Russell Bygrave

1937 - 2015  (78 years)

• Name	Russell Bygrave
  Born	1937	Of, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-107956
  Died	22 Jul 2015	Sudbury, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada
  	Cause: heart attack
  Buried	Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I107956	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family	Peggy Lorraine Johnstone
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F50402	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  CAMBRIDGE The remnants of an egg salad sandwich sat on a tray beside Russell Bygrave's hospital bed. Only the right-angled crust remained of his Friday lunch. The rest had been gobbled up. "Pretty good sandwich," he said. Welcome to Room 360 at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Bygrave, the 74-year-old King of Christmas in the little village of Hespeler, holds court here for the holidays and the foreseeable future. That, in itself, is a miracle. Bygrave, four weeks after surgery for colon cancer, could easily be dead. "I pretty near didn't make it," he said......There are no lost causes for Bygrave. For years, outsiders have ridiculed the defiant little Santa parade in Hespeler. They say Cambridge already has a parade. They say it is an anachronism. They don't get it. They don't understand what it means in Hespeler. Damn the cancer and the hernia and the diabetes and his bad lungs and troubled heart. The parade must go on. The parade needs its marshal for the 34th and 35th years..... Hespeler's parade king on the road to recovery -The Record Newspaper 23 Dec 2012 __________________________________ Passed away peacefully in Sudbury Regional Hospital on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at the age of 77. Born July 22, 1938 to the late Stephen and Alice Bygrave. Beloved husband of Peggy Lorraine (nee Johnstone) Bygrave; loving father of William (Tina), James (BJ) and Lorraine (Elvis), cherished grandfather of 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Dear brother of Gordon (Eleanor)and sister-in-law Joan. Besides his parents, Russell was predeceased by his brothers Ivan, Leo, George, and sister Olive. Russell was very involved in the Hespeler community and a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Hespeler Branch #272 and the Hespeler Optimist Club. He organized the Hespeler Santa Claus parade for 35 years, retiring this past June, 2015. Russell was a member of the New Apostolic Church, Hespeler. Russell's family will welcome friends to the Lounsbury Funeral Home, 1766 Franklin Boulevard, Cambridge, Ontario on Sunday, July 26th from 2-5 pm with a legion service at 5 pm, and on Monday, July 27th from 2-4 and 7-9 pm. Funeral Service will held at New Apostolic Church, 64 Winston Boulevard, Cambridge on Tuesday, July 28th at 11 am. Interment, Breslau. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hespeler Santa Claus Parade. Waterloo Region Record 23 Jul 2015

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1937 - Of, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - Cause: heart attack - 22 Jul 2015 - Sudbury, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth