Born December 22nd 1921.
Passed away on October 4th 2014
Rest in Peace Pop
Forrest E. Widdifield was born on December 22nd 1921 in the Canadian farming town of Creelman. Creelman is located within the prairie province of Saskatchewan. He was the eldest child of Stewart and Marie Widdifield. His siblings also included brothers Lloyd, Lyle and sister Joyce. His own children are daughters Lynn Goodman and Penny Widdifield.
As a child, Forrest learned first-hand about the economic hardships of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Depression era that followed as the negative hallmark of the early 1930’s. For the remainder of his life, Forrest practiced being thrifty, never throwing anything away, learning how to fix or mend what he had or owned and making do with what he had.
He began his professional career while in his early teens barnstorming across Saskatchewan and Manitoba showing Hollywood motion picture films in a variety of town halls, churches and clubs for the company General Films of Canada. He spoke warmly of the network of young teenage boys that he worked with that would assist him each time his film touring route brought him back through their specific town. His shows would feature two reel films and then either cartoons or a newsreel highlighting world events.
He was full of stories about the all-night cafes and his favorite towns to visit or stay in while on the road during his early film showing work. A dinner meal on the road ran .75 cents. One of his favorite stops on the road was in the small town of Storthoaks. Pop declared once that Storthoaks was the town he used as “his home base” when he was showing films on the road. A large French-Canadian family named Chicquin lived there with their seven sons. On one occasion, Forrest suffered a bad asthma attack after arriving at their home. He was in a bad way and needed medical attention. One of the boys loaded Forrest into a vehicle and drove him to a medical clinic some 25 miles away to get the life-saving medication that he needed. No matter what time of day or night that he arrived, the Chicquin family would be up and ready for him with a hearty hot meal and conversation.
In 1951, with his wife and year old daughter, he immigrated down from Canada to Sacramento, California. That same year he also went to work for the McCurry Brothers camera and photography store. Years later pop would open and operate out of his home, his own hi-fidelity stereo sound equipment and camera repair business. His work brought in hundreds of customers from all over Northern California. In time the experience that he gained operating his own business afforded him the opportunity to go to work for the audio visual department at Sacramento State University.
In 1957, Forrest and wife Marian became parents a second time with the arrival of their second child, daughter Penny.
In 1963, at the age of 42, he was awarded his Master Mason Certificate as a member of Sacramento’s local Tehama Lodge. He put in countless long hours working towards this level of Masonic achievement and was most proud of his accomplishment.
Forrest loved to maintain and tinker with audio-visual and stereo equipment. He owned and maintained an impressive library of eight track audio tapes of country western and popular music.
He also had a life-long love of automobiles and prided himself on maintaining and servicing every one of the cars and trucks he owned. He shared with his son-in-law Jeff a substantial amount of his car care tips and what to look for when maintaining a vehicle. On several occasions the two of them teamed up to repair several of the family vehicles.
In addition to metal work, machinery and audio-visual equipment, Forrest also was adept at both rough and finish carpentry. Over the years he extensively added to or remodeled his Edna Street home as well as performing carpentry work at two of his daughter Lynn’s family homes.
His favorite plants and flowers included Azaleas, Roses, Begonias, Vincas, Sweet Peas and Crepe Myrtles.
While working at California State University in the Audio-Visual Department, one of his film students was Carol Bland, who would later go on to become a local KCRA TV news reporter.
He loved becoming a great-grandfather to great granddaughters Ella and Haley, and great grandson, Liam.
In his final years, Forrest loved having a meal whenever he could at the original Mr. Perry’s roadhouse diner in South Sacramento. The attraction was always the free tapioca pudding that was included in a seniors meal. In addition, he also loved the wonderful split pea soup served on Wednesdays and the hearty navy bean soup served all day on Saturdays. His other favorite local restaurants included the Black Bear Diner and Brookfield’s in Rancho Cordova.
Forrest passed away on Saturday October 4th 2014 with his daughter Penny and son-in-law Jeff at his side.
In the mind of this writer and son-in-law, pop was the toughest and most resilient 92 year old man I’ve ever met or had the pleasure of spending any time with.
We will miss you pop. We love you for all that you shared with us and how you immeasurably enriched each of our lives. Thank you so much for providing us with such a wonderful blueprint of what compassionate parenting is all about.
Jeff Dodson
October 15th 2014
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