JAMES "Jimmie" GOVE passed away peacefully on July 24, 2010 at Vancouver Hospital within two weeks of his 89th birthday.
He was born August 8, 1921 in Gourdon, Scotland. When he was 6 weeks old his family immigrated to Canada and settled in Lethbridge, Alberta. His father David died when he was 11 years old leaving his mother Ann (nee Forsyth) to raise 8 children during the depression. Jim dealt with the rough life by joining a boxing club and over the years became an accomplished boxer and coach. He was awarded the UBC Big Block in the late 1940s.
Jim left school at 13 to help with family finances. He worked as a cowboy in southern Alberta until he joined the army in 1939. While stationed in Nanaimo he met and married Ethel (nee Chapman) who deceased in 2006. In June 1944, as a Tank Commander in the South Alberta Regiment, Sergeant Gove was on the beaches of Normandy and in the advance of the Canadian Fourth Armored Division through the liberation of Holland and across the Rhine. Sergeant Gove received a bright array of medals for service and bravery and was honoured with a Commander in Chief’s Certificate from Field Marshall Montgomery.
After the war Jim completed High School in 6 months and enrolled in UBC. He and Ethel lived at Little Mountain Camp with other veterans until his graduation with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1950. His only child Tom (Thomas James) was born in 1947. After graduation Jim returned to the Army in the Ordinance Corps. Although most of Jim’s postings were in B.C. and Alberta, he spent 14 months in the Korean Conflict attached to the PPCLI, in Soest Germany from 1959 to 1962, and Ghana from 1965 to 1968. As Major Gove he retired from the Army in 1969. He quickly took a position at UBC as the Administrator in the Department of Psychology from which he retired in 1986.
Jim had several passions well known to his family and friends: wilderness adventure, physical fitness, dogs, poker, tennis and his family. When he returned from Ghana in 1968 he joined the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club where he spent many days.
Missing Jim are his son Tom, daughter-in-law Sharon (nee Boyle), grandchildren Emily Krilanovich (Steve), Katie and Ian, great grandchildren Juliet and Aria, his caregiver Vilma Rojas and all the dogs at the Fraser River dog park.
A memorial reception will be held for family and friends on Saturday July 31, 2010 at 2 p.m. at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, 1630 West 15th Avenue, Vancouver.
Tom can be reached in Vancouver at 604-266-9490
A life well lived
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Obituaries - Lethbridge area 
JAMES "Jimmie" GOVE passed away peacefully on July 24, 2010 at Vancouver Hospital within two weeks of his 89th birthday.
He was born August 8, 1921 in Gourdon, Scotland. When he was 6 weeks old his family immigrated to Canada and settled in Lethbridge, Alberta. His father David died when he was 11 years old leaving his mother Ann (nee Forsyth) to raise 8 children during the depression. Jim dealt with the rough life by joining a boxing club and over the years became an accomplished boxer and coach. He was awarded the UBC Big Block in the late 1940s.
Jim left school at 13 to help with family finances. He worked as a cowboy in southern Alberta until he joined the army in 1939. While stationed in Nanaimo he met and married Ethel (nee Chapman) who deceased in 2006. In June 1944, as a Tank Commander in the South Alberta Regiment, Sergeant Gove was on the beaches of Normandy and in the advance of the Canadian Fourth Armored Division through the liberation of Holland and across the Rhine. Sergeant Gove received a bright array of medals for service and bravery and was honoured with a Commander in Chief’s Certificate from Field Marshall Montgomery.
After the war Jim completed High School in 6 months and enrolled in UBC. He and Ethel lived at Little Mountain Camp with other veterans until his graduation with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1950. His only child Tom (Thomas James) was born in 1947. After graduation Jim returned to the Army in the Ordinance Corps. Although most of Jim’s postings were in B.C. and Alberta, he spent 14 months in the Korean Conflict attached to the PPCLI, in Soest Germany from 1959 to 1962, and Ghana from 1965 to 1968. As Major Gove he retired from the Army in 1969. He quickly took a position at UBC as the Administrator in the Department of Psychology from which he retired in 1986.
Jim had several passions well known to his family and friends: wilderness adventure, physical fitness, dogs, poker, tennis and his family. When he returned from Ghana in 1968 he joined the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club where he spent many days.
Missing Jim are his son Tom, daughter-in-law Sharon (nee Boyle), grandchildren Emily Krilanovich (Steve), Katie and Ian, great grandchildren Juliet and Aria, his caregiver Vilma Rojas and all the dogs at the Fraser River dog park.
A memorial reception will be held for family and friends on Saturday July 31, 2010 at 2 p.m. at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, 1630 West 15th Avenue, Vancouver.
Tom can be reached in Vancouver at 604-266-9490
A life well lived