Obituary for Paul Llewellyn Ferris
It is with heavy hearts we announce the sudden passing of Paul Llewellyn Ferris of Mill Cove, NB on Friday, September 17, 2021 at the age of 63.
Paul was born in Gagetown, NB on July 4, 1958 son of the late Dolphie and Marie (Moss) Ferris. Paul is survived by his loving wife, Nancy (nee May); their children Shannon (Matthew) Dunton, Shawn Ferris (Kelly McCutcheon) and Amanda Ferris (Nick Reynolds); sister Charlene Stackhouse; brothers Walter (Debbie) Ferris, Gerald Allen and Michael Allen (Heather Ann MacLellan); grandchildren Samantha, Savannah, Marissa, Hailie, Kaleb, Hayden and Dakota; many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and wonderful friends.
Predeceased by his parents; brother Charles Allen; brothers-in-law Daryl May and Terry Stackhouse; nephew Connor May.
Family will receive comfort at the Mill Cove Church of God (5678 Route 105, Mill Cove, NB E4C 3C7) on Thursday, September 23, 2021 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm followed by a celebration of Paul’s life at 2:00 pm. (Masks are required). Interment will follow in the Bethel Pentecostal Church Cemetery following the service.
Donations in memory of Paul made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated by the family
Arrangements are in the compassionate care of Chipman Funeral Home & Crematorium (339-6612). Memories and condolences may be shared through www.chipmanfuneralhome.ca
Paul Llewellyn Ferris was born in Gagetown on July 4th 1958. He was the middle child of the 3 children born to Dolphie & Marie Ferris. Paul was raised on a little farm in Whites Cove. There he would be taught by his parents not only the meaning of hard work, but also the need to be a good person.
At only 11 years old, Paul would tragically lose his own father to an accident in the woods. As the oldest son, he made his father proud when he stepped up to assume the role of man of the house, and took care of the family.
In the years to follow, Paul would again become a big brother to his 3 youngest brothers. Paul loved, cared for & protected those boys like they were his own. He taught them what he could, & was always there to get them out of trouble when needed.
At 16 years old, Paul bought his first chainsaw & would then follow in his father’s footsteps by working in the woods.
In the summer of 1974, at the old Bethel Irving, Paul would meet the love of his life Nancy. See, Nancy was suppose to be riding her bike in the bike-a-thone, but there was a problem. Her bike was to big for her to get on. Paul seeing her struggle, and being not only the gentleman, but the smart man he was knowing this was his in, he offered to hold the bike for Nancy as she climbed up. And the rest as they say is history.
Although at the time Paul didn’t know that once his own little brother Charles would meet Nancy, Paul would have to fight for her love. I know, I know, pretty scandalous if you ask me. But, to be fair he was only about 3 or 4 years old at the time. Chuck would climb up on Nancy’s lap, look at Paul & say “She’s my girlfriend”, Paul would say “No she’s my girlfriend now get down”. Chuck would pout, Nancy would say “Oh he’s fine”, Chuck would smile, & Paul knew he’d lost. Even though he lost the battle, he won the war when he & Nancy got married in 1978.
Paul got his trucking license & for the next 5 years, he would work out of Wickham hauling for Mr. Reicker. Eventually, he would move on, & he would start his career at the DOT. Paul started off on the bridge crew, moved to road crew & settled into his current position as a snow plow operator.
Around 1988, Paul & Nancy would buy their land on Fowler Road. This is where they would build their home, & raise their 3 children.
Paul’s family was his pride & joy. He enjoyed being a father. He taught his children many things. Among those, he taught them hard work never hurt anyone, family is the most important thing. And he also taught them to be kind, caring, honest, decent human beings. Paul always told his children growing up something his dad had told him & that was to never turn away someone who asks you for help. You never know, it could be an angel in disguise.
As much as Paul loves his children his absolute favorite thing in this world to be was a Papa. He was Papa to his and Nancy’s 7 beautiful grandchildren. You could find him on any given day teasing them or telling them stories about life on the farm. Paul beamed with pride when he found out his 2 oldest grandsons both shared his middle name Llewellyn.
When Hayden & Kaleb where younger, Kaleb had called Hayden by his full name. Hayden comes running out crying to his mom & says “Mama Kaleb called me Hayden-James Watermelon! But I’m not a watermelon Mama I’m Hayden-James Llewellyn!”. Papa got a pretty good chuckle out of that one too. And so his nick names for the boys would come to him. Hayden was carrot, Kaleb was potato & Dakota was turnup. Why? We don’t know, we just went with it.
Those who knew Paul will tell you he was a quite man, a man of few words, but he was also a great man, a hard working man, a caring and giving man. And the people who knew him the best, those being his family, will tell you Paul didn’t need words or a mood ring, his face would tell you all you ever needed to know about how he was feeling or what kind of mood he was in.
His children could be heard this week telling the stories of when they knew they were in trouble, all by how Paul was sitting at the table, and the look on his face. They would instantly replay the days events in their heads and silently wonder “was it me or one of the other 2”. Paul very rarely ever had to raise his voice, because when he did they would cry, probably because it was so shocking to them. But to hear their Uncle Tommy tell it, Paul wasn’t even yelling just changed his tone. Either way it was affective & the kids didn’t like it.
They will also tell you that yes he was a great, hard working, caring & giving man, he most definitely He was all those things but he was also so much more. To us he was a loving husband, the best father & the world’s greatest Papa.
The family wanted to share some of their favorite Paul stories and some of the grandchildren wanted to share some of their favorite Papa memories.
One time Dolphie had asked Paul to go to the house & get the milk buckets. When he walked into the house his mother was making cookies, she asked Paul if he wanted one. So he took off all his snow gear & was enjoying his cookie, when Marie looked up and saw Dolphie stomping across the yard from the barn. He came in the house looked at Paul & said “what did I tell you”, so he got up and took the milk buckets to the barn. After dad told us that story we realized where he got it from. But he saved us the kick in the bottom across the yard, we just got the overwhelming guilt of knowing dad was disappointed. Personally I’d of rather the kick in the bottom and I think dad knew that…sneaky he was.
One Christmas dad was making his bows for outside. He went down and grabbed his staple gun. Shawn said “Dad, that’s going to go right through the table”. “oh no it won’t I put the little ones in” dad said. He placed a thin piece of paper underneath just in case and he stapled it. He forgot to change the staples, so the bow was stuck to the table. He looked at Shawn & told him “Don’t tell your mother”. Dad left to go get mom from work, and Shawn looked until he found those staple marks. Mom wasn’t even in the door and had her shoes off before she heard “guess what dad did”. It wouldn’t be until years later we found out he already told her and wanted to see how long it would be until he was rated out. I guess about 0.2 seconds.
I don’t know if any of you have ever heard the song “tip toe through the tulips” by Tiny Tim? Well, you aren’t missing much honestly. Dad played that song one day, I was like “why does that guy sing it so weirdly”. And dad being dad, and knowing how much it bothered me, would sing that song to me every chance he got. The worst part is, and I’m not even joking, Dad sounded just like him. I’m telling you he could have made millions as a Tiny Tim impersonator. Never thought I’d miss hearing that song being sung to me so much.
One of our first winters in the house, the front yard was nothing but ice. And all 3 of us were out playing. My sister was pushing me in the sled. That’s was great, the problem was where dad’s oak tree is in the yard, he had 6 little fir trees lined up in a row. Shannon pushed me, I couldn’t steer and I took the first on out. Shawn walked over stood it back up and we kept playing. By the time we went in, all 6 fir trees where down. Shawn stuck all 6 back in the ground. When spring came and the ice melted the fir trees fell over. We didn’t know how we were going to tell dad, but he already knew what had happened because he had been watching us from the window. All he said was next time they have be stuck in the ground not the ice.
When Dad worked for Mr. Reicker, he had this old Mac truck that he drove. We got him a name plate for it that said “Old Smoky”. Dad was some proud of that truck.
The grandchildren wanted to share their favorite memories with their Papa.
Samantha- the Christmas that Papa lined up all the Christmas things that sang songs or made noise in the hallway. Then Papa went down the line one by one turning them all on to wake us up. Then he tried to go back to bed.
Savannah- Papa loved Christmas especially when we were all together. So he usually never let us sleep in, because he was so excited to see us open our gifts. Then after he’d make us breakfast. One year he took us all out side to see the reindeer prints he had found & a note from Santa. And every year he’d put out little trays of candy one for each of us.
Marissa- One time when we came to visit Papa & Nana, I brought my stuffed unicorn. And Papa kept teasing me and saying it was a hippo. So the next time we came down, I brought him a stuffed hippo.
Hayden- once when we were staying at Papa & Nana’s house, Papa had two tractors. One worked and one didn’t. Papa told me to sit on one and he hooked the other one up to it. I was so happy I thought I was driving it and Papa was laughing at me, cause he gave me the broken one.
Kaleb- all my memories with Papa are my favorite.
Dakota- I have a few. When Papa & I would go pick blueberries together. Another time when he took my stuffed monkey & put it on his head and said I’m a monkey. But my most favorite one, is when Papa brought the digger home, & I got to go for a drive in it because Papa knew how much I like that.
Finally the family would like to thank each and every one of you who are here today to celebrate Paul’s life and his journey home with us. Thank you for all the calls, messages, visits and food that was brought. Thank you for just being with us, and letting us know how much Paul was loved. He was born here, raised here, worked here, lived here, raised his own children here, and passed away here, which is what he said he wanted.
The family would like to thank Gordon Ryder for everything you did for Paul. We want you to know that he thought a lot of you. He enjoyed working with you. And we appreciate everything you’ve done to help us as well. We take comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone and a good friend was there with him. We will be forever grateful to you.
Thank you to his DOT crew. Thank you for giving him a crew that he enjoyed working with. Thank you for treating him so well. Thank you for being good friends to him. Please know he thought so much of all of you. Thank you for being here with us today to celebrate his life.
My Father,
Sometimes you used to let me fall down, just so I’d learn how to climb back up again.
Sometimes you’d try and keep me from doing something because you knew I’d be hurt, but I’d do it & hurt myself anyway.
Sometimes you were away when I needed you, but I always knew you’d come home soon.
Sometimes you cried because you were so proud of me, sometimes I cry because I love you so much.
Always I’m thinking of you…
-Jean E. Attebury
Dad, you were the man that raised us and never let us down. You never lived your life in fear cause you knew as soon as you were done here, you were headed home. We love you. -Shannon Shawn & Amanda
Papa, you are our hero. We will never forget you, the world’s greatest Papa. -Samantha, Savannah, Marissa, Hayden, Kaleb & Dakota
Paul, forever in my heart. I will love and miss you, until I am with you again. Love Nancy.
Paul was born in Gagetown, NB on July 4, 1958 son of the late Dolphie and Marie (Moss) Ferris. Paul is survived by his loving wife, Nancy (nee May); their children Shannon (Matthew) Dunton, Shawn Ferris (Kelly McCutcheon) and Amanda Ferris (Nick Reynolds); sister Charlene Stackhouse; brothers Walter (Debbie) Ferris, Gerald Allen and Michael Allen (Heather Ann MacLellan); grandchildren Samantha, Savannah, Marissa, Hailie, Kaleb, Hayden and Dakota; many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and wonderful friends.
Predeceased by his parents; brother Charles Allen; brothers-in-law Daryl May and Terry Stackhouse; nephew Connor May.
Family will receive comfort at the Mill Cove Church of God (5678 Route 105, Mill Cove, NB E4C 3C7) on Thursday, September 23, 2021 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm followed by a celebration of Paul’s life at 2:00 pm. (Masks are required). Interment will follow in the Bethel Pentecostal Church Cemetery following the service.
Donations in memory of Paul made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated by the family
Arrangements are in the compassionate care of Chipman Funeral Home & Crematorium (339-6612). Memories and condolences may be shared through www.chipmanfuneralhome.ca
Paul Llewellyn Ferris was born in Gagetown on July 4th 1958. He was the middle child of the 3 children born to Dolphie & Marie Ferris. Paul was raised on a little farm in Whites Cove. There he would be taught by his parents not only the meaning of hard work, but also the need to be a good person.
At only 11 years old, Paul would tragically lose his own father to an accident in the woods. As the oldest son, he made his father proud when he stepped up to assume the role of man of the house, and took care of the family.
In the years to follow, Paul would again become a big brother to his 3 youngest brothers. Paul loved, cared for & protected those boys like they were his own. He taught them what he could, & was always there to get them out of trouble when needed.
At 16 years old, Paul bought his first chainsaw & would then follow in his father’s footsteps by working in the woods.
In the summer of 1974, at the old Bethel Irving, Paul would meet the love of his life Nancy. See, Nancy was suppose to be riding her bike in the bike-a-thone, but there was a problem. Her bike was to big for her to get on. Paul seeing her struggle, and being not only the gentleman, but the smart man he was knowing this was his in, he offered to hold the bike for Nancy as she climbed up. And the rest as they say is history.
Although at the time Paul didn’t know that once his own little brother Charles would meet Nancy, Paul would have to fight for her love. I know, I know, pretty scandalous if you ask me. But, to be fair he was only about 3 or 4 years old at the time. Chuck would climb up on Nancy’s lap, look at Paul & say “She’s my girlfriend”, Paul would say “No she’s my girlfriend now get down”. Chuck would pout, Nancy would say “Oh he’s fine”, Chuck would smile, & Paul knew he’d lost. Even though he lost the battle, he won the war when he & Nancy got married in 1978.
Paul got his trucking license & for the next 5 years, he would work out of Wickham hauling for Mr. Reicker. Eventually, he would move on, & he would start his career at the DOT. Paul started off on the bridge crew, moved to road crew & settled into his current position as a snow plow operator.
Around 1988, Paul & Nancy would buy their land on Fowler Road. This is where they would build their home, & raise their 3 children.
Paul’s family was his pride & joy. He enjoyed being a father. He taught his children many things. Among those, he taught them hard work never hurt anyone, family is the most important thing. And he also taught them to be kind, caring, honest, decent human beings. Paul always told his children growing up something his dad had told him & that was to never turn away someone who asks you for help. You never know, it could be an angel in disguise.
As much as Paul loves his children his absolute favorite thing in this world to be was a Papa. He was Papa to his and Nancy’s 7 beautiful grandchildren. You could find him on any given day teasing them or telling them stories about life on the farm. Paul beamed with pride when he found out his 2 oldest grandsons both shared his middle name Llewellyn.
When Hayden & Kaleb where younger, Kaleb had called Hayden by his full name. Hayden comes running out crying to his mom & says “Mama Kaleb called me Hayden-James Watermelon! But I’m not a watermelon Mama I’m Hayden-James Llewellyn!”. Papa got a pretty good chuckle out of that one too. And so his nick names for the boys would come to him. Hayden was carrot, Kaleb was potato & Dakota was turnup. Why? We don’t know, we just went with it.
Those who knew Paul will tell you he was a quite man, a man of few words, but he was also a great man, a hard working man, a caring and giving man. And the people who knew him the best, those being his family, will tell you Paul didn’t need words or a mood ring, his face would tell you all you ever needed to know about how he was feeling or what kind of mood he was in.
His children could be heard this week telling the stories of when they knew they were in trouble, all by how Paul was sitting at the table, and the look on his face. They would instantly replay the days events in their heads and silently wonder “was it me or one of the other 2”. Paul very rarely ever had to raise his voice, because when he did they would cry, probably because it was so shocking to them. But to hear their Uncle Tommy tell it, Paul wasn’t even yelling just changed his tone. Either way it was affective & the kids didn’t like it.
They will also tell you that yes he was a great, hard working, caring & giving man, he most definitely He was all those things but he was also so much more. To us he was a loving husband, the best father & the world’s greatest Papa.
The family wanted to share some of their favorite Paul stories and some of the grandchildren wanted to share some of their favorite Papa memories.
One time Dolphie had asked Paul to go to the house & get the milk buckets. When he walked into the house his mother was making cookies, she asked Paul if he wanted one. So he took off all his snow gear & was enjoying his cookie, when Marie looked up and saw Dolphie stomping across the yard from the barn. He came in the house looked at Paul & said “what did I tell you”, so he got up and took the milk buckets to the barn. After dad told us that story we realized where he got it from. But he saved us the kick in the bottom across the yard, we just got the overwhelming guilt of knowing dad was disappointed. Personally I’d of rather the kick in the bottom and I think dad knew that…sneaky he was.
One Christmas dad was making his bows for outside. He went down and grabbed his staple gun. Shawn said “Dad, that’s going to go right through the table”. “oh no it won’t I put the little ones in” dad said. He placed a thin piece of paper underneath just in case and he stapled it. He forgot to change the staples, so the bow was stuck to the table. He looked at Shawn & told him “Don’t tell your mother”. Dad left to go get mom from work, and Shawn looked until he found those staple marks. Mom wasn’t even in the door and had her shoes off before she heard “guess what dad did”. It wouldn’t be until years later we found out he already told her and wanted to see how long it would be until he was rated out. I guess about 0.2 seconds.
I don’t know if any of you have ever heard the song “tip toe through the tulips” by Tiny Tim? Well, you aren’t missing much honestly. Dad played that song one day, I was like “why does that guy sing it so weirdly”. And dad being dad, and knowing how much it bothered me, would sing that song to me every chance he got. The worst part is, and I’m not even joking, Dad sounded just like him. I’m telling you he could have made millions as a Tiny Tim impersonator. Never thought I’d miss hearing that song being sung to me so much.
One of our first winters in the house, the front yard was nothing but ice. And all 3 of us were out playing. My sister was pushing me in the sled. That’s was great, the problem was where dad’s oak tree is in the yard, he had 6 little fir trees lined up in a row. Shannon pushed me, I couldn’t steer and I took the first on out. Shawn walked over stood it back up and we kept playing. By the time we went in, all 6 fir trees where down. Shawn stuck all 6 back in the ground. When spring came and the ice melted the fir trees fell over. We didn’t know how we were going to tell dad, but he already knew what had happened because he had been watching us from the window. All he said was next time they have be stuck in the ground not the ice.
When Dad worked for Mr. Reicker, he had this old Mac truck that he drove. We got him a name plate for it that said “Old Smoky”. Dad was some proud of that truck.
The grandchildren wanted to share their favorite memories with their Papa.
Samantha- the Christmas that Papa lined up all the Christmas things that sang songs or made noise in the hallway. Then Papa went down the line one by one turning them all on to wake us up. Then he tried to go back to bed.
Savannah- Papa loved Christmas especially when we were all together. So he usually never let us sleep in, because he was so excited to see us open our gifts. Then after he’d make us breakfast. One year he took us all out side to see the reindeer prints he had found & a note from Santa. And every year he’d put out little trays of candy one for each of us.
Marissa- One time when we came to visit Papa & Nana, I brought my stuffed unicorn. And Papa kept teasing me and saying it was a hippo. So the next time we came down, I brought him a stuffed hippo.
Hayden- once when we were staying at Papa & Nana’s house, Papa had two tractors. One worked and one didn’t. Papa told me to sit on one and he hooked the other one up to it. I was so happy I thought I was driving it and Papa was laughing at me, cause he gave me the broken one.
Kaleb- all my memories with Papa are my favorite.
Dakota- I have a few. When Papa & I would go pick blueberries together. Another time when he took my stuffed monkey & put it on his head and said I’m a monkey. But my most favorite one, is when Papa brought the digger home, & I got to go for a drive in it because Papa knew how much I like that.
Finally the family would like to thank each and every one of you who are here today to celebrate Paul’s life and his journey home with us. Thank you for all the calls, messages, visits and food that was brought. Thank you for just being with us, and letting us know how much Paul was loved. He was born here, raised here, worked here, lived here, raised his own children here, and passed away here, which is what he said he wanted.
The family would like to thank Gordon Ryder for everything you did for Paul. We want you to know that he thought a lot of you. He enjoyed working with you. And we appreciate everything you’ve done to help us as well. We take comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone and a good friend was there with him. We will be forever grateful to you.
Thank you to his DOT crew. Thank you for giving him a crew that he enjoyed working with. Thank you for treating him so well. Thank you for being good friends to him. Please know he thought so much of all of you. Thank you for being here with us today to celebrate his life.
My Father,
Sometimes you used to let me fall down, just so I’d learn how to climb back up again.
Sometimes you’d try and keep me from doing something because you knew I’d be hurt, but I’d do it & hurt myself anyway.
Sometimes you were away when I needed you, but I always knew you’d come home soon.
Sometimes you cried because you were so proud of me, sometimes I cry because I love you so much.
Always I’m thinking of you…
-Jean E. Attebury
Dad, you were the man that raised us and never let us down. You never lived your life in fear cause you knew as soon as you were done here, you were headed home. We love you. -Shannon Shawn & Amanda
Papa, you are our hero. We will never forget you, the world’s greatest Papa. -Samantha, Savannah, Marissa, Hayden, Kaleb & Dakota
Paul, forever in my heart. I will love and miss you, until I am with you again. Love Nancy.