Joseph Émile Donald Gauthier, 61 years old, went home to the Lord on Tuesday, November 20, 2018.

Beloved husband of Donna “The Rock” Gauthier. Loving Papa of Stéphanie “The Soul” Gauthier (Richard “The UniverseGuyChampionMan” Morin), Patricia “The Hero” Froese (Walter “The Magnificent” Froese), Katherine “The Writer of the Obituary” Gauthier and David “The Boy” Gauthier.

Cherished Grand-Papa of Desmond Gauthier-Morin, and Opapa of Ily and Elowyn Froese.

Cher fils de Simonne Gauthier et feu Armand Gauthier.
Cher frère de Alain Gauthier (Yolande Plante), Gaétan Gauthier (feu Francine Desaulniers), Gilles Gauthier (Diane Drainville), feu Réal Gauthier, René Gauthier (Claire Gagné), Sylvain Gauthier et Yvon Gauthier.

Dear son-in-law of Shirley “Nana” Gifford and the late Gordon “Pappy” Gifford. Brother of Sandra Gifford-Steffen (Paul Steffen), Bradley Gifford (Margaret Mardirossian) and Linda Gifford (Bernhard Brinkmann). Mon Oncle/Uncle of many nieces and nephews.

While courageously battling the beast of a disease that is pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP for short, look it up), his mission was: “I aspire to inspire before I expire”.

He would have been deeply uncomfortable with all this attention being put on him. He wouldn’t want us to mention that he was a highly revered professor and a brilliant engineer. He wouldn’t want it said that he was always inventing, fixing things and using his creativity to make the world more efficient, more fun and more beautiful. He wouldn’t want us to tell stories about his quick and quirky sense of humour. He especially wouldn’t have wanted us to mention the depths of his humility, wisdom and courage. He would hate us talking about how good of a man he really was.

He would have wanted to say how much he loved and cherished his family and his friends.

And he would have also made us laugh.

We will miss him. Il va nous manquer.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Henry Walser Funeral Home on Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. Reception to follow. Cremation has already taken place.

Heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Noble, Dr. Ward and the palliative care team for their exceptional care. As expressions of sympathy, donations to the Hospice of Waterloo Region or Kitchener East Presbyterian Church would be warmly welcomed by the family (cards available at the funeral home).

Visit www.henrywalser.com for Donald's memorial.