Frank Roy Ross was 84 when he passed away in Campbell River last February. He was a kind and gentle soul who loved dogs, including Angus, his Australian shepherd.
Frank was born in Winnipeg, but he and his two brothers grew up in Surrey after their father, a WWI naval pilot, decided to settle and farm there in 1935. Times were tight during the Great Depression. On their 12-acre farm in Whalley, near Grosvenor Street, there was no electricity or water hook-up, but for the brothers there was plenty of forest to run through and countless forts to build. The resourceful boys harvested medicinal barberry bark and sold it to the military for 25 cents a pound – a seeming fortune in those days.
Since then, Frank made a lifetime of giving back as a dedicated teacher. After teaching in the interior, he returned to Surrey for a career that spanned 35 years, first teaching middle school then becoming an elementary school librarian where he was a treasured mentor to countless children.
Frank has touched many lives over the years as a brother, uncle, friend, neighbour and teacher. Now he will make an impact in our community for years to come with the generous estate gift he left to the Surrey Hospital Foundation.
