John Laurence (Larry) Collis (July 18, 1930 — Dec 22, 2012)

Larry started coming to the lake in his late teens when he and I first started dating. He and my sister Janice’s boyfriend, Paul Mooney, were helping in the construction of the first cottage, hauling materials up from Albert Denne’s barge and sleeping on the front lawn in pup tents.  Larry and I were married in 1954, bought our lot from Hilda Mylks in 1959 and began building “Blue Heron Point” with the help of our three small children, Doug, Gregg and Julie, and Albert’s barge. Before we started building the main cottage, we began with a one room bunkie which has gradually morphed into a three room bunkie which allows our oldest son, Doug, his wife, Sue, their daughter, Sarah, her husband, Billie, and their children, William and Chloë, and grandson, Duncan, to enjoy the cottage as much as the older generation.

Our oldest grandson, Adam, and his wife, Jennifer, travel from Calgary every summer to have their holidays at the lake. Julie and her husband, Bruce, and Gregg and his wife, Diana, and daughters, Laura and Karen, all spend as much time at the cottage as they can. Larry worked for Canada Permanent, then Canada Trust, and took an early retirement which allowed us more time in Larry’s paradise, Blue Heron Point, where there were always projects to do: cottage improvements, road building and road purchasing negotiations, and road maintenance. And when the projects were done for the day, then it was time to fish, to kayak and to canoe. We had a memorial for Larry at the cottage in July of last year with family coming from all across Canada. We all miss Larry, dad, grandpa and great-grandpa, very much.