Bill Arsenault Sr.
William (Bill) W. J. Arsenault Sr. 68 of Pictou, passed away August 29th, 2015 in the Aberdeen Hospital surrounded by family members.
Born May 8th, 1947 in Edinburg Scotland immigrating to Canada in 1957 with his family.
Bill attended schools in Halifax and later worked at Creighton’s Food Brokerage and J. A. Walker Funeral Home before starting his own business Arsenault Ambulance Service in Lower Sackville and Windsor for 25 years. After retiring from the ambulance business he changed careers working first with RCMP Sackville and Tantallon as a jail guard and then as an Exhibit Co-coordinator for five RCMP offices. In semi-retirement he worked for Atlantic Funeral Homes.
Leaving behind his loving wife and best friend, Alison (Chapman), sons, William Jr. of Beaver Bank, and Devin of London, Ontario, grand-sons, Jacob, Nicolas and Zachary. Brothers, Scott Jr. (Terri-Lee) of Mount Uniacke and Joseph (Cheryl) of Middle Sackville, many nieces and nephews.
Bill was predeceased by his mother, Caroline Arsenault, father Scott Sr. and sister Evelyn (Howard) Irwin.
Bill’s life was dedicated to amateur boxing having acted as a referee and judge for thousands of amateur boxing matches reaching the pinnacle when he represented Canada at the Olympic Games in 1996. He continued to support the small club cards remembering where everyone got their start, spending time refereeing or conducting clinics for new officials or upgrading the current officials.
Bill was highly respected within the sport both nationally and internationally having travelled extensively to many countries both as a representative of Canada and also as a neutral official. He was well known for having mentored many officials who remain active on the Canadian and at the International level. Bill is a life member of Boxing Canada and Boxing Nova Scotia, and member of the Sackville Sports Hall Of Fame, Boxing Canada Hall Of Fame and Boxing Canada Wall of Fame. He was the first recipient of the Ron Walley Official of the Year recognizing excellence in officiating as selected by his peers. Bill had been awarded the Moosehead Official of The Year, The Moosehead Executive of the Year, The IKON Official of the Year for Sports Nova Scotia. He has served many years as President of Boxing Nova Scotia as well as Chief Official for Boxing Nova Scotia, and served on the Board of Directors for Boxing Canada.
A caring and compassionate man he volunteered for many organizations especially the Scotian Parlor Christmas Daddies, Santa for Scotia Nursing Homes and the RCMP Christmas parties, he was the go to auctioneer for many local sports group fundraisers.
Bill taught first aid to local schools as part of their babysitting course. For some years he had been a Big Brother, a member of the Rockingham Fire Department and the Kinsman Club as well as an Auxiliary RCMP member. Bill was the Shaw Cable News Anchor for some time and helped write and direct their award winning movie The Aftermath, concerning drinking and driving. Currently he was a Director for the New Horizon Seniors Club in Pictou. He enjoyed playing cards, a good argument and crossword puzzles which he always completed in ink.
Memorial service will be held 1pm. Wednesday in Atlantic Funeral Home, 125 Sackville Drive, Lower Sackville.
Burial in Oakridge Memory Gardens, Middle Sackville. Reception to follow in the funeral home reception lounge.
Donations may be made to Christmas Daddies or MADD.
On-line condolences may be made to www.atlanticfuneralhomes.com