Obituary of Graham Reece

With Love to my Wonderful Husband.

My loving and generous husband Graham George Reece was born in Bilston, Wolverhampton England, or as he described it to those that asked where he was from, “in the middle’ of England.  Born to Gwen and George Reece March 20, 1953, he enjoyed the love and affection of his Auntie Doris and Uncle Fred, Uncle John and Auntie Mavis who by Graham’s recollections doted on him.  He was 10years old when his brother Andrew was born and the whole family enjoyed fun times holidaying at Weston-super-mare. Graham was never much of a swimmer and holidaying by the chilly water of the Bristol Channel may have been the reason.

From being a prefect in middle school to installing ‘telly’ antennas to repairing TVs and eventually learning about software development and how to write training manuals for it, Graham was ambitious and along the way was busy living life. He had three children, now grown into wonderful adults, Matthew, Phillip and Nicola whom he didn’t have in his life, but who never left his heart.  He adored his English niece Emma and nephew James.  During his time as a TV repair man, he found his life long best mate ever, Paul and his wife Jean. These beloved friends and sons were part of our Honeymoon trip to Cuba when we were married October 2, 2004. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Anyone who knew, or met Graham soon became aware of his love for music, all music to be honest - he had a wide range of tastes. When he was young, he would play albums on the stereo in the front room of their house in Bilston for hours and I’m pretty sure it was too loud!  And in his lates 20’s Graham parlayed that love of music to becoming a part time DJ in a local Birmingham club called Raffles. This was a role that suited Graham to a tee! Because he was gregarious and charming, and a bit of a performer, and I can still hear him repeat his opening patter to anyone who asked him about this happy time in his life “good evening and welcome to Raffles, the special tonight is steak and chips!” Graham was always immensely grateful to his uncle who helped him purchase the equipment for what made him so happy.

I met Graham when he came to Canada to work with the software company MI9. He was indeed charming and generous, and I knew pretty fast that he was my love.  He loved my mom greatly; we spent wonderful times with my (his extended) family and he marvelled watching the nieces and nephews grow-up. We travelled often back to England to see family, dear friends, and to Cuba where the water was finally warm, and he loved it.  Over the years good friends and even some of my siblings came along to Cuba and there was so much laughter.  When diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2014 Graham was brave throughout surgery and 6months of bi-weekly chemotherapy. The diagnosis and a job loss at age 63 took a toll on him emotionally and life got harder for him. Our love continued to sustain us, not always easily.

Graham died on November 26, 2024, at the age of 71 and a light went out of my life that I’m not sure how to recover from. He is survived by his mom Gwen, me, his wife Robin and my many siblings, nieces and nephews; by Andrew and his wife Trish and their two children; by his children, Matthew and his partner Cheryl and two children, Phillip and Angela and their three children, and Nicola. There are a host of family and friends, who have loved and relished Graham’s sense of fun and generosity and in those memories, I hope I will find comfort.

A service of remembrance will take place 11am on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at Rosedale United Church, 159 Roxborough Drive, Toronto. A webcast link will be available.

In lieu of flowers, please consider to donate to the following organizations.

Reconnect Health Services

Heart and Stroke Foundation

Gerstein Crisis Centre