A Celebration of Life for a beloved member of the Oak Bay Fire Department and larger Greater Victoria community is scheduled to be held next Monday.
Ken Gill, fondly referred to as “Mega Drill Gill” by his work family at the Oak Bay Fire Department, died March 29 at the age of 58. His service is Monday April 16 at 1 p.m. at Glad Tidings Church.
“It is a large space as Ken touched a lot of people in his life,” said Oak Bay Fire Chief Dave Cockle at Monday’s council meeting.
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Born in Sidney, Gill began his career as a fire dispatcher with Langford in the early 1980s. He moved from there to the Department of National Defense at CFB Esquimalt, then to the Sidney Fire Department and eventually to his post with the Oak Bay Fire Department.
Gill worked as the captain in charge of fire prevention for the Oak Bay Fire Department during the last 17 years of his 32-year career, before retiring in 2014. After taking a year off after retirement to travel with his wife and spend time with his family, he returned to the Oak Bay Fire Department as its chaplain.
Through Gill’s fire service career, he attended the Canadian Forces Fire Academy and is accredited with the British Columbia Justice Institute. He was also an active member and involved as part of the leadership team of the Peninsula Mission Community Church.
“He was an amazing man. Everyone you ask is going to give you the same story,” said Assistant Fire Chief Darren Hughes.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Glad Tidings Church, 1800 Quadra St. on Monday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Oak Bay Fire Fighters Charitable Foundation to be put towards first responder’s mental health services (registered charity 850474487 RR0001) or oakbayfirefighters.com.
keri.coles@oakbaynews.com
