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John David Anderson’s family said he was lucky enough to have three distinct acts in his life.
John, who was 75 when he died of brain cancer on June 10, was student council president when he graduated from Vincent Massey High School.
He went to the University of Manitoba to get his Bachelor of Arts and law degree. He even wrote the Churchill Forest Industries inquiry report, which premier Ed Schreyer called for, after the government appointed a receiver for the four-company integrated forestry complex at The Pas in the early 1970s.
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After marrying Briony Haig, a fellow student in law school, in 1976, they went to Europe for a few months, as his family says, “to work on their French and have a grand adventure.” They returned to Manitoba where John opened a law practice in Portage la Prairie. While there, their daughter was born.
That was John’s first act.
His second act saw the family first live for four years in an Intentional Community south of Portage, a residential concept for supporting people with developmental disabilities. The couple also went back to school and they both graduated as teachers. Together, they moved to the Wolseley area of Winnipeg, “a perfect fit” for John, because he loved “being under a canopy of trees in a progressive, artistic and community-minded neighbourhood.”
This second act for John was completed when he retired from teaching in 2010.
His third act saw him serving as a volunteer and activist.
John became deeply involved with bicycle-oriented organizations, including The Wrench, Bike Valet, and Safe Streets Winnipeg, as well as others including Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA).
John set up a bike repair stand near his cottage in Whytewold every Saturday morning where he would fix bicycles in return for a donation to The Wrench.
“He truly loved bicycles and believed strongly in making cycling safe and accessible as a more earth and human-friendly mode of transportation,” his family says.
John is survived by his wife of 48 years, a daughter, granddaughter, and other family members.
Read more about John.
How They Lived
Dorothy Hassan was born in England and came with her husband to put a stamp on Teulon.
Dorothy, who died on June 8 at 90 years of age, worked for Canada Post and was the community’s longtime postmistress.
She also volunteered with the Teulon Figure Skating Club and the United Church.
Read more about Dorothy.
Winnipeg’s celebrated music scene from the 1960s launched Neil Young and the Guess Who, but there were numerous other bands making music, too.
One of them was The Pallbearers and Bing Wong was their lead guitarist.
Bing, who was 80 when he died last year on April 16, played in several bands through the years, but The Pallbearers was his favourite.
The band was one of the most-loved ones from the 1960s invited to reunite for Shakin’ All Over in 1987 and the musicians came together again one more time to play in 2012.
Read more about Bing.
Verna Dennis came here to get away from terrorist acts — in Canada.
Verna, who died on May 28 at the age of 102, was living in Quebec when the FLQ prompted many companies to relocate elsewhere. Her husband worked at one which moved its offices to Winnipeg and the couple followed.
While in Montreal, Verna worked as a realtor.
Read more about Verna.
George Forzley was a businessman with an entrepreneurial spirit.
George, who was 83 when he died on June 14, was born in Lebanon, and came to Winnipeg as a child.
He opened Davis Cleaners on Sherbrook Street with his cousin and, years later, converted the dry cleaner to the Cedar Bread Factory to make the first pita bread in Western Canada and be an expression of his cultural heritage.
Read more about George.
Charlotte Hebert was a psychologist, a trainer, and a musician.
Charlotte, who died on June 2 at the age of 79, treated hundreds of patients and gave job training to people at the RCMP and CBC.
She also played the piano, composed music, and released two CDs with Quebec blues man Yves Sergerie through the years.
Read more about Charlotte.
David Murray graduated as a pharmacist but later went back to university to earn a degree in medicine.
David, who died on May 24, went on to specialize in geriatric medicine.
He spent the majority of his career at Deer Lodge Centre, much of it as the facility’s medical director.
Read more about David.
There are thousands of Filipinos in Winnipeg and a lot of the credit goes to Mickey Hoch.
Mickey, who was 94 when he died on March 23, grew Century 21 Apparels from the basement of his adopted family to more than 400 workers.
That’s why, in the 1960s, he travelled to the Philippines to recruit garment workers and helped bring the first group of Filipino garment workers to Winnipeg.
Read more about Mickey.
A Life’s Story
Janet MacKenzie was credited with saving the lives of people on a plane which crashed near Gods Lake Narrows in 1972 — but she never said much to her family about it.
It was only after Janet’s death last month at age 78, that her family went through her belongings and found thank you letters from relatives of the six American fishermen who were on the flight. Janet was working as one of two nurses at the nursing station.
Janet MacKenzie often had to take a Ski-Doo or dogsled to provide care as a nurse in northern Canada. (Supplied)
“Please know we will be ever grateful to you,” read one of the letters, while another said “without your care, Leo wouldn’t be alive.”
Janet’s daughter, Lesley, said her mother always wanted to make sure people were cared for.
“Any broken friend, or broken person, or broken animal, strays, she had an open-door policy in this house,” she said.
Read more about Janet’s life here.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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