November 9, 1942 – December 26, 2023

Mervyn Leonard Colton, 81 (of Kamloops, B.C.) passed away peacefully at Marjorie Willoughby Hospice with family by his side, after a brief and courageous battle with Ampullary Cancer.

He is survived by his wife Ashe, his three children, Lance, Venita, Serena (Razvan) and his two brothers Adrian of Abbotsford, B.C. and Alistair of Blackpool, UK. He was predeceased by his parents Leonard and Bessie Colton of England.

Mervyn was born in Rochdale, England on Nov. 9, 1942, in wartime and did not see his father till after the war. He was raised by his mother and grandmother in those early years. After his schooling he joined Williams Deacon’s Bank and worked for them for a few years, before immigrating to Canada and joining CIBC. He continued to work with CIBC and became a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers holding managerial positions. He furthered his education at SFU obtaining a degree in economics. Later, he certified as an RIA.  While working with the B.C. Government as an auditor of Credit Unions, Mervyn saw a lot of small towns and communities across the length and breadth of the Province. He came across Credit Unions in the most unlikely of places and locations and had some interesting stories to narrate about his experiences.

Mervyn was working as an internal auditor for Ronalds-Federated Printing when he was offered the position of internal auditor of BC Central Credit Union. He did such a thorough job of streamlining the operations that he was able to leave and start his own business in computers and computer software in the very early years of that industry. Before retail computer stores had been established in Canada, Mervyn ordered, and received the 1^st IBM home computer sold in Western Canada and only the 2^nd in all of Canada. This led to his establishing a small computer software retail store on Nanaimo and Kingsway in Vancouver. Later, the family of five came to Kamloops to start up a business partnership in computers. With time, Mervyn returned to being an auditor, this time for the B.C. taxation branch.  Mervyn enjoyed travelling to many different parts of the world, both as a bachelor (at times with his good friend Lorne Bateman, his colleague at CIBC), and later as a married man.  These trips encompassed Europe (Southern Spain, Italy, Greece and France) N. Africa, the Bahamas, Jamaica, different cities and coasts of Mexico, India (North and South) Pakistan (Lahore) and various cities and regions of the US including several trips to the different Hawaiian Islands.

He was married to Ashe (nee Mayadas) in Port Moody, B.C. in November 1979. Of their 44 years together, 33 were spent in Kamloops raising their children and establishing a home. He enjoyed seeing his family grow and share his interest in gardening, archaeology, reading, computers, computer games, technology and travel.

Many thanks to the wonderful staff at RIH (special mention: RN Angie and Saha of 6N for their outstanding compassion and kindness)1 South Ponderosa, and Marjorie Willoughby Hospice. We also thank our long-time family physician, Dr. Paul Farrell, for his overall care and finding ways to connect to Mervyn, thus making his last days easy to bear. Thanks also to Dr. M. Laghari for his expertise and quick response when needed. We would like to acknowledge and thank the commitment of the Home Health nurses: Leslie and team, Klaus (OT)…your visits made home care so much easier. Last but not least, our thanks extend to our friends and neighbours (you know who you are) who helped us in so many different ways. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives.

The family plans to hold a celebration of life for Mervyn in the Spring of 2024.

You may offer a message of condolence at Cypress Funeral & Cremation Services for the Colton family.

• Date : 2023-12-26
• Location : Kamloops