PUFFALT, Victor

March 31, 1928 — July 13, 2018

Victor Puffalt was born March 31, 1928 and passed away on Friday, July 13, 2018 at the age of 90. He is survived by his loving wife, Simone; daughter Rochelle Neid (Chris) of Lake Country; son Daryn of Kelowna; grandchildren Brook, Jacob, Sierra and Kylie of Kelowna, and Aidan, Liam and Emily of Lake Country; sister Frances Lonseth (Roy) of Calgary, AB; brother Gordon Puffalt (Ilona) of Abbotsford; and sister-in-law Ruth Puffalt of Broadview SK. Victor is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, whom he held close to his heart, as though they were his own.

Victor was predeceased by parents Emil and Mary Puffalt of Kelowna, sisters Emma Puffalt and Martha (Stan) Thompson; brothers Edwin, and Bert (Rose); and brother-in-law Allan Alford.

Victor was born in Kipling SK, the fifth of seven children. He had a happy childhood with the usual farm life and hardships during the Great Depression. From 1950 to 1963 Victor left his home and went to preach the Gospel of Jesus. From 1963 to 1971 Victor worked at various jobs and took trades courses. In 1971 he moved to Kelowna where his parents lived and started framing houses. In 1972 Victor met Simone and they were married in May of 1973.

In May of 1974, daughter Rochelle was born, and in September of 1975, Daryn’s birth completed the family. The Puffalts worked and played together, and many friends were made, visited and cherished as they travelled across Canada, the USA and Mexico when the building season was done.

Victor loved the outdoors and many hours were spent in the woods hunting, fishing, skiing, and camping. Victor and Simone loved to watch the ‘kids’ play sports and are fondly remembered by many of KLO Secondary’s athletes for their presence at most, if not all home volleyball and basketball games – and most of the away games too. Other pastimes included gardening and landscaping. Victor finally put down the hammer in 1993 and thought he would retire to their house on the edge of the woods. That lasted about 5 minutes, and Victor got involved in various businesses before he decided in 2001 to start his own landscaping business. Not busy enough yet, he also decided that he and Mom should start a cleaning business. In 2007, when Victor was 79, Victor and Simone moved to Lake Country when they decided that condo-living was for ‘old people’. In 2011 Victor decided that the home property was suffering from a lack of his oversight and gave up his two business in Kelowna, so the yard would flourish.

Over the next three years, Victor and Simone enjoyed many travels and much fellowship with friends old and new. Family time became much more precious and ‘Papa Victor’ spent many hours playing crokinole with the kids, watching their sporting and life events and eating Simone’s home-made pizza with the family.

On Dec 21^st of 2014, Victor a suffered heart attack which led to open heart surgery at the age of 86. The surgeon told him that his life expectancy would be very short unless he opted for surgery in which case he might get 2-3 more years. He chose to have the surgery and he got to enjoy another 3.5 years with family and friends. After his heart attack, Victor spent many hours tending to his relationships with family and friends and enjoying fellowship with them, in person or over the phone.

Victor’s health in the last few months was slowly declining. He was less able to get out of the house but managed to get out for fellowship meetings and bible study most Sundays and Wednesdays. This last Spring, Victor seemed aware his time on this earth was limited, so he set some goals that he thought might be achievable. First, he thought it would be great to make it to his 90^th birthday and that milestone was achieved on March 31^st. The next goal was to make it to Liam’s 10^th birthday on April 16^th. Once he got there, he thought it would be very special to be able to celebrate his 45^th wedding anniversary with Simone on May 11 and then to celebrate Sierra and Kylie’s 12^th birthday on May 12^th. The last goal he wanted to achieve was to be able to take in all of the Salmon Arm convention. With the help of friends and family, this was made possible, and Victor enjoyed the whole convention. Once the convention was over, he said it didn’t matter what happened, now that he had been to the most special place with the most special people.   He was ready to meet his Maker. He said that the only thing that would make it better was to go to the Glenvalley convention in August. Immediately following the Salmon Arm convention, a quick decline occurred and 5 days after the convention, Victor peacefully passed on, surrounded by his family.

Throughout Victor’s life, his main focus has always been his relationship with God. He was most at home with scripture in hand, and he loved to talk about the work and the word of God. Singing hymns was a favourite past-time and there were many evenings spent singing and listening to hymns. Simone has mentioned that the last few years were more special because of the time they had to enjoy in fellowship with each other, talking about spiritual things.

Victor will be fondly remembered by his family and friends on July 28, 2018 at 1:00PM at Springfield Funeral Home, 2020 Springfield Road in Kelowna BC. A Tea will be served following the service.

If you have a favourite memory that you would like to share with the family, please email Rochelle roeyp@hotmail.com. Special thanks to the Palliative Home Care Team at Interior Health.

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