May 8th, 2021

Edwin Mathew Neilly passed away peacefully on May 8th, 2021 with his family by his side sending their love and gratitude. Ed was predeceased by his wife and lifelong partner Joyce Florence Neilly, daughter Shawn and grandson Scott, son-in-law Jay Boppre and brother Walter and sister Ana.  Ed and Joy will forever be remembered for their lively personalities and love for their kids: Lynda (Greg) Michelle (Doug) Keenan (Maureen) Mark (Carin) as well grandkids:  (Alysha, Tarah, Karla, Eric), (Matthew), (Kyle, Danielle, Sean),( Elisa, Camren), (Jennifer, Sam and Ben), a host of great grandkids and sister Marjorie.

Ed was born in 1929 at Grace Hospital in Vancouver and enjoyed living in Kitsilano, attended High school at Kits High and went on to graduate from UBC in commerce.

His career was met with a brief stint with CIBC and Shell Oil, but he soon found himself working alongside his brother Walter in Kamloops where they ran a successful wholesale distribution business for over 2 decades. In the early 80’s they sold their business and Ed moved on to sell Commercial and residential real estate until the ripe old age of 71. He and mom loved family, friends, tennis, cocktail parties, bridge club, Shuswap lake and travelled almost every year to Maui and Cabo. In the 70’s Dad spent every Friday evening teaching the kids of Beattie Elementary School badminton & was instrumental in developing the Kamloops Tennis Club on Summit Drive. The family was out every weekend no matter the season for outdoor activities. Many winter weekends were spent dragging the family (grandparent’s included) firewood & food into many local lakes on a toboggan behind Dad’s old snowmobile! Years were spent travelling the province to swim meets as we were all involved in the Kamloops Swim Club; we always camped in that big canvass tent. Our introduction to Shuswap Lake was our yearly camping trip to Cedar Springs in Celista where we swam, biked, cliff jumped & of course tennis! We graduated to renting Mrs. Campbell’s cabin next to Cedar Springs for the next couple years & in 1975 Mom & Dad bought a lot & built “The Family Cabin” on Shuswap Lake where everyone was welcome. The beach was always full with sleeping children & countless tennis tournaments at Park Point with family & friends. Ed was a snazzy dresser & his boys learnt early how to shine Dad’s work shoes-little did he know they worked great for bumper dragging at Sahali Mall in the winter. Ed was a great guy, loved by many, had an easy going personality and was always generous on praise and light on criticism. He made a point to include everyone in all activities. We constantly had relatives, friends, employees & business associates over for dinner & outa towners always had a bed to sleep in! He taught us all to work hard, be gracious, have empathy & always do more than expected! His motto: if it’s to be it’s up to me!

The Neilly clan thanks everyone for reaching out during this difficult time and appreciate all their well wishes. A special heartfelt thank you to the staff at Pine Grove Care Centre, we appreciate the loving care you gave to Dad. To all the care givers over the years, Dad appreciated everything you did for him as did we. Sincere thanks to Lynda from the family for all the care, dedication, and many many games of crib with Dad.

We will miss you to the moon and back Dad, Grandpa and Great Grandpa. Give Mom a big hug for all of us.  Love, your family.

To offer a message of condolence, visit Alternatives Funeral & Cremation.

• Date : 2021-05-08
• Location : Kamloops