Frederick Fownes

Frederick A. Fownes, 92, formerly of Brooklyn, Queens County, and Cherry Hill, Lunenburg County, passed away peacefully at St. Vincent's Nursing Home in Halifax on May 17, 2024, following a life well-lived.

             Born in Halifax to Cecil Lewis Fownes and Maud Evelyn (Redden) Fownes, Fred was their only child. Growing up during the Depression in what he would describe as a hardscrabble childhood, Fred was fascinated by trains, planes and automobiles, and possessed a lifelong curiosity for figuring out how things worked. 

 Fortunately too young for the War, Fred was nonetheless enamoured by all things military thanks to his admiration and affection for his two older cousins who returned as heroes, one an RAF Spitfire pilot and the other a gunner on the Lancaster Bomber. Fred later fulfilled his desire to also serve when he entered the Royal Canadian Artillery at age 31, as a 2nd Lt, then Captain, and was qualified as Major when the Liverpool Field Battery #133 was disbanded.

 Fred enjoyed a lengthy and varied working life. As a teenager, he and his friends worked as valets, parking fancy cars for the guests of the Nova Scotian Hotel in downtown Halifax (There may have been a joy ride or two in those days, he would later recall with a wink.) After finishing school at Queen Elizabeth High and Horton Academy in Wolfville, Fred trained as an electrical draftsman and electrical designer, and began his lengthy electrical career refitting the systems of naval ships at the Halifax Shipyard.

 After meeting the love of his life, Goldie, at a dance in Blockhouse in the spring of 1956, the pair married that autumn and set off on an adventure to live in Montreal where Fred was employed at Shawinigan Engineering. 

 They welcomed their son, Allen, into their lives in 1960. The pull of home was strong, and that year Fred and Goldie returned to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, where Fred was invited to join the Engineering Department at the Bowater Mersey Paper Mill. They built a new home in Brooklyn and had a baby girl, Nadine, in 1966. 

 Fred enjoyed a 31-year career with Bowater, first as a draftsman, then Electrical Designer and finally Electrical Superintendent. He retired in 1991 and went on to teach electrical students at the Nova Scotia Community College in Bridgewater for a year and then took on some consultancy projects before finally packing up his slide rule for good.

 Fred will always be remembered as a wonderful father and husband who would do anything for his family. He could make anything, fix anything, and do anything he set his mind to. He designed and built the family’s much-loved cabin on Big Lake Mushamush, no small feat on a property far back in the woods with no electricity. 

 His pride and joy was maintaining his 150-year-old seaside home in Cherry Hill where he and Goldie spent 30 wonderful years of retirement enjoying their garden and their pets. Many hours were whiled away in his woodworking shop, tending to the incessant repair demands of the old house and crafting gifts for his family. At the age of 77, Fred single-handedly designed and constructed a wing on the old house so Goldie would no longer have to navigate the steep stairs to their bedroom.

 Fred loved dogs, listening to big bands and jazz music, zipping around the province in his little convertible, and ending the day with a rum and coke. He and Goldie enjoyed an active retirement filled with travel and the company of family and friends in their community of Cherry Hill.

 Sadly Fred was beset by a number of significant health challenges in his final years, but he met them with his usual good humour thanks to the excellent care, support and compassion from the staff at St. Vincent’s, for which his family is eternally grateful.

 Predeceased by Goldie in 2023, Fred will be sadly missed by son Allen and his wife Lynn Kontak of Halifax, daughter Nadine and husband John Pearce of Stillwater Lake, his grandchildren Sarah, of Perth, Australia, Matthew, of Victoria, BC, Mary, of Greenfield, NS, four great-grandchildren, and two step-grandchildren, Jason and Julia. He was proud of them all.

 Fred’s remains have been donated to Dalhousie Medical Research. There will be no funeral. Donations may be made in support of the volunteer firefighters and first responders at the United Communities Fire Department in Cherry Hill, an organization that was vitally important to Fred and Goldie, the NS Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Nova Scotia Alzheimer’s Society, or the St. Vincent’s Nursing Home Foundation in support of recreational opportunities for residents with dementia. Online condolences may be made below.