredibly difficult. So let's lean on each other and grieve together as a group, and say thank you Wil, for being the wonderful, caring, loyal person you were. You have left a collective hole in our lives and we are bound to your memory for the rest of ours. Service 2:00 pm Friday, February 10, 2017 Bergeron Social Room 10200-17 Street DAWSON CREEK, British Columbia, Canada