It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Frederick Wendell Beairsto, on Monday, March 11, 2019 at the age of 96 years.

Dick was born October 31, 1922 in Sedgewick, AB and was the sixth of eight children. He lived all of his childhood years in Sedgewick until graduation from high school in 1940.

After working for two years, Dick became the fourth of the Beairsto brothers to join the war effort in WWII. After training in Canada, Dick became a bomber pilot and was stationed in England. He flew many missions over Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on February 5, 1945. He had many war stories to share, but mostly liked to tell the humorous ones. One of his favourites was when they had to crash land their bomber and it happened to be next to a pub, and the RCAF took four days to come and get them.

Right after the war, Dick took advantage of “free tuition” offered for veterans and attended the University of Alberta, enrolling in the Faculty of Engineering, graduating as a Civil Engineer in 1949. While curling on the men’s team at a UofA bonspiel, Dick met Phyllis Fraser (nursing faculty) who was curling for the women’s team, and the rest was history. They were married May 16, 1949 and spent the next 63 years happily together, until Phyllis’s death on August 6, 2012.

Dick worked for Western Geophysical for 4 years and finally settled in Grande Prairie, working as the City Engineer for Grande Prairie 1954-1963. Then in 1963, Dick recruited partners from Edmonton, and formed the engineering firm of Beairsto, Stewart, and Weir Engineering. Over the years the business has evolved to become its current firm Beairsto and Associates Engineering. In the late 1990’s, Dick retired (sort of), and went on to spend many happy days traveling, camping, tinkering, inventing, and socializing with many friends, participating in many United Church functions or chatting with his A&W coffee crew.

Dick will be greatly missed by his three sons: Bruce (Leslie), Ric (Jennifer), and Randy; grandchildren: Cody (Alia), Carly, Jiten (Emily), Jeneva, and Nikolas (Jenny); great-grandchildren: Keston, Adria, Kinlee, Kwinn, Sylvie, and Rose; brother Bob; sisters in-law Marj and Mary; and many nieces, nephews and special friends.

He was predeceased by his loving wife of 63 years, Phyllis.

The family would like to thank good friend and doctor, Jim Pope for the wonderful care and compassion shown to Dick over the last few years. We would also like to thank the Emerald Garden staff and Prairie Lakes Hospice staff for the kindness and patience shown to Dick in order to make his stay comfortable and pleasant.

A Memorial Service for Dick will be held Friday, March 22, 2019, at 2:00pm, at St. Paul’s United Church in Grande Prairie (10206 100 Ave.).

Memorial donations may be made to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 54 (9912 101 Ave., Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 0X8) or Diabetes Canada (104, 12220 Stony Plain Road, Edmonton, AB, T5N 3Y4).