Les Hems (Apr 14, 1928 — Feb 18, 2015)

Les and his wife, Gwen, drove to Parry Sound in 1956 to purchase 100 feet of shoreline on Kahshe Lake from the "Crown."  By the summer of 1959, they moved into a small cottage with their two little children.  Every summer since then, until 2013, Les and his family lived at Kahshe Lake.  Les commuted between the cottage and his job with Air Canada, until his retirement.  

After retirement he spent most of the summer at the lake, going to the city for a game of tennis during the week. He had a little red CJ7 Jeep, in which he enjoyed exploring the back roads around the cottage with his various golden retrievers.  

Les's contribution to the Housey's Rapids Cottagers Association picnic was to pick up the food supplies from Ledbetters Meats on Rama Road and deliver them to the Bass Lake picnic site. Unlike most of the cottagers, he was not a fisherman, although he did take the grandchildren to Kermit's to submit their catch for weighing and measuring in the annual fishing derby. That was the extent of his involvement in this popular pastime.  His interests lay in aviation and light plane flying.  His passion was to take his PA11 float plane and fly over the lakes and tundra of Muskoka.