Obituary of William John Ballantyne

William John was born November 24th, 1916, in St Catherines Ontario, the second child born to William and Martha Ballantyne. He grew up on a farm, and attended school in a one room school house near St Catherines. At age 11, Bill as he was known acquired his first fiddle. That was the beginning of a life long love of music. He was not only a gifted fiddle player; he could play anything with strings on it. He played saxophone and clarinet and enjoyed singing in a barbershop quartet and of course family sing alongs were his specialty. He was a contestant in many old-time fiddlers' contests in Shelburne Ontario and had the opportunity to play with the likes of Al Churney, and Ned Landrey. In 1941 Bill met the love of his life Sally. Together they raised a family of five children. Bill worked at several different occupations over the years, always with his family in mind. He was a great husband, father and grandfather. He belonged to the Knights of Columbus for a time. He loved a good joke and was quite a prankster. On Saturday, July 21st, he passed away in The Dawson Creek hospital at the age of 90 years. Bill was predeceased by his loving wife Sally of 51 years, in 1994. He is survived by 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. He will be sadly missed. A funeral service was held on Wednesday, July 25th at 1PM from the Notre Dame Catholic Church, Interment was in the Brookside Cemetery. Very Respectfully Reynars Funeral Home and Crematorium