Lifelong Waterdown resident Eric Willis was a quiet family man - but his contributions to the local community over the years speak volumes.
Willis, who passed away on Nov. 2, 2024, was born on Dec. 13, 1932 on the family's market garden farm on Centre Road (behind the site of the current Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School). He was the younger brother of Murray and Verna.
Young Eric was educated at Mary Hopkins School, and went to Flamborough Centre School for Grade 8 before attending Waterdown District High School (WDHS), on Dundas Street. He took technical and drafting courses at high school and got his first job at Reid Press in Hamilton as an estimator.
He was fortunate enough to spend his whole career with the same company. Even when they went through a merger and became Reid Dominion Packaging and moved to Mississauga, he retained his job. His final position was as plant controller.
Eric met his wife Marnie at work, where she was a secretary in the office. Their first date was a New Year’s Eve party and Marnie was pleased when he asked her out again, remembering that she “had never been out with anybody who treated [her] so like a gentleman.”
Eric’s present for Marnie’s 22nd birthday was an engagement ring and they were married in 1956. Initially, they rented an upstairs apartment in downtown Hamilton, where their son Tom was born. After that, the couple lived with Eric’s parents for a year while they had a home built on the family farm, closer to the road. Their son Joe and daughter Patti were born while they lived there.
When their children were babies, Eric went back to school, as a mature student at McMaster University. He took night classes in the early 1960s to become
a certified Management Accountant and then went on to become a Chartered Professional Accountant.
Tom says his father was a lifetime learner, always studying and wanting to be better. Eric joined Toastmasters because he wanted to be a better speaker, and Tom remembers hearing his father in the basement practising his speeches for the next Toastmasters meeting. Similarly, when computers came out, Eric promptly signed up for courses to learn how to use them.
In about 1976, Eric came home and reported that he had found a house in Waterdown for the family. They moved to Victoria Street and Patti was able to ride her bike to the old WDHS from there.
When the kids signed up to play sports, Eric also got involved, coaching minor league baseball in Waterdown. In additions, he was a lifetime member of St. James United Church in Waterdown, where he contributed his skills in many ways over the years. Not only did he serve on multiple committees but, one summer,
he spent many, many hours single-handedly re-caulking the outside of all the stained-glass windows.
In 1992, when he was 60, Eric took early retirement. "And then, all of a sudden, there he was" at home all the time, Marnie remembers, laughing.
In retirement, Eric expanded his volunteering endeavours. At Wesley Urban Ministries in Hamilton, he taught English to help people get jobs. He also volunteered with CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization, now catalyse+), a non-profit agency which partners with organizations in emerging countries and Canadian
Indigenous communities to strengthen skills and grow economies.
Eric shared his talents in Ghana, West Africa, on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford and on the Kasabonika Lake First Nations Reserve in north-west Ontario.
When he was in Kasabonika, his task was educating the band office about budgeting. He found it challenging to encourage them to develop effective technology links. While there, one of his pleasures was going fishing with the band council chief; Eric later commented that “You don’t get that kind of
experience anywhere else.”
Retirement also meant Eric was able to devote more time to woodworking. Although he was careful with his money overall, he did not stint on the quality of his woodworking equipment. Being a considerate man, he would try to do any particularly noisy work while Marnie was out at choir practice.
In 1996, Eric joined the Rotary Club of Waterdown and served as the club Treasurer frin 1999 to 2005. He served as President for the 2006/7 Rotary year and was presented with a Paul Harris Award for his many contributions.
During his Presidential year, the Club hosted Andre LeSueur, a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Brazil, organized a Waterdown Memorial Park cleanup day,
arranged a scrap metal drive in Joe Sams Flamborough Park and held a Bike Rodeo to help children practise safe biking skills.
In about 2002, he was one of the Rotarians who helped build dog kennels at Lynwood Hall in West Flamborough for the 4 PAWS pilot program. The purpose was to allow the youth to take responsibility for a pet while learning life skills, and the pilot program was much appreciated by staff and clients alike.
Ron and Eleanor Steepe were friends with Marnie and Eric for more than 50 years. No matter where they were going, whether the Steepes’ cottage or Pelee Island, any outing inevitably ended at Dairy Queen because Eric loved DQ so much.
Marnie and Eric were able to enjoy some fantastic trips through home exchanges, visiting Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and Istanbul, and making many friends along the way.
Marnie and Eric’s family gradually expanded to include five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Eric took great joy in making wooden jewelry boxes for all the women and girls in the family.
Since's Eric's passing last fall, his family, friends and co-volunteers have been remembering the quiet gentleman who never talked about himself much. Instead, he simply shared his time and talents generously and unobtrusively.
