Long-time Blyth-area resident and farm activist Adrian Vos died peacefully at Huronview Home for the Aged, Clinton on Thursday, March 5, 2015 with Toosje (Toni), his wife of 67 years, by his side.
Born in the Netherlands, Adrian and Toni immigrated to Canada in 1953, moving to the Blyth area in 1969 when they purchased two farms just west of Blyth on County Rd. 25 from Bruce Falconer.
Adrian became an innovative pork farmer and was active in the pork industry, serving as a director on the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board from 1974 to 1986. He was also prominent with the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, serving as president in 1976.
In the early 1970s he became interested in writing about agriculture and contributed a column “Agricultural Tidbits” to The Blyth Standard, eventually publishing it in 11 community newspapers from Mount Forest to Dresden.
He was one of the first columnists in The Rural Voice in the late 1970s, contributing monthly until retiring in 1994. He also sold articles to publications from Western Canada to England and the U.S. In his final column in The Rural Voice in Aug. 1994 he wrote he was particularly proud to have had at least one of his articles translated into Spanish for publication in South America.
He was a member of The Canadian Farm Writers Federation and won six national writing awards from the organization.
Adrian had a keen interest in history and was a member of the committee that published the East Wawanosh Township history book Wilderness to Wawanosh in 1992.
Adrian and Toni retired from active farming in 1985 and sold their farms, but made an arrangement to stay on the property in a new house they had built. He kept his hand in at farming for several years raising exotic birds.
When Adrian and Toni could no longer keep up their own property, they moved to Londesborough to live with their daughter Annemarie and her husband Bob Hillis.
Adrian celebrated his 95th birthday with his family on Feb. 26.
Besides Toni, he is survived by one daughter, Johanna and her husband John Hardy and his grandson Richard, all of Hanover. He was predeceased by his daughter Annemarie (Hillis) and son Bart.
Also surviving are his son-in-law Bob Hillis of Londesborough and grandchildren Aaron Hillis of Londesborough and Allen Hillis of Nova Scotia.
Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Falconer Funeral Homes, Clinton. A private service and cremation have taken place.
Messages of condolence for the Vos family may be forwarded to www.falconerfuneralhomes.com.