David D. Powell

This photo was taken on Easter Monday 2025.  Dad wrote:

"MY FEDORA IS ON : I always put it on before I go on a trip.  MY JACKET IS ON :  and I only wear it when I am preparing to go on a long trip.  I AM LOOKING UPWARD WITH A SMILE OF ANTICIPATION : BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW WHEN I WILL GO : BUT I DO KNOW THAT MY DORIS IS THERE : and she will take my hand and guide me to THE LIGHT."

The time was to be Saturday, September 13th , 2025 at the Prince County Hospital.   All of Dad’s family and friends were able to visit, call, hold his hand, hug, and most importantly, reflect on the good he had brought to their lives.  David was very musical and well known for his deep bass voice.  He would always sing when things were going well.  In his final hours dad sang one of his favorites "Count Your Blessings", told us he could hear the music of songs that hadn’t even been written yet, and passed away peacefully while listening to his wedding song.

David was born to Ernest and Ellen Powell in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930.  They later moved to a gold-mining town in Northern Ontario where David grew up wandering the woods and streams, searching for an undiscovered vein of gold.  He found that gold in the form of his true love, Doris (nee Collver) in 1953.  They were married in 1954 and together had five children. 

They came to PEI on vacation in the late ‘60s and fell in love with the island and its people.  They moved to New London in 1985, and he and Doris started retirement life here.  The people embraced and welcomed them into the community and the church. They opened a retirement business, "Geppettos Workshop" which became well-known.  Children loved them and came to visit because of Dave and Doris’s personality and the love for what they created which they demonstrated to every visitor.

David’s role in life was to educate - first as a school teacher, then as principal, inspector of schools, superintendent, then director of education.  He then retired but was not done teaching yet, as he continued teaching all of us about the church, the cosmos, the elderly and finally our place in the universe.  David once asked his mother, "Mother, what happens to us when we die?".  She replied "David, we are spirits of the universe.  When we die that is just our bodies that die.  Our spirits are free to re-unite with the universe."

David was a loving father to Allan (Nancy), Wendy (Jason), Della (Gary), Linda (Norman), Stephen (Mary), a loving "Gpa" to Bronwyn, Emily (Billy), Bryson, Jenna (Brett), Brittany, Tegan, Devianne (Dan), Makayla (Dominic), Kristian and Kaelynn (Lucas), and a proud and loving great-grandfather to Cooper and Dawson (Jenna and Brett) and Matteo, Nicolas and Camilla (Kaelynn and Lucas).   And of course, many well-loved cats.

The family wishes to thank his excellent caregiving team, who all went above and beyond every single day.  David loved each and every one of you. Deepest thanks also to the doctors, nurses and staff of the PCH.

He will be deeply missed.  He touched so many lives.

A community drop-in will be hosted at their house, November 2nd, 2 to 5 pm.  Please reach out to Stephen at 902 888 7610 for further details.