On March 5 2023, Wil Salo passed peacefully at home with his family by his side. Born June 14 1943 in Port Arthur, Wil first lived at the Salo farm on Intola Road, and then at the age of 3, moved with his mother and step father to McDermott and later to Johnson’s Landing in Pass Lake.
At the age of 10 Wil then moved to Dawson Road with his father but maintained a close relationship with his mom and stepdad in Pass Lake. At the age of 17 Wil joined the Port Arthur Air Cadets and gained his pilots licence and navigational skills.
In 1965 Wil married Mayvise Silliker, and with his young family, they moved to North Dakota where Wil attended the University of North Dakota studying Industrial Engineering. While in school Wil began selling pots and pans door to door with Westinghouse and soon realized he had a talent for sales. After graduating as an engineer, he returned to Thunder Bay, and started a career in real estate as a sales agent for Ram Realty.
In 1985, with much pride and excitement, and together with his business partners he opened Team 100 Realty Inc. As broker he worked hard to make Team 100 one of Thunder Bay’s top agencies until his retirement in 2017. Deciding he wasn’t ready to fully retire, Wil joined Century 21 Superior Realty, and with renewed vigour embarked on the next stage of his career in which he had great success.
Growing up at Pass Lake instilled in Wil a true love for the outdoors. Besides bird, deer and moose hunting, Wil also enjoyed fishing and spent every spare minute at his camp on Lake Superior’s Pine Bay, fishing from his boat, the “Chinookie”. In fact, in the early spring when the days would begin to grow longer, Wil would get a sparkle in his eye with anticipation of the upcoming fishing season which would begin with the annual smelt run. You could count on Wil to head out at midnight with a bucket and net to get his first fish of the season.
In October of every year (without fail) Wil would pack up for 10 days and head to bush with his hunting party to hunt for Moose. Recently he would sit in his deer blind for his annual deer hunt in his daughters yard in Comee. He always got his deer and in fact he pulled a 200 lb buck out of the bush only this past November to the amazement of his daughter and son in law.
2004 Mayvise passed which was a difficult time for Wil and his family, but in 2007, he found love again when he met Donna DeBenedet and was thrilled to be welcomed into a new extended family when they married in 2010. Together Wil and Donna, shared many adventures travelling to many countries with Wil’s favorite being the warm sunny beaches of Costa Rica. Always returning home Wil and Donna would spend the summer at Pine Bay and explore Lake Superior in the “Chinookie”.
Wil will be greatly missed by family and many friends and is survived by his loving wife Donna his daughter Lisa (Greg) Croft, daughter Lou-Ann (Delbert) Archer, son Dana Salo, step daughter Jillian (Rob) Burton, step daughter Ashlee Burton, grandchildren Arron (Becki Merritt) Breiland and Evan (Kristin) Breiland, Meagan Archer, Madison Archer, Jessi Salo, Ethan Burton Salo, Madison Gault, and great grandson Emmit Breiland. Sister Betty Bergman, sister Bonnie (Mitch) Fontaine, brother Aaron Bergman, as well as many nieces and nephews. Wil was predeceased by his Father Fredrick Salo Mother Lijala Bergman, step father Vic Bergman first wife Mayvise Salo, brother Arthur Salo, sister Linda Hurd and brother in law John Hogan.
A heart felt thank you goes to the dedicated Nurses and staff from St. Elizabeth Health Care Agency, and Dr. Migay of the of St. Joseph’s Palliative Care Group your dedication and kindness was beyond compare.
The family will host a celebration of life at a date to be determined this coming spring/ summer.
