Obituary of George Piccinin

With heavy hearts, we are saddened to announce the sudden passing of George Piccinin on June 18, 2024, in his home.  George lived and loved his family and friends with a gigantic and generous heart. He loved to cook and share food and homemade wine, was an avid gardener, and a talented woodworker and builder. We will especially miss his wonderful, unmistakeable, and playful sense of humour.

George was born a first generation Canadian in Toronto, Ontario. His parents, Silvio Liviano Piccinin, and Angelina Muzzin, emigrated from Italy in the early years after the end of WWII, settling in a small home on Talbot street in Toronto’s burgeoning Little Italy. George was born July 11, 1951 and his brother John followed on January 16, 1955.  His childhood was full of ball hockey played on the cul-de-sac on Talbot, food grown in their garden, and wine-making at home with his father’s wine press.  He often joked that you couldn’t leave your hockey stick laying around in that neighborhood or an Italian would take it to stake up their tomatoes. 

After finishing high school, George was accepted into the Architectural Technology program at Ryerson College in Toronto. There, he met three young men who would become lifelong friends and brothers: Ian (Ruth) Johnston, John (Nancy) Elaschuk, and Carlo (Maria) Osellame. It was through a blind date arranged by John Elaschuk’s then-girlfriend (later wife), Maritimer Nancy Flemming, that he met Beryl Anderson who was visiting Nancy in Toronto. Beryl was pursuing her undergraduate degree at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NS, so they maintained a long-distance relationship with only occasional phone calls while they finished their post-secondary educations.  George and Beryl married in 1974 in New Brunswick and settled in Dundas, Ontario, where their two children were born: Andrew in 1982 and Carolyn in 1984.  George and Beryl’s marriage moved through four houses, each of which, over the course of their occupancy, would have at least one bathroom renovation (or new installation), a new shed built in the backyard, a new deck built, and an expansive flower and vegetable garden grown.

In 2005, Beryl was diagnosed with melanoma and she passed away in 2008. A few years afterwards, George moved to his home in the country, in Vanessa Ontario.  After years of bachelor life, George met Becky Hampton on an online match website in 2014, and they began dating, sharing a love of gardening, food, family, and travel. They were married in 2015 and later moved to their home in Belmont, which soon thereafter, to nobody’s surprise, gained a shed/woodshop, a garden expansion, and several bathroom renovations. 

George loved to make things for his family and loved ones. He loved to learn how they were doing, and was happy to find ways he could help build something for them, or help with an installation, or plan a DIY project to improve their lives.  He loved to host people for dinner and was a talented cook. He was often trying new recipes he’d discovered on the internet or cooking shows.

It’s hard to explain George’s sense of humour in a few words.  He loved to be playful. He loved to make people laugh, but always in a gentle, fun-loving way. He loved harmless pranks. He told his dear friends, before they met Becky, that she had piercings, tattoos, and drove a motorcycle.  When he met Becky’s son’s family, he had hidden a remote-controlled noise machine that made fart sounds under the dinner table and pressed the button intermittently during their first meal together while delightedly waiting for her young grandkids to figure it out between laughter.  When he was younger and he and Beryl made the annual trips east to New Brunswick, he would often fly home to work his job, then fly back to join them at the end of their trip. He would always disguise himself somehow for the Moncton airport pickup; most infamously, he once shaved off his signature moustache. We will miss his gentle, loving, playful nature most of all.

George was predeceased by his brother, John (Susan) and parents, Silvio and Angelina. He is missed profoundly by his beloved wife, Becky, by his children Andrew (Shannon) and Carolyn (Danny), his grandson Taran, his stepson Chris (Tanya), bonus grandkids Abbey and Bryce, his cherished brothers- and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, and family members and friends in Ontario, the Maritimes, Western Canada, and Italy.

On Sunday, July 21, 2024, please join us for a Celebration of Life reception from 2-5 p.m, with shared stories and toasts to George at 3 p.m. Location: East Elgin Community Complex, 531 Talbot St. W., Aylmer, ON.

In lieu of flowers, consider donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.  The family would deeply appreciate a happy or funny memory of George shared via email or on the Tribute Wall on the memorial website kebbelfuneralhome.com