SIPLE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-07-13 published
Boater feared drowned
The Strathroy man's wife saw him slip under the water in Balsam
Lake, Ontario Provincial Police say.
By April KEMICK,
Sun
Media,
Fri.,
July 13, 2007
Thrown from a sailboat on the waters of a Lindsay-area lake,
the last thing Justin
SIPLE saw before he disappeared under the
waves was the face of his young wife.
The Strathroy father of two wasn't wearing a life-jacket when
he, his wife, daughter and a family friend were tossed from the
boat Wednesday night.
Yesterday,
SIPLE, 29, was the focus of a search on Balsam Lake,
largest of the Kawartha lakes, north of Lindsay.
Ontario Provincial Police officers, divers, emergency workers
and volunteers have scoured the lake, but with little hope of
finding SIPLE alive.
"The conditions on the lake were horrendous" when
SIPLE was tossed
into high waves amid heavy rain, Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Mark
WOLFE said yesterday.
A string of boating deaths has prompted police and water safety
advocates to call for increased use of life-jackets.
"If people wore a life-jacket when they boat, just like they
put a seatbelt on when they drive, chances are the number of
drownings would be reduced dramatically," said Barbara Byers,
a director with the Lifesaving Society.
SIPLE's young wife, who was wearing a life-jacket when she was
thrown from the five-metre boat, along with the couple's two-year-old
daughter and the family friend, tried desperately to keep her
husband afloat in the choppy waters, said
WOLFE, of Kawartha
Lakes Ontario Provincial Police.
But the conditions were too strong even for
SIPLE, a stocky army
reservist. Within minutes he disappeared,
WOLFE said.
"The last (his wife) saw him, he was slipping under the water."
SIPLE's wife, daughter and a family friend were rescued by a
passing boater, he said.
All had life-jackets, he said.
Yesterday, a fourth jacket -- stowed aboard for
SIPLE, but not
worn -- washed ashore.
The law doesn't require boaters wear life-jackets -- only that
there be one aboard for every boater. Still,
Only a life-jacket could have saved
SIPLE's life, said
WOLFE.
"It wouldn't have mattered if he was the greatest swimmer," "He
couldn't have manoeuvred that lake (Wednesday) night."
Last year, 80 per cent of boating related fatalities in Ontario
Provincial Police-patrolled waters occurred when people weren't
wearing life-jackets or personal flotation devices, said Ontario
Provincial
Police marine co-ordinator Sgt. Bob
MINIELLY.
At least 60 per cent of this year's deaths also involved people
not wearing life-jackets or flotation devices, he said.
SIPLE, a corporal with the 31 Combat Engineering Regiment out
of Saint Thomas, was father to a four-month-old boy as well as
his two-year-old daughter.
Pictures on
SIPLE's online Facebook page portray a doting dad
and proud reservist.
He was an "amazing husband," according to a passage on his wife's
Facebook page.
SIPLE had been a reservist with the 31 Brigade for seven years,
said Lt. James
TERPSTRA, a brigade spokesperson.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and Friends,"
he said.
Police have pinpointed the area where the boat overturned and
will scour it "every day until we find him," said
WOLFE.
The search continues today.
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SIPOS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-12-19 published
SIPOS,
John
Senior
John SIPOS
Senior died suddenly and without warning on Saturday
December 15, 2007 of heart failure. The news came as a shocking
surprise to his wife, Margita, son John, daughter-in-law Barbara
TUER and four grandchildren, John Jr., Tommy, Marguerite and
Sarah. Born in September 1932, John escaped the Soviet invasion
of Czechoslovakia in 1968. With no possessions except his engineering
degree, John established himself successfully as an electrical
engineer with a speciality in sophisticated manufacturing systems.
Tragically, John was predeceased by his son, Lubomir who suffered
an untimely death in 1988, while a student at the Department
of Architecture, University of Toronto. Just before his death,
John had been providing comfort to Margita, now a patient in
the palliative care unit of Grace Hospital. John will be sorely
missed by his wife and son. Cremation has taken place. A Memorial
Service will be conducted at the Andrew L. Hodges Funeral Home,
47 Wellington Street South, Saint_Marys on Friday, December 21, 2007
at 3 p.m. with visiting one hour prior. Donations in lieu of
flowers may be made to the Toronto Grace Hospital Foundation
through the funeral home by calling 519-284-2820 or online at
www.hodgesfuneralhome.ca.
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