Obituary of Donald Fletcher Sherwin
It is with heavy heart and great sadness that the family announces the death of Don Sherwin at home in Perth on November 29, 2023, in his 93rd year. Don was born May 16, 1931, in Guelph, Ontario, the younger son of William Fletcher Sherwin and Vera Winnifred House. Survived by his loving wife and best friend, Christina Charlotta McGuire of Perth, Ontario, daughters Nancy Jean Sherwin of Port Dover, Ontario and Wendy Ann Owens (John) of Constance Bay, Ontario, granddaughters Katherine and Jennifer Owens, and his brother Bill’s extensive family in Ontario and Alberta.
Predeceased by his first wife, Esther Mildred Belton (1931 -1989), son Donald James “Jamie” (1958 – 1989) and his brother William Webster Sherwin (1927 – 2021).
In 1940, the family moved to St. Catherines, Ontario, where Don attended high school. He then studied at the University of Toronto, where he graduated in 1953 with a degree in geological engineering.
For the next 35 years, Don pursued a career as a petroleum geologist, assuming positions of increasing responsibility, first in the Alberta oil patch with Chevron Canada, later with the federal government Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in Ottawa, in the regulation and evaluation of industry offshore and northern oil and gas exploration programs, and finally with the Canada-Newfoundland/Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board in St. John’s.
In 1988, Don retired to Ottawa. After his son Jamie and wife Esther unexpectedly died in late 1989, Don moved to the Perth area west of Ottawa, where he built a new home on Bennett Lake. In 1994, Don met fellow hiker and Navy Lieutenant Christina McGuire of Ottawa. They were married in April 1995 in an all-night chapel in Las Vegas, to begin a new life of adventure, travel, and companionship. Over the next 25 years the couple visited 95 countries by land, sea, and air, including hikes in the Himalayas, Alps, Andes, Rockies and mountains in England, Wales, and Ireland.
Don’s hobbies, other than traveling and hiking, included volunteer work and quiet philanthropy, genealogy, canoeing, camping, cottaging, sailing, skiing, singing, and dancing.
A gentleman always, Don lived his life with integrity, dignity, and respect for all. Superhero as a husband, and as a father.
In memory of Don, please take a moment, or perhaps a few moments, to reflect on the blessings of the world around us: the sun, the water, the trees, and the rocks he loved so much.
“There is a link death cannot sever,
Love and remembrance last forever”
Author unknown
A celebration of Don’s life will be held at a later date. Arrangements are in the care of Blair & Son Funeral Directors, Perth.
