Doug Hildebrand

[Phillip Herring]

Doug Hildebrand, the former curator of the Communications and Electronics Branch Museum in Kingston passed away last week. Some of you may have known him. He was always willing to share his knowledge and made a big impression with those who knew him. I have copied his obituary from The Kingston Whig-Standard.

HILDEBRAND, Douglas Robert - Master Warrant Officer Retired, Douglas Robert Hildebrand, CD. Passed away peacefully at the Kingston General Hospital on Thursday, February 19, 2009. Loving husband of Mary (nee Woolnough), beloved father of Cathy (Gary Graham), Daniel (Diane Martin), and Dennis (Beverley Mills). Cherished grandfather of Edward, Richard, Joshua, Dustin, Danielle, Sheilah and Robert. Doug served 32 years with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and the Communications and Electronics Branch, Canadian Forces. Curator of the Communications and Electronics Museum, CFB Kingston for 18 years. A celebration of Doug's life will be held at Communications and Electronics Museum, CFB Kingston, Sunday from 2 - 4 p.m. Memorial donations to Communications and Electronics Museum or Cancer Centre of South Eastern Ontario (UHKF) would be appreciated by the family.

[Quicksilver]

Doug helped me a lot with information for my two signal history books "The Royal Corps of Signals:unit histories" and the Supplement that followed. Really helpful man. Thanks for the advice.
Rgds Cliff Lord
Auckland New Zealand

Originally Posted by Phillip Herring

Doug Hildebrand, the former curator of the Communications and Electronics Branch Museum in Kingston passed away last week. Some of you may have known him. He was always willing to share his knowledge and made a big impression with those who knew him. I have copied his obituary from The Kingston Whig-Standard.

HILDEBRAND, Douglas Robert - Master Warrant Officer Retired, Douglas Robert Hildebrand, CD. Passed away peacefully at the Kingston General Hospital on Thursday, February 19, 2009. Loving husband of Mary (nee Woolnough), beloved father of Cathy (Gary Graham), Daniel (Diane Martin), and Dennis (Beverley Mills). Cherished grandfather of Edward, Richard, Joshua, Dustin, Danielle, Sheilah and Robert. Doug served 32 years with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and the Communications and Electronics Branch, Canadian Forces. Curator of the Communications and Electronics Museum, CFB Kingston for 18 years. A celebration of Doug's life will be held at Communications and Electronics Museum, CFB Kingston, Sunday from 2 - 4 p.m. Memorial donations to Communications and Electronics Museum or Cancer Centre of South Eastern Ontario (UHKF) would be appreciated by the family.

[Joe C]

I for one will sorely miss Doug. After it became clear that his initial gruff advice to me, in response to my early questions on Signals history and badges, to "get away now while you still can" wasn't being followed Doug and I established a great relationship. We shared the same passion and could (and did!) spend a great deal of time discussing Sigs topics. No matter what era, whether high level or minutia, Doug was happy to while away the hours imparting his knowledge to me. I in turn would look forward to being able to describe to him what I had learnt or acquired as I knew he was genuinely interested. Everyone entering "Doug's Den" could count on his warm smile and friendly greeting; he will certainly be missed. VVV.

[David Tremain]

I met Doug a couple of times in my professional capacity as a conservator. The first time was at the Communications and Electronics Museum as part of a survey of DND museums, the second about a year ago back at the museum where I was giving a workshop. Doug had semi-retired by then but was still helping out, although he wasn't very mobile as he had had hip surgery. He was always very friendly to me and I enjoyed chatting with him. I am sorry that he has passed away.