Rev. Byron Withenshaw died at the Bluewater Health on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at the age of 87. Beloved husband of Doris (nee Moulton) for 61 years. Dear father of Douglas, Banff, Dorothy (Mike) Fyfe, Sarnia, Arlene (Dave) Duckert, Sarnia and Barbara (Peter) Graham, Thamesford.

Loving grandfather of Ashley and Stuart Withenshaw, Bob (Alison) Schmalz, Stephanie (Derek) Bridgman and Julianne (Adam) Jefferson, Katie and Jackie Duckert and Jake, Allyson and Amy Graham. Great-grandpa of Adele, Laura and Marissa Schmalz. Brother of Margaret McKerracher, Wallaceburg and Olive (Donald) McBride, Florida. Also surviving are several nieces and nephews. Predeceased by parents Joseph & Zepha Withenshaw and brothers Raymond, Harry and Robert.

Byron served with the R.C.A.F. during W.W.II. as a Wireless Air Gunner. He was an alumnus of the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, and of Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky. In his early years, Byron pastored in Hamilton, Ontario and then became President of Lorne Park College in Port Credit, Ontario. He and the family moved to Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario in 1965 where he taught at Galt Collegiate Institute for 13 years.

After moving to and pastoring in Winnipeg, Manitoba for 5 years, Byron came to Sarnia, Ontario. He was the associate pastor of the Sarnia Free Methodist Church (now New Horizons Community Church), retiring in 1990.

For many years Byron was a chaplain at the Sarnia Hospitals, a spiritual director with the Cursillo Movement and also worked at McKenzie & Blundy Funeral Home in Sarnia during his retirement.

The funeral service was held at the New Horizons Community Church, Sarnia on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Interment at Dresden Cemetery, Dresden, Ontario.