NOTT, Harley Roderick Nott

He is with God, with Love. Born on the first day of summer in June 1962, he was 63 years old.
Missing him terribly, are his beloved family, spouse, Margaret and children Evan and Margaret.

He was predeceased by his mother, Joan (2021), parents-in-law, Margaret (1974) and Geerlof (2008) Kralt.

He leaves his brothers, Richard (Amy) and Chris (Shelley), and in-laws, Janice, John (Martha), Peter (Kathy), Linda (Stan), Dick, Gordon (d. 2017) (Caroline) and many nieces and nephews.

Harley grew up a bit wild on Vancouver Island. He was a rebellious teenager, expelled from school at age 16, in 1978. He worked in construction, forestry and logging, until May 1980, when he suffered a spinal cord injury diving into a river. In an instant, he became a quadriplegic logger with a grade 9 education. Deciding to play the hand he had been dealt (i.e. live + live well), after a year of physical rehab, he headed back to school. Embracing college, university, and law school, he married Margaret, moved to Toronto, worked for the Department of Justice, and became the proud father of Evan and Margaret. He retired from the Department in 2002. Over the years, he went on vacations, traveled, volunteered on non-profit boards and after retirement, was the stay-home parent. By 2025, the pain and deterioration of his body was enough, he was so very tired and sore. He died at home, by MAiD.

Harley was an extra-ordinary man, who lived his life in ordinary ways, as a husband and father. He loved his family, his friends, his dogs. He basked in the sun. He savoured good food. He told bad jokes. He cherished words, spoken, heard, written, sung. He wrote beautiful prayers. He was curious, interested in others, and what they were doing. He was stoic, living his life of quadriplegia, with all its indignity, pain, medical complications and limitations, uncomplaining and as best as he was able. He was grateful for all the good things he received in life. He was a man of faith, believing that God is less interested in altering our personal physical universes to make the world more pleasant for us, than he is in us developing the resiliency, faith and capacity for love of our inner beings.

Deep thanks are given to Pace Independent Living and its PSW outreach program. We are so grateful to the personal support workers who came to our house over many years, allowing Harley to live independently at home with his family.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Spinal Cord Injury – Ontario: https://sciontario.org/giveonce/Condolences may be left at www.aftercare.org

A service will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at the First Christian Reformed Church, 67 Taunton Road, Toronto, at 2 pm. Refreshments will be offered after the service.

Romans 5: 3-5: … we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Rev. 21:4: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.