april 2009 issue

Obituaries
Dwight Walker Purdy, P.Eng.
APEGGA Life Member

A past APEGGA Summit Award winner, Dwight Walker Purdy, P.Eng., died March 17. He was 97.

Born and raised in New Westminster, B.C., Mr. Purdy graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1935 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

After several years with Dominion Bridge Co. and Riverside Iron Works in Calgary, Mr. Purdy joined B.C. Sugar Refineries in Vancouver. He devoted the rest of his employed years to the company and its subsidiaries in Alberta, British Columbia and the Dominican Republic.

He married Harriet Elizabeth (Betty) Coon of Lethbridge in 1941. Work took them to the West Indies and Vancouver. They returned to Lethbridge in 1954 where, at his retirement in 1976, Mr. Purdy was general manager of Canadian Sugar Factories Ltd. Mr. Purdy was active in the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association and the Engineering Institute of Canada.

A member of APEGGA since 1958, Mr. Purdy was the 1981 recipient of the L. C. Charlesworth Award, recognizing his contributions to the Association and to the engineering profession.
He was an accomplished fisherman and “a gracious gentleman,” a published obituary says.

Predeceased by his wife, Betty, Mr. Purdy is survived by two sons, two grandchildren and five great-granddaughters.