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Keith Elmo Stonehouse

May 27, 2010

STONEHOUSE, Keith Elmo

1923 – 2010


Keith Stonehouse died May 27 in St. Joseph's Hospital, Comox, B.C. He was 87.


Born in Flora, Saskatchewan, Keith left home as a teenager, and was 18 years old when he joined the Canadian army during the Second World War. He was wounded overseas in 1944 and invalided home. In 1950, Keith and his young wife, Bertie, bought the Lodge on Hornby Island and ran it for 28 years. Their warm hospitality is still fondly remembered by many people in the Vancouver area and elsewhere. Soon after they sold in 1978, the Lodge property became Tribune Bay Provincial Park.


He is survived by Bertie, their sons George and Charlie (a daughter, Susan, died in 1976), his sister Jean Pocha of Langley, B.C., grandchildren Linda, Tara, Shayna, Gina, Stephen, Elliot, and Maire, great-grandchildren William and Charmaine, and his dog Buddy.


After leaving the Lodge, Keith and Bertie built a waterfront home on Hornby and Keith began to indulge his lifelong passion for horses. For three decades, he bred, trained and raced standardbreds under the banner of Lunar Rock Stables, named for the curious rock formations on the beach in front his house. Until recent years a common sight on Hornby was Keith on a sulky, exercising a horse on one of the island's dirt roads. When he died he still had a horse at the track. He was also a long-time supporter and advocate for Greener Pastures, the society that finds new homes for former racehorses.


For the past couple of years Keith was pretty well chairbound, although from time to time he did hobble outside to have another stab at fixing that darn tractor. What he liked was to have his friends in for a chat and a “drink of scotch”. He was a gentleman and a man of principles, and he will be missed.


A memorial celebration of Keith's life will be held on Hornby Island in the fall, at a time and place to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Greener Pastures through the Canadahelps.org link or by mail to PO Box 10096-3600 248 St., Aldergrove, B.C., V4W 3Z5.



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