George William Van Meer – September 12th 1959 to July 27th 2021

The really sad news for the month of July and for the year was the passing of our Brother George on July 27th. George had been battling Colon Cancer for 2 1/2 years and he finally lost his battle. We are really going to miss him. Our family got George when he was a couple months old and he immediately became another loved family member by our Mom and everyone else. George reconnected with his native family in the mid 1980’s and so now he was fortunate to have two families to share.

George was extremely artistically talented and easily took up painting pictures, especially landscapes. But his real artistic ability came through in his carvings. They were spectacular, the scale, the size, the depth, the life like depiction; George could bring them to life. His work mates at the City of Surrey Public Works Dept. all expected to see George working on a carving at coffee and lunch breaks; it got to be well known within the department. In fact he was asked and commissioned to make a native carving for Prince Edward of the Royal Family when the Prince visited the City of Surrey.

Below is a picture of George working on a carving when he came for a visit with Chantell and Chris at our trailer on Shuswap Lake. This is such a classic picture of George carving with all the chips in his lap and him always checking for size, scale and content of the carving.

His mother gave him the native name of “Pakli’sh which meant Burnt Hands.

Right after the Covid travel restrictions were removed Brenda and I made a quick trip to the Vancouver area and stopped in to see George, Jennifer, Chantell, Raven and Cyler. It was a great visit and will always be the lasting memory that we have of George. Above is the last picture we had taken with George.
We are all going to miss George he was a big part of our family.
George WiIliam Van Meer – “Rest in Peace Brother”