Gary Kobald

Gary Kobald, of Caledonia, Ontario, formally from Dundas, Ontario, died suddenly on June 17th, 2025. Gary grew up in Flamborough/Dundas where his love of the outdoors was instilled at an early age between walking, hiking and building forts in “the woods” as we called it, or along the Bruce Trail. Of course, we cannot forget the many Sunday mornings he spent in the woods with his father. Gary and many of his friends who were lucky enough to stay at their house spent the morning cutting down dead trees and hauling them up the escarpment for the never-ending wood collection at Kobald’s house. This eventually led to him becoming an avid hunter and fisherman. Gary spent many holidays and vacations camping, fishing, and hunting throughout Ontario. Some of his favourite times were moose hunting with his father and lifelong best friend Al.

Gary started traveling at an early age of 2 to visit his maternal grandmother in England. Soon after, at age 7, Gary travelled back to England and throughout Europe to visit his paternal grandmother and family in Austria. In following with his parents, his love of travel had him roaming all over the world. He eventually started doing it on a motorcycle where he had some of the most amazing adventures in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Gary started his career in carpentry working for his father at Kobald and Son construction at age 12 which led to starting his own company, Kobald and Sons Construction. He worked many other jobs with Alterra, the Carpenters Union and ended up working at St Joseph’s hospital where he met the love of his life, Sue.

Gary started skiing at a very young age of 2 on the toboggan hills behind their house on homemade skis his father made for him and his sister. This led to many years of skiing and ski trips with family and friends. He also played football and soccer and ended his playing career with the Burlington Braves. Throughout the years, his love of football continued. He was a lifelong Hamilton Tiger Cat fan, with his favourite player being Angelo Mosca.

Gary was a great friend to so many people and will always be remembered for his friendly demeanor, love of the outdoors, motorcycle riding, audio books, his unwavering generosity, witty sense of humor, love of Canada and meticulous wood working skills. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, brother-in-law, uncle and the GREATEST Papa ever.

Surviving Gary are his beloved wife, Sue; Mother, Phyllis; children, Jacob, Thomas and Jessica, sister, Jeanette (Bob); nephew, Adam (fiancé Alexis), niece, Rachel (Nate); ex-wife Sandra; and of course, his adored grandchildren, Liam, Aiden, Ashton, Avery, Parker and Noah.

As per Gary’s wishes, he was cremated with a celebration of life service to be announced on a later date. Donations can be made in memory of him and in memory/honour of his parents to the Alzheimer's Association at: http://act.alz.org/goto/Jlford