Spr Carl Kitchener Fulford (Ret’d)

We regret to advise of the death of Sapper Carl Kitchener Fulford (Ret’d) of North Bay, ON on 17 January 2001 at the age of 86 years.

Carl was born on a farm in the Blue Mountain district of Collingwood, ON.  At the young age of 10, Carl went to live with family friends in nearby Thornbury, ON where he was able to attend school and help out on their farm.  At the age of 23, he left the farm to find work in the gold mines of Northern Ontario, settling in the growing mining town of Kirkland Lake.

Carl was a Royal Canadian Engineer veteran of the Second World War. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, he joined the 1^st Battalion, Royal Canadian Engineers and was sent to England. He was stationed at an officer training school in the south of England where he served until the end of the war. While on leave in Scotland in 1942, he met his future wife, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). They were married in 1943. 

When the war ended, Carl returned to Canada and re-settled in Kirkland Lake.  He resumed his role at the Upper Canada Mine where he would work for the next 25 years.  Carl’s wife and child crossed on the Queen Mary and joined him in 1946.  He served for many years as President of the United Steelworkers of America Local 4639. Not once during his tenure as president was there ever any labour unrest at the Upper Canada Mine.  When the Upper Canada Mine closed in 1970, Carl obtained employment as a custodian at Northern College in Kirkland Lake. He worked for the College until his retirement in 1980.  He relocated with his wife to North Bay in 1995 to be closer to their family. He was a member of the North Bay Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Carl is buried in the family plot in the Union Cemetery in North Bay.