DONALD ANDERSON LAYFIELD Passed away in Oakville on November 3, 2009. Born in Peterborough, Ontario, on June 6, 1917. Predeceased by his wife Lynn Stewart Layfield 1989, predeceased by his older son Ian Douglas April 2007. Survived by his son Brian and daughterin-law Susan and granddaughter Isabelle Jessie and grandson Bremner Donald John. Donald served as a Captain in the Second World War; he was in a motorcycle accident early in the war, and suffered a compression fracture of the vertebrae that may have saved his life. He was in a body cast for three months and was not sent on the D Day invasion. He attended the University of Toronto, and in 1949 got a job with the Monsanto Chemical Company in Toronto. He spent the next 36 years there in various senior management positions and retired in 1983. His son asked him to join a new company making cab fairings for HD tr ucks. The Company prospered; he did purchasing and managed the plant in Burlington. The business acquired the U.S. licensor and operated three plants in the U.S. The product became the standard on the roof of every HD truck OEM in North America, saving hundreds of millions of gallons and the corresponding environmental emissions. The company was eventually consolidated in Matamoras Mexico to Support one of its largest customers Freightliner who was opening a plant in Santiago. The Layfield interest was sold in 1994. Another business was started and prospers today. He enjoyed his role in purchasing, He came in every day until his demise at 92, one young salesman that came in and faced my Dad, came out of the office quite dazed, he quietly asked me on the way out ' do you have a retirement policy?' his career lasted 26 years at LCL. My Dad had many interests he was an environmentalist long before anyone knew what it was, he knew how to recycle, repair, reuse, as a way of life, as he said to me' in the depression you had to'. He called the oil sands an environmental disaster, how right he was. I was living in the country and had an old apple orchard with little or no fruit, he said what you need are bees, we bought 5 hives from a retired dentist, he taught me how to tend to bees, as his Dad did during the 20's. If you had problems he would say 'take it to the bees' in the attention to detail the troubles melt away. The orchard exploded with fruit and the honey production thrived. One hot summer day he was bitten by quite a number of bees and passed out. I pulled him into the cool of the barn and he revived, he looked up at me and asked 'did we miss the cocktail hour?' He and a group of keen curlers started the Oakville curling club; he also started the left handed curling bonspiel in Oakville, still going today. He enjoyed golf as a member of the Oakville Golf Club and a very early member there; he also did community ser vice through the Rotary Club. He had a great sense of humor, and loved to read, he played bridge twice a week, he was an amateur historian and could recite every battle in the Civil War and reasons why they were lost or won. He will be missed but never forgotten. Friends will be received at the Ward Funeral Home, 109 Reynolds Street, Oakville (905844-3221) on Friday, November 6, 2009 from 12 noon until service time in the Chapel at 1:00 p.m. Interment to follow at Trafalgar Lawn Cemetery. Please forward any donations to Ian Anderson House in Oakville. A Book of Memories may be signed at www.wardfuneralhome.com