Obituary of Samuel Lawson Quigley

September 3, 1924 - November 1, 2020

 

Samuel Lawson Quigley peacefully passed at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital, Sunday evening November 1, 2020. The man who always said he wanted his final hours to be at home in his own bed, almost got his wish. He was taken to the hospital Sunday morning, the heart that had beaten faithfully for his 96 years on earth having grown tired.

Sam was born in Prince Albert, Sask, his family then moving to Regina at six months old. A top midget goaltender with the Regina Wares (when he was 15), he next played junior with the Flin Flon Bombers before having his hockey career interrupted by World War II and enlisting in the Royal Canadian Navy. During the war he was stationed in Halifax, seeing minesweeper duty. After the war, he resumed playing hockey, turning semi-professional with the Los Angeles Monarchs. In 1946 Sam was recruited out of the Monarchs for employment at Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company and to play for the Kimberley Dynamiters. He and his wife Gwen (nee Lees) and infant son Sam Jr. moved into the house Sam would call home for the rest of his life.

After hockey, Sam took to the ice for a different sport - curling. He was a highly competitive curler who, in his later years, would reminisce about the bonspiels he had played in, at least as often as he would tell stories about his hockey career. He tried never to miss a televised curling tournament and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the curling stars from the 1950’s forward. His favourite, especially because she was the pride of Saskatchewan, was the late Sandra Schmirler. He regularly donated to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. After three-quarters of a century residing in Kimberley, more than four decades employed with “the mine”, and laying claim to being the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ greatest fan, Sam will be sorely missed but fondly remembered by all who knew him. As a 2016 newspaper feature in the Kimberley Daily Bulletin headlined, Sam was “a good goalie and great person”.

 Sam was predeceased by his beloved wife Gwen in 2008.

 In accordance with Sam’s wishes, no service is planned.

Arrangements entrusted to McPherson Funeral Services.

Condolences for the family can be offered at:

www.mcphersonfh.com