Graham Read: 1942-2026

Graham Conrad Read Obituary

It is with sadness that we announce that Graham passed away suddenly on May 8, 2026 at the age of 83. Despite a long journey with dementia, Graham remained his kind and caring self, always with a ready smile and a wave.

He was born in North Battleford, Sask, grew up in Ottawa and graduated from Nova Scotia Tech as a Mechanical Engineer. Among his many interests, he was a sailor, motorcycle racer, environmentalist and a good cook!

He was an intrepid traveller that began with his work as an Engineer that took him to Guyana, Bahamas, Guinea (West Africa) and finally to Quebec. He and his wife Bonnie had many travel adventures including an ocean voyage on a 25 foot sailboat boat from Miami to Belize City. Other travel destinations included South Africa, China, Macau, England and much of Europe. Graham had wide-ranging interests and volunteered many hours to many organizations including Nova Scotia Yachting Association, Canadian Yachting Association, Armdale Yacht Club Management Committee, North West Arm Heritage Society, Canadian Motorcycle Association, the International Motorcycle Association (FIM) Environment Commission, NS Trails Federation, Ecology Action Centre, Clean Nova Scotia, Tall Ships 2000 and Community Planning Association of Canada/NS.

Graham had a brief foray into municipal politics when he was District 17 Councillor for HRM. Although his tenure was brief he was proud of his accomplishments. He began the process of protecting Deadman’s Island prior to its current designation as a national historic site. He also took a lead role in getting both the pesticide and smoking by-laws in place. In later years, he was Vice Chair of the Halifax Bridge Commission leading up to the Big Lift project for the MacDonald Bridge.

Graham was also a proud former Boy Scout - from Cub to Queen Scout. He once was a model for the Scout catalogue and was featured on the front page of the scouting magazine! He attributed many of his life skills to his time in the scouting movement.

Graham is survived by his wife, Bonnie Boyd-Read; his brother, Paul (Whitehorse); sister, Melanie (Barry) Dorey; niece and nephew, Jean and Stephen Dorey all of Halifax.

He was predeceased by his parents, Reginald (Reg) and Dorothy (Dot); brother Donald; and aunts, Jean and Betty Graham.