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There was a time when John Lane was one of the first people a reporter would call when there was an issue about disabilities here.
That’s because John was the longtime head of the Manitoba division of he Canadian Paraplegic Association — now Spinal Cord Injury Manitoba. He had been there since he was recruited in 1976 and he was one of the most knowledgeable voices about disability issues in the province.
And John knew what he was talking about — he lived with a spinal cord injury himself.
It’s funny being a reporter. You talk to many people everyday, as part of your job to write stories, but sometimes you forget how long it has been since you talked to someone.
When I saw the obituary for John, and his face staring out from the page, I quickly found out how long it has been — 31 years.
John, who was 78 when he died on Dec. 16, had moved out to Vancouver in 1994 to take on the role of accessibility advisor with the University of British Columbia. He spent his days there looking at buildings on the campus to find ways to make them more accessible for students and faculty.
John was born in Quebec and, thanks to his dad’s naval career, grew up in Ottawa and Victoria. He loved walking on the beaches in Victoria. He would bicycle on adventures with his best friend in Ottawa and they were known as “The Bicycling Nature Boys”.
John went to high school in Ottawa, then Queen’s University from where he graduated with a Metallurgical Engineering degree. He also showed leadership abilities by being Science 1968 president and part of the Engineering Science Society’s executive.
He was in his first job, the summer after graduation, working as a mining engineer in Wawa, when his life trajectory changed in an instant: a diving accident left him with a spinal injury.
John may have used a wheelchair from that point on, but while it made him change careers, it didn’t stop him. He worked in various jobs, including stock brokering and social development planning before the Canadian Paraplegic Association came calling to recruit him to head its Manitoba division.
That’s when John’s condition, career and passion melded together. He helped bring change to the Federal Elections Act to improve accessibility at voting stations across the country. To push for municipal building code changes to make buildings more accessible.
When you look down and see no curb on the sidewalk at an intersection, you can thank John.
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John was able to secure funding so the CPA could hire an Indigenous counsellor to liaison with Indigenous people with spinal cord injuries and he expanded the organization to two other Manitoba communities beyond Winnipeg.
He was also instrumental in convincing the province to create self-managed home care services here and he established both the Manitoba Paraplegic Foundation and the University of Manitoba’s Spinal Cord Research Centre.
And while John’s wilderness bicycling experiences ending with his diving accident, thanks to a good friend — and a four-wheel drive vehicle — he still got out into the forest exploring logging roads.
“His curious mind, diverse life experiences, and innate coaching abilities allowed him to empower and draw out the best in others,” said the family in his obituary.
John is survived by his wife, his 103-year-old mother, and several nieces and nephews.
Read more about John.
How They Lived
Thanks in part, to Odile Bourrier, many Manitobans speak both English and French.
Odile, who died on Jan. 5 at 88 years of age, taught first in northern and rural Manitoba before becoming a teacher at École Sacré-Coeur.
There she was part of the province’s pioneering team of educators in French immersion and also helped update the provincial mathematics curriculum.
Read more about Odile.
Gene Blais helped keep both Manitobans and dignitaries safe.
Gene, who was 92 when he died on Jan. 6, joined the RCMP in 1952.
During his 35 years as a Mountie, he worked in detachments across the province including Souris, Virden and Thompson.
But he also provided security for visiting dignitaries including Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth.
Read more about Gene.
Darlene Muron made her mark in the sport of ringette.
Darlene, who died on Dec. 31 at 82 years of age, was the Manitoba Sports Federation’s ringette sports director for 16 years.
She coached teams, travelled across the country with them, met with ringette boards, and for dedication and passion in building the sport she was inducted into Ringette Manitoba’s Hall of Fame in 2010.
Read more about Darlene.
It doesn’t say it here, but Guy Bergeron helped thousands of Manitobans — and even North Dakotans — stay dry.
Guy, who was 94 when he died on Dec. 27, was a former gravel pit operator who devised the Sandbagger, a 12-legged device which fills 12 sandbags in 7.5 seconds.
That came in handy during the Flood of the Century in 1997, and in major floods since then on either side of the international border, when people quickly needed many sandbags to build dikes around vulnerable buildings.
Read more about Guy.
Bob Bevis wasn’t a rocket scientist but he was a rocket salesman.
Bob, who died on Dec. 22 at 88 years of age, graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and was hired as product manager for CIL Plastics in Toronto.
He later worked here at Bristol Aerospace, where he was marketing manager for the Black Brant rockets.
Because the rockets were sold to national and international government space programs, including NASA, he jokingly called himself the country’s first rocket salesman.
Read more about Bob.
A Life’s Story
Every year the Free Press looks back at the year that was to pay tribute to the prominent Manitobans who left us.
The 14 Manitobans who died ranged from former judge, Senator and Truth and Reconciliation commissioner Murray Sinclair, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cindy Merrick, singer-songwriter Ray St. Germain, NDP labour minister Becky Barrett, Blue Bomber great and cancer fighter Lyle Bauer, and businessman and philanthropist John Buhler.
All 14 had one thing in common — their lives helped make Winnipeg and the province they lived in what they are today.
To read more about the 14, click here.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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