Ross Goldsworthy 1934-2017
Ross passed peacefully away in his home in Gander on Wednesday, November 8th 2017 at the age of 83 years. Predeceased by his parents Abraham Lewis and Mary Elizabeth Goldsworthy, his son Barry, brothers Stanley, Calvert, and Kenneth as well as sisters Joyce (Palmer), Lottie (Hollett), Myrtle (Bailey) and Sadie (Green).
Left with loving memories, the love of his life, his beautiful wife Shirley (Rowe), his son Geoff (Sheila), daughters Maria (Ben) and Faith (Jimmie). His grandchildren, Matthew, Rebecca, April, Kendra, Nickolas, James, and Julia as well as his two great grandchildren, Avey and Dalla.
Ross was born on July 14th, 1934 in a small fishing village in Newfoundland known as Trinity, Trinity Bay. What he didn’t realize at the time was that it would be the bases and inspiration that allowed him to accomplish so many things in life. In this small town in Outport Newfoundland he met the love of his life Shirley Rowe at the age of 13 years old and took that teen relationship through a great lifetime journey.
Ross left Trinity as a young man hoping to explore the world like most did back in the day. He found himself a job as a store keeper with Baird Motors in the early 50’s and often spoke of the job in his fond memories. Being new to the city it was not the job itself that he found fascinating. He quickly starting taking note of characters and the dialect they spoke when they came into the shop daily. Although not from the big city, Ross was certainly drawn to the people he would meet on the street and how they could light up a room with their storytelling and yarns. What he didn’t realize, this would be the inspiration and beginning of what would evolve over the coming years.
Ross moved to Gander in the late 50’s and decided like many of his friends this would be a great place to settle and build a family. In 1960 he married his childhood sweetheart Shirley, and they built a house, started a family in Gander. He had four children, Geoff, Barry(Pre-Deceased) , Maria and Faith and along with Shirley they called 46 Hamilton Street Home.
Ross developed a fond loving for Aviation and went on to get his private license. It is what probably drew him to Gander in the first place. He started work with Eastern Provincial Airways in 1961, and continued his fascination and love and excitement for aircraft. Spanning a career of 25 years with the airlines, he worked his way through the company to become a System Reliability Engineer, a job he was very proud of. During those years at EPA he built so many friendships and rarely a conversation got going without making reference to it.
Besides his love for Aviation, Ross started to uncover a passion that started as a child back in his hometown of Trinity, and that was the art of storytelling. An art that many Newfoundlanders had by nature, but one that would take him further in his journey.
Ross started emceeing and public speaking at a young age but his canvas was always the same, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, the lives they lived, the stories they told and the humor it brought to them. You see whether Ross was speaking to a High School graduation in a church hall or a big stage in front of the Premier, the message was always the same, to lift spirits, make them laugh, and bring them back to their childhood and entertain them.
Ross Goldsworthy spoke to thousands of functions over the years but never wanted to build a career of it and enjoyed it and cherished every opportunity he got to speak no matter who the audience. Through all his speaking engagements Ross never wanted compensation, he just wanted people to feel what he felt in the story and he did that like no other. When they would say, “Ross what do you want for doing that?”, he would simply say, “A Care package would be great, maybe a salt fish, a feed of moose, or a bottle of rabbit”.
Ross went on to become one of the founding member of the Avion Players in Gander, and was often found on stage acting in one of the many plays such as “The Holding Ground” and “As loved Our Fathers”. In 1972 he received the Best Actor award for his role in the play “Jody”, a play which his son Geoff played the part of Jody. This was yet another avenue for him to tell stories through the art of stage and bring us into the history of our forefathers. Often referred to as the “Old Man and the Sea” Ross had a way of bringing you the point of visualization and taking the audience to a place where they could feel the smell the ocean. He took every advantage to get the word out about Newfoundland, and participated in many radio broadcasts on CBC, and several movie productions where he played the part of a Newfoundland Fisherman.
Through the calendar mounted on the kitchen cupboard door, where Shirley kept track of his speaking engagements, he accepted every speaking engagement he could, whether it was a high school graduation, wedding, convention, or a Provincial Government dinner for the Premier. To Ross he treated everyone the same, with respect and appreciative they asked him to speak at their event. Ross was a humble man, respected by everyone that knew him and although he drew lots of attention he did not lose sight of why he was doing all of this, it was to spread the word of the country, province and community is loved so much through his story telling, jokes, and humor.
In 1972 he was asked by the Canadian Press of Ottawa to travel to Germany, Lahr and Baden-Baden, to speak to the Canadian Troops who were stationed abroad. He took this as a high honor and accepted the responsibility. With his wife Shirley by his side they travelled to Germany, where he had the opportunity to bring a touch of Newfoundland to the Canadians and specifically the Newfoundlanders serving away from home overseas, and to draw them back through his stories to the place they called home.
He was inspired through many Newfoundland writers and story tellers such a Michael Cook, Ray Guy, Ted Russell and others to create his own chronicles, the chronicles of Ross Goldsworthy. As much a story teller and actor Ross also loved music of all types and in the 60’s and 70’s he could be found sitting high in the back of the band, with his drums and snare, playing with the ‘Solidaires’.
After the move of Eastern Provincial Airways he decided to stay in Gander and his love of the arts drew him back to Art & Culture Center in Gander where he took the role of Manager of the Centre. This is the role he later retired as but continued to assist in many productions afterward.
Ross was a very active member with the Air Cadets and served as a Director for the Gander and Lewisporte area for many years and just recently received a National Award from the Air Cadet movement of Canada for his long serving years of commitment to the organization.
Whether Ross was walking the streets of Gander, on Stage or speaking to the public he always took time to stop and make the connection with the person. He was a great family man, he loved the outdoors, boating up the lake, ice fishing at Deadman’s Pond, boil ups in the woods and hanging out with friends and yes telling stories. He loved his family dearly, his wife Shirley, his kids, grand kids and great grand kids. He loved his community, the town of Gander and he will be greatly missed by all.
Resting at Stacey's Funeral Home. Gander with visitation Sunday November 12th 2-4 and 7-9 pm , Monday November 13th 10 am - 12 noon. Funeral service 2:00 pm Momday at St. Martins Anglican Cathedral, Gander. Interment to follow at All Saints Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations in Ross's memory may be made to Canadian Lung Association. www.lung.ca to make a donation.
Arrangements entrusted to Stacey's Funeral Home, Gander - Carmanville. To leave a message of condolence please visit www.staceysfuneralhome.ca
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