June 11, 1934 - September 28, 2023
In loving memory ~
Neil, beloved gentle man and gentleman, sailed off with the wind at his back and the spinnaker flaring.
Left onshore is his family - wife, Dorothy Drubek; daughters, Norma and Coryn; son, Kyle; grandsons Shea and Teo and first wife, Shirley Buchan. Neil was forever a sailor, from working an oil tanker up the Congo, to winning first place in the Master class of the Western Canada Windsurfing Championship, and cruising and racing sailboats in the Salish Sea.
Over the years in the US, Canada and Japan he took on the roles of teacher, park interpreter, puppeteer, local actor, farmer, Lasqueti Island ferry first mate, artist and cloud watcher. Anyone who knew Neil knew his ability to weave his many stories into their conversations. He grew up in Leicester and Rickmansworth, England, coming to Canada in the 1950s, a move he never regretted.
Neil spent his last 18 years in the Comox Valley. He loved this place and wanted to spend the rest of his life here and he did.