Members of the community are remembering Robert ‘Bob” Senechal as a resilient man who loved his family, God and his community. Senechal died on Nov. 19 at the age of 66.
Senechal was once the pastor at Parkview Church in Guelph, as well as churches in Montreal, Deep River and Pickering.
Current Parkview pastor Dave Slater was a youth pastor at the church when he met Senechal about 20 years ago.
“He was full of life. Had lots of energy. He loved God and he loved people,” said Slater.
Back then, Slater and Senechal would take trips to New York City and Toronto to do mission work with various agencies who worked with people experiencing homelessness.
“He had an enormous heart for people,” said Slater.
Senechal was active in the church, as a volunteer and also politically. He ran for provincial office in 2007 under the Ontario PC banner.
Years prior to being elected Guelph’s mayor, Cam Guthrie was the campaign manager on Senechal’s campaign but said he knew him first as a pastor.
Guthrie said he was sad to hear of Senechal’s death earlier this week.
“I know that he was just a very honourable man, full of integrity and he was always wanting to help other people,” said Guthrie.
Former Guelph city councillor Gloria Kovach said she knew Senechal in a number of capacities, but first met him through his volunteer work in the community.
“He was really passionate about Guelph,” said Kovach. “He was a roll-up-the-sleeves kind of guy, if something needed to be done he always had time to help people up.”
When it was her turn to run for office, Kovak said Senechal gave her some pointers and came out door-knocking with her.
Senechal also served as chaplain of The Elliot Retirement Community, as well as one-time president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Guelph.
In 2003, Senechal’s middle child Jason died while playing in a beach volleyball tournament in Cobourg.
Slater said Senechal always had a joy that came through, even in the hard times.
“He lost his middle son and he had some health issues near the end of his life, but he was so resilient,” said Slater. “For him to stay focused on God, his family and his community — he just kept going.”
Senechal’s children Trina, Jason and Jeff were the apple of his eye, said Slater, as well as his wife of 43 years Gale.
In 2013, Kovach lost her own child Jennifer, a Guelph Police officer who died in the line of duty. She and Senechal spoke with each other about their common loss of a child.
“We did share some pretty in depth discussions about it,” said Kovach. “Both of us share a love for our families.”
Kovach said Senechal was the kind of man who would ask you how you are doing and mean it.
“When he looked at you and said ‘how are you?’ he would look into your eyes and wait,” she said. “He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He was honestly an all-around great guy.”
A visitation was held for Senechal on Thursday evening and a celebration of life will be held Friday evening at Parkview Church starting at 6:30 p.m.
