Abel Baltazar Gallo

1941 - 2025

Abel Baltazar Gallo passed away peacefully on October 27, 2025, in Waterloo, Ontario.

 He was born on July 31, 1941, to Hildegarde Anastasia Benito and Abel Julian Gallo in Corzuela, Chaco, Argentina, the town founded by his maternal grandparents.

He was the eldest of five children and always felt the weight of that responsibility, recounting how his first job at 11 years of age was driving a pickup truck to the train station to pick up newspaper and magazine shipments for his mother’s newsstand. He was an altar boy who remembered participating in Latin mass and being shipped off to Catholic boarding school for a better quality education. He attended a vocational high school to train as a bookkeeper and then

finished his education at teachers college.  At 18, he was conscripted as a non-commissioned officer in the Argentinian army for two years of mandatory military service. While guarding a federal monument in a 10-day revolution against fellow members of his section, he was injured when a bullet ricocheted off a lamppost. After finishing military service with a honourable discharge, he returned home to help support his family. He met his first wife, Bernabela “Betty” Papp, at a teachers conference. They were married Christmas Eve of 1965, seizing the opportunity while the family would be together for the holidays. He was hired to manage a cattle ranch while Betty taught at the local school. During this time they became friends with Lutheran pastor Rev. Paul G. Jamnicky and his wife Betty, both missionaries from Toronto. In 1968, they sponsored them to come to Canada and lived with Betty’s family, the Nantels, in Toronto while they learned English.

Later that year, he heard of employment opportunities in Sudbury with the International Nickel Company (now Vale) and travelled north. He held a variety of positions at Inco, and in 1978, was able to take a year’s leave of absence to help commission an iron pelletizing plant in Sierra Grande, Patagonia, Argentina as part of a Canadian-Argentinian government collaboration. After weathering layoffs and economic ups and downs, he was promoted to the supervision in the Smelter. He had the opportunity to chat with Prince Charles in October 1991. He was filmed making his way toward the Prince, shaking his hand and being patted on the back. When asked what the Prince had said, he said that after explaining his role, he mentioned he was Argentinian but not to worry because he had pledged allegiance to Charles’s mother when he became a Canadian citizen! He was very proud when he was asked to help commission the new MK (copper) Reactor in the early 1990s. He was a supportive and caring supervisor, and a mentor to many young workers beginning their careers. He would tell stories of being sent workers that were struggling and in need of guidance, and of how he championed opportunities for women in a very male-dominated industrial environment. In spite of working shifts for most of his career, he was a dedicated and loving father who helped with homework, cooked dinners and volunteered for school trips including a very memorable high school band trip to Costa Rica. After retiring from Vale Inco in 2006, he worked for a few years as a consultant and enjoyed travelling to South Korea and Brazil.

He moved to southern Ontario with his second wife, Marcella Antoinette Blackwell, whom he had married on October 16, 2000, to be closer to their grandchildren. He enjoyed cooking Argentinian dishes like milanesas and having asados (barbecues) with his family. He passed on his love of futbol to his grandson, watching matches together while drinking mate, and volunteering to coach his recreational teams. He was always generous with his time and would use his extensive skills to help fix up his grandchildren’s home. He enjoyed exploring southern Ontario by taking day trips with Marcella.

He is survived and missed by his loving wife Marcella of 25 years, his daughter Natasha (Tristan), stepchildren Kevin Lamey, Curtis (Genevieve) Lamey, Jeffrey Lamey (Jennifer), goddaughter Natalia (Richard) Erlick. His memory lives on with his grandchildren Griffin, Beatrix, Elena and Mikaela. He will be remembered by his siblings Daniel and Jose Luis and large extended family in Argentina and Lively, Ontario.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Betty, his sisters “Micky” and Yolanda.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Diabetes Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

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