Truth was born on August 21, 1936 and during her childhood had a very close relationship with her mom and dad (Eva and Angelo Savage). She always stayed close by her parents and worked with them in their antiquities shop through to her adult years. Truth was a graduate of Kamloops High School and was very involved in school activities including band and cheerleading. During Truth`s youth she was actively involved with the Red Cross and recreation programs. Along with being a swimming instructor and life guard at Riverside Park, she was instrumental in the building of the first in-ground swimming pool at Riverside Park. Music played a large part in Truth`s school life and she was a member of the Kamloops High School Band. In 1954 she travelled with 52 other band members, to Kerkrade Holland for the World Music Festival where they won the world championship. Her love of music lives on in her daughters and grandchildren.
Truth was married to George, the love of her life, for 47 years. They lived in Kamloops and raised their family of four daughters. Together they watched them grow to become wonderful people with families of their own. Later in life Truth travelled with George from BC to Manitoba marketing his artwork (a hobby they both loved). They moved to Penhold AB and then Edmonton AB for some years. When George passed away Truth returned to Kamloops.
From the time Truth was a little girl she loved to garden. She would even plant flowers between her father`s tomato plants. Over the past 10 years her neighbours and friends have enjoyed her love of gardening through the beautiful garden she created in her back yard at Sun Rivers.
Truth believed you were never too old to wear heels, you should always have a purse to match your shoes, a little nail polish goes a long way and make sure your lipstick is fresh when you go to the casino just in case you win big. Truth never sat of the sidelines of life. She could tell the longest and best of stories. Her laugh and personality lite up the room.
Frank Sawracki
Yvonne Schollen
Yvonne Heron
Elwyn Seeley
Bill Smeaton
William (Bill) Smeaton passed away peacefully in hospice care on October 23, 2023 at the age of 87. He leaves to mourn his wife Myrt, twin brother Wally, children Sharon (Dave), Bill (Debbie) and Barb (Trevor), along with 6 grandchildren (Talitha, Angelica, Bryan, Emily, Kiana and BJ) and 3 great-grandchildren (Beckett, Leeland and Myla). He was pre-deceased by his parents William and Jean, his brother Don, and infant daughter Elizabeth.
Bill was born and raised in Kamloops, B.C. Growing up, he played school sports and hockey outside of school with his twin, and he and his brothers had paper routes and picked vegetables to earn money. One of Bill’s jobs after high school was working at the Tuberculosis Sanitorium at Tranquille in the kitchens and laundry. He used these skills again later as he worked in the cafeterias at university to help pay his way.
Bill and Wally graduated from Kamloops High School in 1954. While still in high school, he met Myrtle Koch at a youth retreat in Vernon. Along the way, Dad completed Normal School and started the hunt for a teaching position. He and Mom were married on June 23, 1956 in Kelowna, and at the end of that summer they moved to the Prince George area where Dad had accepted his first principalship in a one-room schoolhouse at Stone Creek. Their Prince George years were difficult but full of fun and family. Myrtle taught with Bill for a year before their busy young family fully occupied her time. All four children were born while they lived in Prince George.
In 1968, the family moved to Salmon Arm, where Bill spent the rest of his career as a principal in a variety of area schools. He earned his Master of Education during this time, spending his summer residency at Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington and graduating in 1979. He and Myrtle had no clue how to live a quiet life; they were wildly busy raising their family, combining work with recreation, sports, church life, travel and in later years, maintaining several rental properties. If you lived in Salmon Arm, he probably taught you or your parents at school, coached a team you were on, taught you or someone you knew first aid, or sat beside you at the Salmon Arm Silverbacks hockey games.
Bill joined what began as an Ambulance Service where they used a modified station wagon to transport patients. He found his second family in the EMS community, and served on car for 28 years, upgrading his first aid and eventually becoming part of the BC Ambulance Service. He also began teaching first aid, and started a company that taught first aid until they moved to Kamloops. Until the end of his life, an ambulance siren stopped every conversation until Bill had looked out the window to see what was what.
Bill and Myrtle moved to Kamloops in 2016 where they spent their remaining years together surrounded by their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Bill was a content, calm man of deep faith; he loved his family and he loved the Lord. We rejoice that he is now pain free and happy in Heaven, waiting for Myrt to join him.
