Phil Quickfall

1970 - 2018  (48 years)

• Name	Phil Quickfall
  Born	11 Apr 1970	Bridgeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Male
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-24173
  Died	4 Oct 2018
  Person ID	I24173	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Father	Herbert Arthur Quickfall,   b. 6 May 1929, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 18 Jul 2013, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 84 years)
  Mother	Barbara Anne Boettger,   b. 8 Jun 1940,   d. 9 Apr 2015, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 74 years)
  Family ID	F46807	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Phil Quickfall grew up in a family enriched by the world and the community Phil Quickfall of Waterloo, born: April 11, 1970, in Bridgeport, died: Oct. 4, 2018, of a cardiac failure by Valerie Hill Waterloo Region Record WATERLOO - Phil Quickfall and his siblings, Heather Leffler and Rick Quickfall, grew up in a rather unconventional household. Their parents, Herb and Barbara Quickfall, believed in welcoming the world into their huge 1835 Georgian farmhouse outside Bridgeport, home of six generations of Quickfalls, where everyone and anyone was welcome to live, hang out for awhile or just use the land. The extended family, which includes dozens of cousins, were regular visitors or sometimes boarders and there was often exchange students from around the world living there plus the Lions Club used the house for their meetings. The place was never empty. Outdoors, the couple had given land to a First Nations drumming group to build a sweat lodge and erect a teepee. They also turned their greenhouse over to the Working Centre for a therapeutic herb nursery, for people with mental health issues. For her own kids, Barbara, an artist and avid outdoorswoman, would take them camping and on nature walks and there wasn't much she wouldn't allow them to do in the house. Messes were never a consideration. Barbara wanted her kids and later grandkids, to let their imaginations run free even if it meant floors would be littered with boxes and glitter. This was the creative world Phil grew up in, a world that fed his inquisitive nature and bright mind. Heather and Rick were nine and eight years old when this surprise little brother was born April 11, 1970. He was cute and fun to play with but the elder siblings thought perhaps their parents were a bit more lenient with him than they were with them, so they took on a parenting role. Did Phil complain? Heather thinks not, that he mostly ignored his older siblings' bossiness. From the time he was a kid, Phil was driven to achieve. His love of music and stories can be attributed to his mom who would sit with him at his Suzuki violin lessons starting at age three and she would read to him and sing songs. "When he was in (Bluevale) high school, he did everything," said Rick, noting his brother served on the student council and had won all the awards available to students, including sports, theatre and academics. The school had to create a new award to recognize his achievements. "By the time he graduated, he was pretty sick of school," said Rick. "He had really good grades and everyone expected him to go to university." But Phil wasn't ready, he needed a break and took a labour job with the City of Waterloo, mostly ditch digging. When he turned 22, Phil decided perhaps school wasn't so bad after all. Phil completed a degree in civil engineering at the University of Waterloo and became a professional engineer, starting his career at Stantec then moving on to the City of Waterloo. At the time of his death at age 48 on Oct. 14 from a suspected cardiac arrest, he was director of water services. Having worked quite literally in the trenches for the city, Phil was cognizant of what it was like for staff to follow an engineer's plans. What worked on paper didn't necessarily work in real life. Rick joked "he remembered the stupid things engineers did and he tried not to do that." Through his university years, Phil had not kept up with his music but his sister said that about a decade ago he starting thinking that if he had children he needed to be a role model when his own kids took music lessons. So he picked up the violin again, studying under violinist/composer Jeff Enns. In high school, Phil had played in the band and he performed a violin solo in the school's production of "Camelot" but as an adult, he mostly entertained at family functions. Described by friends as "one of the best" Phil was always the guy who treated everyone the same, whether it was a janitor or a manager and he had a way of making you feel you were the most important person in the room. His siblings said Phil was a real people person and in fact, during his engineering co-op program he inadvertently applied for a customer service job with a computer support company. Oddly the company hired him because he was good at connecting with people and he understood technology. Phil met high school teacher Heather Godwin through mutual friends and they married in August 2005. The couple had two children, Max and Emma, now nine and seven years old. Phil loved being a dad. In fact he just loved kids. Nieces and nephews could do pretty much anything to him, he was infinitely patient. Phil was the uncle everyone went to for advice or help. Among his friends, Phil was the glue, the one who brought everyone together, embracing friendships dating back to elementary school. Phil valued people, regardless of their social status. "It didn't matter who Phil connected with, to him people were people," said his sister. His parents, Herb and Barbara died in2013 and 2015, respectively and the farm was sold, the old house torn down. Heather said "it was a significant place to grow up." The Quickfall homestead was an enriching place and helped formed the man Phil would become, rooted to his community, embraced by his family. vhill@therecord.com Twitter: @HillRecord vhill@therecord.com Hill, V. (2018). Phil Quickfall grew up in a family enriched by the world and the community . TheRecord.com. Retrieved 29 October 2018, from https://www.therecord.com/living-story/8992723-phil-quickfall-grew-up-in-a-family-enriched-by-the-world-and-the-community/

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 11 Apr 1970 - Bridgeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth