It is with great sadness that we advise you that after a two year battle with cancer Dan Pulham passed away on Wednesday July 2.   Dan will be missed by many in the "hockey world" not to mention the "baseball world" as well.  Dan was LMHA's ice convenor since 1989 until 2006, Dan also was the driving force behind LMHA's 3 annual tournaments.  Along with his duties for LMHA Dan was also on the Forest City Board and sat as Chairperson until 2006 and also was a representative to Alliance Hockey.   We give our deepest sympathy to Dan's family and thank them for allowing us the privilege  of having him touch our lives either as a board member, coach or friend.  Dan was honoured in the London Free Press on July 3rd which will be posted below.  Visitation for Dan will be at Forest Lawn Memorial Chapel (Dundas & Wavell) on Monday July 7, 2008 from 1:00pm - 3:00pm & 6:00pm - 8:00pm. A service of remembrance will be held in the chapel on Tuesday, July 8,2008 at 1 p.m. To view the obituary as printed in the London Free Press CLICK HERE

as printed in the London Free Press Thursday July 3/08

London minor baseball, hockey loses a friend Dan Pulham dies at age 59 after battling cancer By JENNI DUNNING

He was a coach, a volunteer, a sports fanatic -- and just an all around great guy. And he's gone.

Dan Pulham, a long-time volunteer with London minor baseball and hockey, died yesterday of cancer. He was 59. He's survived by his wife Jackie, son Casey and daughter Christine.

"We heard he was terminal and that's upsetting. It really shook everybody up," said Len Forester, a fellow coach who knew him for 25 years.

Friends will remember Pulham as an entertainer at heart, who loved fixing up old pinball machines.

He looked forward to hosting an annual fishing derby weekend at his cottage in Port Burwell. This year's was to be held in a couple of weeks.

"It seemed to be keeping him alive," said Carol Burrows, a fellow volunteer from the London Minor Hockey Association.

She said the event was a "men's weekend" where they'd buy the fish, have some drinks and relax. Then Pulham would organize a day in August where the men would wait on their wives in return.

"He laboured lovingly and never really wanted any accolades," she said. "He was selfless. Just a truly selfless person."

Pulham was given six months to live about two years ago. Though he outlived that deadline, the loss still came as a shock to friends.

"He put up a fight. Boy, he put up a fight," said Joe O'Neill, president of the London District Baseball Association and past president of the London Junior Knights.

Pulham was a dedicated volunteer who always put his heart into his work, O'Neill said.

"As soon as you met Dan, you realized his total reason for being there was to make it better for the kids," he said.

"He's what you would hope that every sports community volunteer would be."

Pulham's list of volunteer commitments was long. Just to name a few, he was on the board of the Forest City Hockey League for more than 15 years and was its chairperson.

He was the local representative for the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario, and he was a tournament director for the London Minor Hockey Association.

Pulham was honoured as volunteer of the year by Baseball Ontario, and he was on the city's ball diamond task force.

He was also president of the London District Baseball Association for about 10 years.

He was named London's sportsperson of the year at the 2001 Rogers Sports Celebrity Dinner and Auction. He also volunteered for the Canada Summer Games and Ontario Winter and Summer Games.

Pulham was truly one of a kind, said O'Neill, and he can never be replaced.

"Dan was a great friend to everybody and incredibly well respected as a sports volunteer throughout the province. No one person can replace everything that Dan has done."

Funeral arrangements were pending last night.

This past weekend LMHA had their Round Up to bring the 2007/2008 season to a close. It all started at 8:45 am on Saturday April 19th at Wheable for the Awards Banquet for all of our LMHA teams. In the first session the Mites, Tykes and Novice Houseleague were recognized, the second session included the Novice, Atom Forest City and Atom Houseleague. During the 3rd session we saw the Forest City Peewee teams plus the Peewee and Bantam Houseleague, lastly in the 4th session we recognized the Forest City Bantam and Midget teams. Besides the team and individual trophies being handed out there we some very special awards handed out as well. The first award was the George Bray award given to Jo Ann Fredin for all her volunteer work that she has done for our board for the last 18 years, most will know Jo Ann as our “penny pinching” treasurer and for the last couple of years the “tournament chair”. Unfortunately for the Board Jo Ann had decided to “retire” as a board member but as she said at the banquet “I am not stepping down” “I am taking a small step to the side” . Congratulations Jo Ann on receiving the George Bray Award!!!! The second “special” award that was given out was the Neil Barker Memorial award. The Neil Barker award was presented to the LMHA coach or volunteer that best exemplifies what Neil believed in & stood for, during his many years with our association and the first Neil Barker Award was given to Dan Dunsmore. Congratulations Dan! During our 4th and final session there was an addition to the program that hmmmm some how got past our president Jerry Pickering. Jerry was honoured and thanked as he is stepping down from the Presidential role for next season. Jerry was given an LMHA jersey inside a plaqued shadow box. Thanks Jerry for your great leadership the last three years!!!!! A great day was enjoyed by all and we would like to thank Kevin Scanlan for helping us out by arranging for Wheable as our awards venue. Also thanks to all of you who helped out in many ways to make the Awards Banquet successful. After a very full day for the “kids” it was the “adults” turn to head off to the Round Up Dance at Trissa’s in the evening . This years dance theme was “Ultimate 80’s” and few came dressed from the “favourite” decade. A good time was had by all who were in attendance and thanks goes out to Sherry de Waal for her organization of the dance, and for the table favours of Rubik’s cubes, slinky’s and GI Joes….which were all played with. Then on Sunday morning after some had very little sleep the LMHA AGM was held at Trissa’s with a breakfast before the meeting. There were just over 50 people in attendance with some past board members present to play tribute once again to Jo Ann where she received some flowers and an LMHA jersey in a shadow box. When the meeting and elections were over the 2008/09 LMHA Board was in place with some new faces and some old faces with new positions. Congratulations Board Members!!! Here is the new elected board.