Wide variety of Manitobans left us in 2015

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/01/2016 (3866 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province lost a former premier, an internationally known wrestling villain, a legendary golfer, a father who turned the tragedy of his son’s death into a catalyst for helping youth, two prominent judges and a former high-ranking cabinet minister.

Howard Pawley was the NDP premier from 1981 to 1988. His majority government fell when a backbench MLA voted with the Tory opposition. After leaving politics, Pawley, 81, taught political science at the University of Windsor until 2000.

During Pawley’s time in government, he brought in the provincial Autopac program as a minister in the Schreyer government, and while serving as premier, his government entrenched provincial French language rights.

Pawley became premier after defeating Sterling Lyon’s one-term Tory government — the first time in the province’s history a party was turfed from office after only a single term.

Dan Halldorson grew up in Brandon and became a Manitoba and Canadian golf legend.

Halldorson was Manitoba junior champion in 1970, before turning pro and becoming the province’s PGA champion the next year.

He was a member of the PGA Tour from 1975 to 2004, and during that time he won four Manitoba Open championships, two PGA Tour events, and, partnered with another golfer, helped Canada win two World Cups.

Halldorson also was deputy executive director of the Canadian Tour from 2005 to 2011.

He was director of golf at the Oak Island Golf Resort near Virden at the time of his death in November.

The slaying of Floyd Wiebe’s son, TJ, in 2003, not only changed his life, but ended up helping others.

Wiebe, who died in November, founded TJ’s Gift Foundation with his wife, Karen, to persuade youth not to use drugs and join gangs.

Wiebe spoke at numerous schools and told students “I don’t want anyone to forget this story, and I don’t want anyone to leave here thinking that something like this will never happen to them, because that’s what TJ thought. People will do anything to anyone when they’re involved with drugs.”

Wiebe also became an advocate for victims’ rights, working with the Manitoba Organization for Victim Assistance, helping create the Canadian Victim Bill of Rights, serving as the first chairman for the Victim Advisory Council to the Parole Board of Canada’s Prairie Division, and volunteering as vice-president of the Compassionate Friends Canada.

Wiebe was honoured with the Queen’s Jubilee award for his efforts.

Archibald Kerr Twaddle was born in Scotland and studied law in England, but it was in Winnipeg that he made his mark as a jurist — and left a legacy of music.

Twaddle came to Canada in 1961 and worked as a lawyer — being honoured as a Queen’s Counsel in 1967 — until being appointed to the province’s highest court in 1985.

But Twaddle, who died in March, loved opera, and because of that love he founded Manitoba Opera.

Twaddle told the Free Press in 2012 that before coming here he and his wife looked at Winnipeg newspapers and said “Winnipeg seems like a good place. When I got here, my impression was remarkably accurate. And there is a great cultural identity in Winnipeg.

“It was that vibrancy that said to me, ‘You can make a life here for yourself.’ ”

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper may have been Roderick George Toombs when he was born in Saskatoon, but it was in Winnipeg where the wrestler was given birth.

As Piper told it, he left home at age 12 after an argument with his dad and stayed in youth hostels in different provinces when he could for the next few years.

Piper was 15 when he began wrestling after coming to Winnipeg. He won a division in the Amateur Wrestling Championship of Manitoba, and, before he left for wrestling circuits in the United States during the 1970s, he had his stage name and his trademark kilt.

Piper joined the WWE in 1984, and his fight with Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden led to him being part of a tag team against Hogan in the main bout at the first Wrestlemania.

Piper, who died in July, was inducted into the WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

John Scollin was a Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench justice for 18 years, from his appointment in 1981 to his retirement in 1999, presiding over some of the province’s most infamous criminal trials.

But it was Scollin’s advice to the jurors who also heard the cases for which he is best remembered.

Scollin would tell them during his instructions that “when considering reasonable doubt, don’t check your common sense at the door.”

Scollin, who died in March, was born in Scotland and served as legal counsel with the British Army before serving as a magistrate in Tanzania. Scollin and his wife came to Winnipeg where he was first a prosecutor and then a private lawyer.

Scollin moved to Ottawa when he was hired as the assistant deputy attorney general for the federal Department of Justice. He returned to Manitoba to practise law and was appointed a judge.

Raven ThunderSky watched as six family members died from asbestos-related lung diseases before she succumbed to it.

It’s why ThunderSky, 50, dedicated the last decade of her life to fight the federal government and ask for an inquiry to be held into its use of Zonolite, an insulation that can contain asbestos. The federal government offered grants to homeowners who installed it and ThunderSky’s family used it in their home at the Poplar River First Nation.

ThunderSky also pushed for an inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

Maurice Strong was born in Oak Lake, but left there to work with some of the most prominent people in the world.

Strong, 86, worked with gas and oil companies in Alberta before joining Power Corp. of Canada and rising to be its president. He was later asked by prime minister Pierre Trudeau to become chairman and CEO of Petro-Canada. He held a number of posts with the United Nations including secretary-general for the 1972 Stockholm conference for the United Nations and secretary-general for the 1992 Earth Summit.

Because of Strong’s work on the environment, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said the world is indebted to him for his “visionary leadership toward solutions for the climate crisis.”

He was named to both the Order of Canada and Manitoba and received 53 honorary doctorate degrees.

Bud Sherman was a journalist who became a politician.

Sherman, who died in January, was the first news director of CTV Winnipeg when it was known as CJAY-TV.

But in 1965, Sherman was elected a federal MP for the Tories in Winnipeg South, serving for three years until losing to Liberal James Richardson in 1968.

The next year, Sherman was elected as the MLA for Fort Garry and served until 1984. When the Sterling Lyon government was elected in 1977, he was appointed Minister of Health until the government resigned in 1981.

Even though the Howard Pawley NDP government was elected, Sherman won his seat again, but he resigned it in 1984, to run unsuccessfully for the federal Progressive Conservatives, losing to Lloyd Axworthy. He later served as the CRTC’s vice-chairman.

 

 

Jan. 2 — Mary Konantz, 89. She was called the grande dame of the Liberal party in Manitoba. She was born in Saskatchewan and came to Winnipeg after marrying William Konantz. She joined the Junior League of Winnipeg and later served two terms as its president. She represented the province on Expo 67’s women’s advisory board and served on the national executive of UNICEF. She was named to the CBC board in 1972. She organized Pierre Trudeau’s Manitoba campaign tours, was part of the Liberal’s provincial executive, and worked on the election campaigns of Lloyd Axworthy and Jim Carr.

Jan. 4 — Arnold Portigal, 86. He helped Jewish people. He owned a commercial finance company and later a commercial real estate equity firm. He was deputy director of the United Israel Appeal and started Project Canada to help Russian Jews fleeing to Israel get housing. He was chairman of the Victoria General Hospital board before the province appointed him chairman of the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation. He was honoured with the Eleanor Roosevelt award by the United Israel Appeal and State of Israel Bonds.

Jan. 5 — Daphne Korol, 90. She was a fixture on the local stage. Her great-grandfather was Sir Charles Tupper and her grandfather was William Johnston Tupper, the province’s 12th lieutenant governor. She lived at Government House when she was a child and, after being encouraged by her mother, she studied dance and began performing in South America and in Canada. She married Taras (Ted), a renowned costume and set designer and together they became a major force in Winnipeg’s performing arts community. She performed at Theatre 77 and Manitoba Theatre Centre under the direction of John Hirsch, danced with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, founded Shakespeare in the Park and the Children’s Dance Theatre, and co-founded Actor’s Showcase which became Manitoba Theatre for Young People. She appeared in Guy Maddin’s film The Saddest Music in the World and was honoured with the Victor Cowie ACTRA Manitoba Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and Dance Manitoba’s Distinction for Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

Jan. 9 — Jack Nicol, 79. He helped municipalities here and across the country. He was raised in Winnipeg and joined the Winnipeg Fire Department in 1957, retiring in 1991 as a captain. He moved to Dugald in 1966, a few years after getting married, and served as reeve for 21 years. He was president of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities and led the move to join rural and urban municipalities into the Association of Manitoba Municipalities. He was on the board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and served on the Manitoba Municipal Board.

Jan. 9 — Clarence (Wezer) Bridle, 88. He was known as the founding father of volleyball in Manitoba and Canada. He played sports, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that he began playing volleyball while playing at the YMCA. He was a star player on the Winnipeg Redskins volleyball team from 1957 to 1962, and played into his seventies in the Winnipeg Men’s Volleyball league, a league he was instrumental in founding. He coached a teen of high school youth to the province’s first Junior National Championship. He was head coach at the University of Winnipeg and led the team to its first Canadian Inter-University Athletic Union title. He was a referee in Canada before the Canadian Volleyball Association was created and was the country’s first international referee. He helped form the Manitoba Volleyball Association and served as one of its first presidents. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, the Volleyball Manitoba Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame in 2000.

Jan. 9 — Joe Kutcher, 99. He helped people find what they lost. He served in the Second World War and had numerous jobs, including helping build the first smoke stacks at Thompson’s mine and maintenance supervisor at Riding Mountain National Park. But it was his hobby, after buying a metal detector, which earned im the name “Digger” Joe. He spent more than 30 years combing the province’s beaches, parks and campgrounds, and when he found an engraved item, he would track down the person and give it back to them. Other items he sold and gave the money he received to children’s charities.

Jan. 9 — Evelyn Pollock, 89. She trimmed hair. She came to Winnipeg and learned hairdressing at a beauty school. She met her husband, who had trained as a barber, and after working for a few years they decided to establish their own businesses in Winnipeg and Brandon, Pollock House of Beauty and Tru-Art for Beauty.

Jan. 9 — Ron McKenzie, 84. He developed new breeds of oats and wheat. He grew up on a Saskatchewan grain farm and received his Ph.D. in plant genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1957. He began his research into crops at Indian Head the same year and then went to the oat breeding position at the Ag Canada Research Station in Winnipeg two years later. He created a crop exchange program with scientists in New Zealand, which accelerated research, so that seeds were planted there during our winter and vice versa. He headed the research which created midge resistant wheat, produced eight successful oat cultivars, and helped develop Prairie Spring class wheat which is suited for Japanese udon noodles.

Jan. 10 — Patricia Martens, 62. She devoted her life to peoples’ health. After graduating with an education certificate from the University of Manitoba, she taught as a high school chemistry and math teacher at St. Mary’s Academy before becoming accredited as a La Leche League Canada leader and an international board certified lactation consultant. She went back to university and graduated with a master of science and then a Ph.D. from the department of community health services. She was director and senior research scientist of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy for 10 years until retiring in 2014. After being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure, she advocated for the government to stop helping the trade of asbestos. She was honoured with the YMCA/YWCA Women of Distinction awards in the health and wellness category and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2013.

Jan. 17 — Nancy Elbera Lotz, 73. She predicted the future. Known as Elbera, she owned a belly dancing studio and did tarot card readings. She was interviewed annually by local media for her predictions on the playoff hopes of the Winnipeg Jets and other sports teams, as well as local government.

Jan. 18 — Robert Ferguson, 94. He was a rock and mineral star. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto a year after he joined the University of Manitoba’s Department of Geological Sciences. He retired as a distinguished professor in 1985. He was honoured with the Mineralogical Association’s Hawley Award and was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He served as president of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg.

Jan. 20 — George Clavelle, 82. He helped wildlife. He bargain with the St. Boniface police department and retired 35 years later as executive assistant to the Winnipeg Police chief. After hours he worked in wildlife conservation serving as president of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and the Canadian Wildlife Federation. With a committee of five he founded the Canadian Wildlife Foundation. He was honoured with the Royal Canadian Humane Society Award, the Confederation of Canada medal, and the Queen’s Jubilee medal in 1977 and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012.

Jan. 24 — Piara Sharma, 75. He devoted himself to helping both the Indo-Canadian community and the wider community. He was president of the Commonwealth Club of Manitoba and vice president of the Manitoba Hindu Senior Society of Manitoba. He was director of the Punjab Foundation of Manitoba. He was appointed to the board of the Forks North Portage partnership and he was appointed the Human Rights Commissioner of Manitoba twice. He was honoured with the mayor’s community service award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.

Feb. 12 — James McCutcheon, 79. He was a pioneer of zero till farming. He was briefly a commercial bush pilot before returning to the farm. He was inspired by a university professor in 1973 to begin zero tillage on his land, a method which hadn’t been proven in Western Canada. Three years later he had converted his entire farm to zero till. He was the first president of the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association. For his efforts he was honoured with the University of Manitoba’s certificate of merit, the Manitoba-North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association award for Zero Till Farmer of the Year, and the outstanding service award from the Canadian Seed Growers Association. He was inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2002.

Feb. 14 — Helen Glass, 97. She nursed people. She earned her registered nurse designation in 1936 and practiced nursing in Prince Albert. She taught nursing at Winnipeg’s Victoria Hospital and then received her doctorate in education at Columbia University. She became a professor at the University of Manitoba and was director of the School of Nursing from 1972 to 1979. She was president of the Manitoba Association of Registered Nurses, the Canadian Nurses Association, and was first vice-president of the International Council of Nurses. She was honoured with the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and the Queen’s Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilee medals. The U of M named the Helen Glass Centre for Nursing in her honour.

Feb. 18 — Irene Howard, 82. She was an athlete. A car accident on the curves in Sandy Hook kept her in hospital for more than a year and she was left a paraplegic. She became a receptionist at B.A. Robinson Electrical while becoming involved in paraplegic sports competing in basketball, javelin, shot put, discus, swimming and archery. She won gold, silver and three bronze medals in the 1967 Winnipeg Paraplegic Pan-Am Games in 1967 and at the Centennial Wheelchair games in Montreal she was honoured as Outstanding Wheelchair Athlete of the games. She won the Errick F. Willis trophy for Manitoba’s outstanding athlete of the year in 1968, the town of Gimli honoured her with a key to the town and a high school sports trophy named after her is still presented every year.

 

Feb. 22 — Cliff Asselstine, 86. He worked hard to help Birtle. He first worked on the family farm while playing jazz and swing guitar with Gene and his Swing Kings. After getting married he moved to Birtle and started two businesses and was instrumental in the construction of a new skating rink. He was chairman of the Birtle Community District Board. He was a town councillor from 1966 to 1970 and mayor from 1983 to 1990.

March 12 — Bobby Jones, 84. He was a wrestler. He started as an amateur at the Central YMCA at 17, and turned professional in 1952, wrestling in Canada and the United States with the American Wrestling Association and the International Wrestling Alliance, sometimes partnered with Gil Hayes and Fred “French Mad Dog” Peloquin. He managed wrestling teams including the province’s wrestling team at the First Canada Winter Games in Quebec City and was an official at the 1979 Canada Winter Games and the 1990 Western Canada Summer Games. He was founder of the publication “Manitoba Lets Wrestle” and hosted the TV program “Let’s Wrestle Manitoba”. He worked with the city as recreation supervisor and superintendent. He was president of Acqua Percept Inc., Manitoba Parks and Recreation Association, and the Manitoba Society of Seniors, and on the board of Age and Opportunity and the Canada Seniors Games Association.

March 17 — Frank McKendry, 81. He loved to sail. He was a founding member of the Jessica Lake Sailing Club in 1970, and went on to becoming vice-president and then president of the Manitoba Sailing Association. He was also vice-president of the Canadian Yachting Association. He joined the Manitoba Liberal Party and was elected chairman of the party’s provincial council in 2002 and 2003.

March 19 — Steve Maksymyk, 91. He was Crabby. He was born and raised in Malonton before joining the Merchant Navy when he was 15 in 1939. He served for seven years with the Royal Canadian Merchant Marine. He adopted the nickname Crabby after a long night out in San Francisco. He returned to Manitoba and for more than 40 years operated weekly barn dances at Crabby Steve’s in the Interlake.

March 20 — Durlene Germscheid, 76. She fought for human rights. She moved to Winnipeg with her family as a teenager. She went on to devote her career to helping the impoverished and defending human rights. She was a founding member and then director of the Winnipeg Council of Self-Help. She rose from being an officer of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission in 1977 to the executive director in 1983 until she retired in 1996. She also served as president of the Neighbourhood Services Centre, chairwoman of the National Council of Welfare, and a board member of organizations including Osborne House and the Social Planning Council.

March 21 — James Asselstine, 94. He helped people with mental trauma. He was doing his medical internship when he realized the physical symptoms of soldiers returning from the Second World War were actually signs of mental trauma. He decided to dedicate his career to psychiatry and treat adults and children. He began his pioneering practice of psychotropic treatment at the Selkirk Mental Hospital in 1948. He was the founding director of the Child Guidance Clinic of Greater Winnipeg.

March 24 — Dawn McKeag, 87. She was a volunteer. She was appropriately born at dawn in Portage la Prairie to parents of the then-future Premier Douglas Campbell and his wife Gladys. After her father was named a cabinet minister and her family moved to Winnipeg, she went to Robert H. Smith School and Kelvin High School where she met her future husband Jack. She volunteered at The Junior League of Winnipeg, the boards of St. John’s Ravenscourt School and Balmoral Hall, Ducks Unlimited, and was co-chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. She became Chatelaine of Government House when her husband was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba.

March 27 — Amaro Silva, 57. He served his community. He was born in B.C., but came to Winnipeg as a young child. He was raised in the West End and went to Daniel MacIntyre and the University of Manitoba. He was elected city councillor for the Daniel MacIntyre ward in 1992 until 1998. He served as chairman of the protection, parks and culture, planning and community services, and finance committees and was the councillor who put forth the successful motion to discontinue the city’s four-member Board of Commissioners and replace it with a chief administrative officer. After losing the 1998 election, he went on to become the CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Manitoba from 1999 to 2014.

March 30 — Kathleen Murphy, 65. She was a Sugar ‘n’ Spice. She was one of three sisters in her family who during the 1960s sang in a band. Sugar ‘n’ Spice played across North America and had a single called Cruel War. She left the band in 1970 to join The Tweatle Band. She went to Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1983. She later returned to Manitoba and was appointed to the Manitoba Law Reform Commission in 2000.

April 3 — Evangeline Mercury, 102. She supported the local Greek community. She was born in Greece and came to Canada after she married. She became an active member of the local Greek community through her life, serving as president of the Ladies Hellenic Club, the Ladies Philoptochos Society, and the Daughters of Penelope. She served as a convenor for several years at the Athens Folklorama Pavilion. She received handwritten letters of congratulations from President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney when she turned 95.

April 4 — Bob Walker, 65. He was the province’s fastest man. He was a partner in the Winnipeg-based chartered accountant firm PKBW, but his passion was running. He set the Manitoba record at the Manitoba Marathon in 1981 by running the full marathon in a time of two hours, 19 minutes and six seconds — a record which still hasn’t been broken. He was inducted into the Manitoba Runners’ Road Running Hall of Fame in 2009.

April 11 — Beverly-Ann Scott, 84. She was active in her community. She studied at the U of M’s faculty of interior design and then worked helping coordinate women’s fashion at Eatons before her marriage. She was president of the Junior League of Winnipeg, chairwoman of the board of the Manitoba Museum, commissioner to the Manitoba Law Reform Commission, member of the Manitoba Health Appeal Board, and vice-chairwoman of the board of the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa.

April 11 — Jack Hignell, 84. He was a volunteer. He was president of Hignell Printing for two decades until selling it in 1988. He volunteered on numerous organizations and was president of several including the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Winnipeg West, Probus Club of Winnipeg, and the Canadian Institute of Management (Manitoba). He was appointed Honorary British Consul in Winnipeg in 1984 and served 12 years, being on the Queen’s Honour List and awarded an O.B.E. in London in 1996.

April 30 — David Grewar, 93. He helped treat people in northern Manitoba and further north. He was born in Scotland and came to Winnipeg originally for a six-month residency in pediatric medicine. He stayed and he went on to practice at Children’s Hospital, the Shriner’s Hospital and St. Boniface General Hospital where he was head of pediatrics. He also spent a lot of time delivering health care to aboriginal and Inuit communities and didn’t retire until he was 85. He was honoured with the Order of Manitoba in 2010 for his service in northern Manitoba and Nunavut.

May 4 — Walter Miller, 85. He was a driving force in Dunnottar. He was born in Stratford, Ont., but came to Winnipeg after leaving the RCAF to work 60 years as a life insurance agent with New York Life and then Canada Life. He and his wife summered in Dunnotar for 47 years and for 22 of them he served on Dunnottar council including 16 as the village’s mayor from 1980 to 1992, and then 1998 to 2002. After retiring he helped found the Friends of the Village which created the Lake Winnipeg Foundation in 2005.

May 6 — Olive MacPhail, 89. She worked in politics. She worked as a stenographer until her first child was born. She developed an interest in social justice through political change and through the years worked on 12 federal, 10 provincial and numerous by-election and leadership campaigns. She worked for Duff Roblin and was Joe Clark’s Manitoba leadership campaign manager in 1983. She was Premier Sterling Lyon’s executive assistant and special assistant to former federal regional minister MP Jake Epp. She was also president of the Manitoba Kidney Foundation in the late 1980s. She was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal in 2002.

May 8 — Jozef Biernacki, 87. He helped the Polish community. He was born in Poland and worked there as a tailor until coming to Canada in 1988. He quickly became involved with the local Polish community becoming a member of the Sokol Polish Folk Ensemble. He was founder and president of the I.J. Paderewski – Polish Music Society, the Winnipeg branch of the John Paul II Foundation, and Friends of KUL (Catholic University of Lublin). He was honoured with the Order of St. Sylvester in 2002 and the Order of John Paul II in 2015.

May 13 — Don Brownell, 89. He was an angel of philanthropy. He served in the Second World War and when he returned went to the University of Manitoba. He had several careers including national sales and marketing manager with Great West Life. He was president of the Sales and Marketing Executives of Winnipeg and the Estate Planning Council of Winnipeg. He was chairman of several committees at his church and chairman of the Misericordia Health Centre Foundation. The foundation honoured him with its Angel Award in 2007. He was president of the Manitoba Handball Association for several years and president of the Canadian Handball Association. He was honoured as the first recipient of the Rudy Harris Memorial Handball Award for contribution to handball and was inducted into the Canadian Handball Association Hall of Fame.

May 18 — Arthur Wood, 96. He helped farming. He farmed in the 1930s and did other jobs until the Second World War. He received his Ph.D. in Stanford, California and taught agricultural economics at the University of Manitoba for 28 years. He was executive assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing and presented at the National Conference on Farm Policy Research in Winnipeg in 1961. For that, he was honoured with the province’s highest civilian honour, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt.

May 19 — Randall Rebillard, 53. He was a trucker who became a colonel. He began trucking when he was 16 with his uncle and bought his first truck when he was 21. He was known for his prize-winning truck named ‘Tired Iron’. For his work within the truck show circuit, and helping grow the Mid-America Truck Show to one of the world’s largest, the state of Kentucky honoured him by making him a Kentucky Colonel.

May 20 — Donald Gordon, 79. He supported the local Caribbean community. He grew up in Jamaica and earned his Ph.D. in hispanic studies at the University of Toronto. He was a professor in the University of Manitoba’s French, Spanish and Italian department and was named professor emeritus in 2004. He served on the university’s senate and board of the Canadian Association of Hispanists. He was president of the Afro-Caribbean Association of Manitoba and was the Jamaican Honorary Consul in Winnipeg from 1981 to 1999. He was honoured by Jamaica with its Order of Distinction and by the Black Educators’ Association of Manitoba with a Hall of Fame award.

May 24 — Mike O’Brien, 51. He made people laugh. He studied creative writing at the University of Victoria and went into journalism. He worked at the Medicine Hat News and Regina Leader-Post until joining CBC Saskatchewan at a radio producer. He began acting and appeared regularly in Corner Gas as Wes Humboldt, the insurance and liquor vendor, and later on Less Than Kind as Lorne. He became a comedy writer for CBC Radio in Winnipeg in 2005 and hosted his own national radio summer show, Strange Animal, in 2011. He wrote humorously about his cancer on his blog The Big Diseasy.

May 26 — Leo Flood, 101. He understood the value of education. He was studying at St. Paul’s High School in the late 1920s when the Depression came and he had to leave school to work to help his family. Decades later, he celebrated his 100th birthday by getting his high school diploma. He also published his first book detailing the first three decades of his life, Shy Boy From Lost Horse Hills.

 

May 29 — Karl Sickert, 87. He contributed much to the local German community. He came to Canada in 1952 and started his career and a personal and small business accountant in 1962. He was financial secretary, treasurer and president of the German Society of Winnipeg starting in 1954. He helped create Camp Neustadt and was co-founder of the Villa Heidelberg and a major supporter of the Witches Hut in Kildonan Park. For his volunteerism, he was honoured with the city’s Citizenship Award and by the Federal Republic of Germany with the Bundesverdienstkreuz.

May 29 — George Phillips, 86. He helped thousands of amateur athletes. He was a principal of Kelvin High School and Hugh John McDonald, but while a teacher he helped organize mobile track and field clinics during the summer. He established the Legion Athletic Camp and ran it for five decades, helping almost 40,000 amateur school-age athletes through the years. He was honoured by the Governor General with an amateur sport award in the 1970s and was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

May 29 — Olga Penner, 86. She was Aunt Olly to Manitobans. She graduated from Normal School and became a teacher. She left teaching after she was married, but in the early 1960s she accepted a job at CFAM radio and became Aunt Olly and the voice of Children’s Party and the Ladies First programs. She worked in radio for 27 years.

May 30 — Ross Nugent, 89. He practiced law. He was called to the Bar in 1950 and received his Masters of Law from the University of Manitoba in 1956. He was an expert in municipal planning, expropriations and assessments and took a landmark case on municipal assessment to the Supreme Court of Canada. He was appointed a Queen’s Council in 1968, and practiced law for more than 60 years.

May 31 — Frank McKinnon, 80. He was a Manitoba sports legend. He was born in Wellwood and became a hockey, track-and-field, and fastball athlete in Brandon while a child. He was later the principal of Carman Collegiate and while there he coached NHL star goalie Eddie Belfour. He was a founding member of the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association, commissioner of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and president and member of the executive of Hockey Manitoba. He helped create the Centennial Cup and was first chairman of Hockey Canada. He was honoured by being named a life member of Hockey Canada and inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Manitoba High School Sports Hall of Fame.

June 4 — Bill Wehrle, 83. He loved flying. He grew up on the family farm in Lockport, but wanted to work in aviation. He learned to fly at the Winnipeg Flying Club and became chief instructor. He created Perimeter Aviation in 1959, which grew from a single person company to more than 500 employees.

June 5 — Joan Whalley, 96. She loved to curl. She began curling at the Deer Lodge Curling Club in 1948. He served as president of the curling club in 1959, of the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association in 1966, and of the Canadian Ladies Curling Association in 1975. She was honoured with the Queen’s Silver Jubilee medal in 1977, and was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame, and the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

June 12 — Bev Owens, 61. She helped incarcerated women stay with their children. She was born in Portage la Prairie and went to Fort la Reine and Prince Charles School. She went on to become a registered nurse and worked in a Saskatoon hospital. After her husband died, she became the nurse at the jail for women in Portage. She started the Mother Child program where children stayed with their mom’s in jail and she rose to become Superintendent of the facility before retiring in 2009. She was honoured with the Exemplary Service Award from the governor general of Canada and the Meritorious Service Award from the premier.

June 16 — Morley Blankstein, 91. He gave his time and talent to his community. He was the son of an architect, he became an architect himself. He joined an architectural firm and designed the new General Post Office and helped design the first prize entry for the National Art Gallery. He began his own practice in 1955, with it becoming known as Number Ten Architectural Group. He designed the Peguis Pavilion in Kildonan Park, the Winnipeg Transit garage, office and maintenance complex, and the Lions Manor Senior Citizen residence complex. He served as president of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the YMHA Jewish Community Centre, and Glendale Golf and Country Club. He was appointed Honorary Aide-de-Camp (Civil) to Lieutenant Governor Richard Bowles in 1966.

June 16 — Dick Lennox, 82. He built an ocean going sailboat in his River Heights backyard. His working career was marketing agricultural products and industrial equipment. But for almost three decades his passion was building a 46-foot sailboat piece by piece in his backyard. He finally launched the Katharine de Montrose in Lake Winnipeg in 2002, later relocating it to the British Columbia coast.

June 17 — Gladys Kulas, 83. She loved dance. She started dancing at age seven and never stopped. She joined the Sokol choir in the 1950s and studied Polish folklore, dance and choreography at a Polish university. She was artistic director and choreographer for more than four decades with the Polish Sokol Folk Ensemble. She founded the Polish Sokol School of Folk Dance in 1973. She was honoured with the province’s Order of the Buffalo Hunt in 1985 for preserving Polish culture in Canada.

June 30 — Gail Stapon, 78. She helped found Folklorama. She contracted polio at age 11, and spent time in an iron lung. Growing up, she was a lifetime member of the province’s Liberal Party and ran twice provincially. She co-founded Folklorama in the 1970s and was honoured at the 25th anniversary of the festival. She loved playing cards and partnered with Omar Sharif at a bridge tournament.

July 1 — Earl Froebe, 73. He was a farmer. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a diploma in agriculture. He returned to the farm and farmed with his dad, as well as establishing Agassiz Seed Farm Ltd. He served as president of the Manitoba Seed Growers Association and on the executive of the Manitoba Sugar Beet Growers Association and Manitoba Alfalfa Seed Producers. He was honoured with the U of M’s certificate of merit for his contributions to the agricultural industry and the Robertson Associate Award from the Canadian Seed Growers Association.

July 2 — Peter Friesen, 91. He helped feed livestock. He served in the Second World War and when he returned his first job was as an elevator operator at Eaton’s. He took on a variety of jobs until founding East-Man Feeds in his garage. It grew to become the largest privately owned premix company in Western Canada. He was honoured with the Golden award by the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada.

July 7 — Neil McTavish, 77. He helped people enjoy Riding Mountain National Park. He graduated as a teacher and began teaching at Lord Wolseley School in East Kildonan for five years before going up to northern Quebec to teach the Inuit for three years. He returned and became a lawyer and practiced law for 25 years in Winnipeg. With his wife, Lorraine, they operated McTavish’s Wasagaming Lodge and Ice Cream Parlour from 1984 to 2014, opened a take-out chicken business now known as Barnaby’s, and ran the Southgate Motel and Bar in Onanole for five years.

July 13 — Mark Flynn, 85. He played baseball. He was born on the family farm in McAuley and moved to Winnipeg as a youth. He spent most of his working life at Florists Supply as a part owner. But after work, he excelled in baseball, hockey and lacrosse. He played third base for various teams including the Elmwood Giants Juniors form 1949 to 1951, the St. James Legion from 1952 and 1953, and the Fort Whyte tournament teams from 1954 to 1960. He was president of the Assiniboine Minor Baseball Association from 1961 to 1967. He was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the Fort Whyte club in 1998 and as an individual player in 2002.

July 14 — Gloe Cormie. She was a poet. She was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba. She wrote poetry her whole life and her work is in several journals and anthologies across North America. Her book of poetry called Sea Salt, Red Oven Mitts and the Blues was a finalist for several awards and her ghazal poem, Direction Ghazal, was winner of Winnipeg’s Poetry in Motion in 2008.

July 14 — Ken Bicknell, 87. He helped peoples’ health. He was born in Saskatchewan and raised in Brandon. He became an accountant and was recognized in 1978 as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. While serving as Governor of District 2 for the Kinsmen he helped bring the Kinsmen Centennial Pool in Brandon’s east end to fruition and he was a leading force in creating the Brandon General Hospital’s Foundation which he was chairman.

July 17 — Alan Beachell, 90. He was a farmer who was interested in politics. He farmed in Rosser from age 17 to 85. He was Reeve of the RM of Rosser for 28 years and was a Liberal candidate in the 1972 provincial election. He later was a founding member of the Reform Party of Canada and served as a candidate in the 1988 federal election. He also served on several boards and was president of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities.

July 19 — Stan Osaka, 83. He was dedicated to architecture and helping the community. He was born in British Columbia and was relocated with his family to an internment camp during the Second World War. He graduated as an architect from the University of Manitoba and was a founding partner and the ‘O” of The IKOY Partnership. He later founded his own firm and from 1988 to 1997 he was the University of Manitoba’s architect and campus planner for the President’s office. He was a former president of the St. Boniface-St. Vital Rotary Club, treasurer of the Buddhist Churches of Canada, and president of the St. Vital Curling Club.

 

July 20 — Mary Young. She preserved Anishinabe language and cultural identity. She was from the Bloodvein First Nation and attended residential school before going to Winnipeg and graduating from Kelvin High School. She later received her Ph.D. in First Nations Education at the University of Alberta. She became Native Studies advisor at the University of Winnipeg and later became director of aboriginal students and assistant professor in the Faculty of Education. She was honoured with the U of W’s Marsha Hanen award for Excellence in Creating Community Awareness.

July 24 — Bill Gray, 98. He worked to help his community. He served in the Second World War and then spent his career working as a chartered accountant, retiring as a partner with Price Waterhouse. He served as chairman and/or president of numerous organizations including the University of Manitoba’s Board of Governor’s, the University of Winnipeg’s Board of Regents, the Canadian Club of Winnipeg, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, and Boy Scouts and Cubs Canada.

Aug. 12 — Henry Cullihall, 60. He was an advocate for people with disabilities. Born in Newfoundland, he became a quadriplegic when he landed badly while high jumping. He moved to Winnipeg and received his undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba and his Master’s in Divinity from Providence College. He worked with Disabled People International and the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies and was the first chairman of the Independent Living Resource Centre. He wrote After the Fall, his autobiography, in 2005.

Aug. 13 — Sam Minuk. He went from arresting people to judging them. He served as a police officer before becoming a lawyer, graduating from Law School in 1955. He worked as a lawyer until being appointed a provincial court judge in 1972, serving until retiring in 2005. He was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee medal in 2002 for his community service.

Aug. 13 — John Loewen, 85. He was active in his community and agriculture. His family moved to a farm near Blumenort when he was nine and he went on to farm there until he was 72. He served as councillor and Reeve in the RM of Hanover from 1981 to 1986, was chairman of the Steinbach Bethesda Hospital from 1986 to 1989, served on the Steinbach Bethesda Hospital Foundation Board from 1989 to 2012, and was on the board of the Ste. Anne Co-op Oil for 15 years, 10 as president. He served with the Manitoba Sugar Beet Association for 27 years and was secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Sugar Beet Growers Association for 10 years.

Aug. 18 — Clarence Geddes, 96. He was a leader in the cattle business. He brought the first Charolais cross cattle to Manitoba in 1958 and seven years later brought the very first French Charolais in from France. He was president of the Canadian Charolais Association in 1964-65 and, as the association’s Manitoba director, he organized the first cattle sale in a North American hotel ballroom under the second floor chandeliers in the Lombard Hotel in 1971. He was honoured by the Canadian and International Charolais Associations and the Manitoba Beef Cattle Performance Association. He and his wife, Dorothy, were inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2002 and were named Manitoba Farm Family of the Year in 1983.

Aug. 22 — Inez Trueman, 98. She spent decades helping the community. She was born in Minnesota and became a nurse. She met her husband at the Mayo Clinic and they came to Winnipeg to raise their family. Beginning in the 1950s she began volunteering for social organizations and became president of the Junior League of Winnipeg in 1951. She was president of the Central Volunteer Bureau from 1954 to 1956, and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg from 1965 to 1967. She was elected River Heights city councillor from 1967 to 1969, and MLA for Fort Rouge from 1969 to 1973, at one point being one of only two opposition politicians to support the amalgamation of Winnipeg. She was honoured as YWCA Women of the Year – Political Affairs and Government, in 1980.

Aug. 25 — Tam Scott, 86. He sold flowers. He ran and operated The Orchid Florists for 42 years. He started with one location and expanded it to 11 shops. He was president of the Winnipeg Executives Association and the Allied Florists and Growers Association, Commodore of the Manitoba Yacht Club, and helped found both the Victoria Beach Yacht Club and Perimeter Airlines. He was elected Reeve of Victoria Beach.

Sept. 2 — Catherine Milner. She was community minded. She was one of the first women to graduate with a Masters degree in Commerce from the University of Toronto after receiving her bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Manitoba. She came back to Winnipeg and worked at the Sovereign Life Assurance Company as portfolio manager. She was elected a Winnipeg School Board trustee in 1955, and became chairwoman from 1959 to 1961. She was also involved with the YWCA and the Lake of the Woods Property Owners Association.

Sept 3 — Barb Cannell, 86. She was one of the city’s top models. She graduated from the University of Manitoba’s interior design faculty, but her heart was into modelling. She went on to become a fashion show coordinator and fashion editor for the Winnipeg Tribune. She was featured in a 2010 documentary about the heyday of Winnipeg fashion models. She was chairwoman of the Manitoba Film Classification Board and was the president of the Progressive Conservative Winnipeg South Constituency Association for several years.

Sept. 7 — Tom Rice, 75. He helped look after peoples’ finances. He started working with Western Grocers as a retail store supervisor before working in sales for Canadian Motors. He was hired by the Alcoholism Foundation of Manitoba in 1966 as the first counsellor outside Winnipeg. He joined Crown Life Insurance Company in 1969, and took financial planning courses. He founded TJ Rice and Associates with five employees in 1971, which later became Rice Financial. The company was named one of the 50 best managed companies. He was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012 for his service in the financial industry.

Sept. 13 — Murray Auld, 99. He was an aerospace visionary. He was born in Regina and came to Winnipeg as an RCAF inspector in 1940. He joined MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Co., which had built seaplane floats and then war training aircraft, and by the age of 26 he was general manager of the 4,500 employee plant. The company later became Bristol Aerospace and he rose to become president of the firm from 1967 to 1981. After the Second World War, he realized the company’s geographic location enabled it to compete in scientific rocketry which led to the Black Brant rocket being created. He was honoured as a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of both the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals, the C.D. Howe Award, and the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada’s Canadian Pioneer in Aviation Award.  

Sept. 13 — Gordon Pennell. He excelled in hockey. He played junior hockey in Winnipeg and then with the Barrie Flyers. He played seven seasons in the American Hockey League, being named an all-star. He retired from professional hockey in 1957 and then became coach of the Winnipeg Rangers for 23 years. He was named to the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

Sept. 16 — Harry Loewen, 84. He was a Mennonite scholar. As a boy, he witnessed his father and grandfather arrested by police in the Soviet Union and later learned they had been executed. With his grandmother, mother and siblings he left for Germany and later came to Canada. He earned his PhD at the University of Waterloo and was a professor in the German department at Wilfrid Laurier University when he became the first chair in Mennonite Studies and history professor at the University of Winnipeg. He founded the Journal of Mennonite Studies, lectured on Mennonite history and literature around the world, and wrote 16 books.

Sept. 16 — Ed Martens, 74. He was a public relations expert. He worked at Investor’s Syndicate and the Manitoba Association of School Trustees, but most of his career was building Wordsnorth Communication Services with his wife. He was president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and served on the boards of St. Boniface Hospital Research Foundation, St. Amant Centre, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Red River College.

Sept. 22 — Jamie Prefontaine, 30. He was a successful hip-hop artist. As a member of Most, and known by the stage name Brooklyn, they won several Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Awards, including best new artist, after debuting in 2010, and were featured in a write up in Maclean’s magazine. They followed that by winning won six more APCMAs the following year. He also spent time in jail, and at the time of his death, he was on the Winnipeg Police Service’s most-wanted list for court breaches.

Sept. 26 — Joe Nespor, 92. He coached softball. He was born in Czechoslovakia and came to Canada at 13. After serving as a pilot officer in the Second World War, he became a provincial conservation officer, rising through the ranks to become director of regional services. He loved sports and organized the little league baseball program in Lac du Bonnet. After moving to Winnipeg he helped establish the Junior Men’s Fastball program and coached both the Winnipeg Junior Colonels and the St. James Assiniboia Optimists’ to several provincial championships. For his coaching he was inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2014.

Sept. 29 — Oliver Nelson, 73. He was a leader. He was born at Roseau River First Nation and was a residential school survivor. He studied at the University of Manitoba and went on to be regional director of Indian Affairs for various regions. He was elected chief of Roseau River and he was a founding member of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood.

Sept. 30 — Mary Woloshyn, 84. She promoted Ukrainian music. She taught herself to play the guitar as a child and later, with her husband Bill, they became founding members of the Interlake Polka Kings, one of the most popular Ukrainian musical groups in the country in the 1960s and 1970s. She won the golden achievement award for rhythm guitar and vocal from the Ukrainian Music Association, as well as a lifetime achievement award.

Oct. 5 — Irene Renaud, 81. She welcomed people. She worked as a dental nurse and served on the executive of the Dental Nurses Association of Winnipeg. She left dentistry after she married and later became a hostess for Welcome Wagon. During the next three decades she rose through the company and became president and CEO and later the longest serving chairwoman of the board. For her contributions to the community and country, she was honoured with the Governor General’s medal during Canada’s 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992.

Oct. 7 — Paget Stewart, 52. He was a multi-talented athlete. He was introduced to cross-country skiing while a student at St. John’s Ravenscourt School. He was an original member of the Jackrabbit Cross Country Ski program and was the province’s junior biathlon champion in 1980. He began competing in Biathlon at World Cup races and World championships and was a member of the Canadian biathlon team at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Oct. 14 — Frank Price, 84. He worked to help indigenous people. He was a public health inspector in Roblin and he started a consulting business in Winnipeg before moving to Rivers where he became manager of OO-ZA-WE-KWUN, a training centre for indigenous people. He was president of the Roblin Community Chamber of Commerce, the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce, and in 1962 he was elected as the youngest president of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce. He was an advisor to the Grand Chief of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, a principal advisor to the regional Indian and Northern Affairs directors in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and his company did several economic studies of First Nations in the three Prairie provinces. The Manitoba Indian Brotherhood honoured him by naming him Chief Shooneya Wahgoosh (Silver Fox).

Oct. 16 — John Melnick, 90. He put out fires. He was born and raised in Winnipeg and spent 40 years with the Winnipeg Fire Department. He helped amalgamate the department and was president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg from 1972 to 1976. He negotiated a pension that was admired by unions across North America. He was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.

Oct. 20 — Neil MacKay, 85. He worked hard helping his community. He graduated from law school in 1957, beginning to practice with the Attorney General’s department. He went on to practice with Tupper Adams and then his own law office. He volunteered with the Big Brothers, St. Vital Chamber of Commerce, Deer Lodge Foundation, and was president of the Rotary Club of Assiniboine and the provincial and federal Liberal party. He was honoured as director emeritus with Ducks Unlimited Canada for his years of volunteering.

Oct. 23 — Wilfred DeGraves, 87. He judged people. He was born in St. Boniface, but then helped out on his family’s dairy farm when they moved to Lilyfield and then the RM of Charleswood. He went to high school in Winnipeg before getting his bachelor of arts at the University of Manitoba and then his law degree in 1954. He practised law and was appointed a Court of Queen’s Bench justice in 1985. He served on the bench until his mandatory retirement in 2004.

Oct. 30 — Lynne MacFarlane, 83. She helped her community. She was raised in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a history and political science degree. She was a journalist, working at the CBC and the Winnipeg Tribune, a best-selling author, Everywoman’s Money Book, stock broker and financial planner, RBC Dominion Securities, and public relations, with her husband at MacFarlane Communications. She served on local and national boards including the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Oct. 31 — George Waters, 96. He helped veterans and students living with disabilities. He was only six weeks old when his dad drowned at Grand Beach and he never forgot the support his family received from charities and community groups through the years. He worked for 23 years as the personnel director of Deer Lodge Hospital before retiring in 1985. He spent 18 years as a school trustee and chairman of the St. James-Assiniboia School Division and pushed for programs including the work experience program for students living with special needs. He and his wife helped establish the Laureate Academy, a private school for students with learning disabilities. He was honoured with both the Queen Elizabeth II silver and diamond jubilee medals, the 125th anniversary of Confederation of Canada medal, and the naming of the George Waters Middle School.

Nov. 1 — Katherine Friesen, 97. She was born in Russia and came to Canada when she was four. She graduated from the University of Winnipeg with an education degree and married David Friesen in 1943. She and her husband founded Quality Construction, now known as Qualico, and later founded Rancho Realty where she was a broker. She and her husband founded the David and Katherine Friesen Foundation, Menno Simons College, the Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School and the Menno Simons Christian School in Calgary.

Nov. 2 — Charles Newcombe, 71. He was a prosecutor who became a judge. He put himself through law school working as a banker, miner, train brakeman and waiter during summers. He became a Crown attorney after graduating in 1970 and 10 years later at age 36 he was appointed a provincial court judge. He presided over numerous criminal matters in court before retiring in 2008.

Nov. 10 — Ignatius Scaletta, 89. He excelled in baseball. He began playing the sport as a child, but the Second World War interrupted his career. After returning, he won three championships as a member of the Rosedale Juniors, the St. James Legion Seniors, and the St. Boniface Native Sons Seniors. He umpired games from 1951 to 1995, including the gold medal game between the United States and Cuba at the 1967 Pan Am Games. He was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame separately as a player and an umpire in 2012.

Nov. 21 — Darci Instance-Liskie, 27. She loved hockey. She played many sports, but it was hockey she excelled in. She began playing when she was seven and rose to play with the St. James Canadians AA midget team and the Manitoba Women’s Junior Hockey League’s Polar Ice. She shared the MVP award one year and made several all-star appearances before turning to coaching. She coached the Western Predators for three seasons, leading them to the provincial championship in 2014.

Nov. 30 — Karl Riese, 80. He fought cancer. He was born in Selkirk and went to high school and college in Winnipeg. He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Manitoba and did his residencies at St. Boniface General Hospital and in Connecticut. He did an additional two years of cancer surgery training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre before returning to Winnipeg. He was appointed full time professor of surgery and chief of surgery at St. Boniface in 1970 and then medical director in 1975. He was a founder and first president of the Canadian Surgical Oncology Society and later was honoured as a life member of the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Medical Association.

Dec. 1 — Rob Cox, 60. He was a sports organizer. He was born, raised and lived in Selkirk. His day job was with Manitoba Hydro, where he rose to be manager of energy service sales. But he organized many sports events including numerous provincial curling events. He was the Selkirk chairman for the 1999 World Junior hockey, co-chairman of the 2003 Western Canada Summer Games, and chairman of the 2009 Telus Cup. He was honoured as the Selkirk and District Citizen of the Year in 2002, the Lieutenant Governor’s award in 2012, and was given lifetime memberships with the Manitoba Curling Association and Manitoba Good Roads.

Dec. 1 — Gerry Howard, 76. He umpired athletes from around the world. His love for sports came while a child in Kelwood. His day job was with Sun Life, but after hours it was as a softball umpire he was renowned as. He was named Deputy Umpire in Chief at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and he was Softball Canada’s Umpire in Chief from 1986 to 1993. He also developed a graduated umpire certification program for softball and chaired the Manitoba section of the Canadian Figure Skating Association. He was inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame, the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, and the Softball Canada Hall of Fame.

Dec. 2 — Patrick Doyle, 93. He was a doctor. He was born in St. Boniface and graduated from Laval University’s Faculty of Medicine. He started practicing family medicine in Ste-Anne-des-Chenes in 1948 and retired 50 years later. He was instrumental in establishing the Ste-Anne’s first hospital and founded the Seine River Medical Centre. He was president of the Catholic Physicians Guild of Manitoba, the Catholic Health Association of Canada, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba and was chairman of the St. Boniface General Hospital. He was chairman of the Seine River School Division, president of the Association des commissaires de langue francais du manitoba, and director of the CBC from 1977 to 1983. He wrote eight books after he retired including A Doctor’s Journey about his life as a rural doctor. He was honoured with the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba.

Dec. 2 — Reeh Taylor, 91. He was one of the oldest practicing lawyers in the country. He was born in Ontario, but moved to the United Kingdom as an infant. He sang in Westminster Abbey’s choir and went to choir school, singing for Royal weddings and the coronation of King George VI, rising to Head Boy, before having to leave when his voice changed. He began articling with a London law firm when he was 17 and enrolled in the School of Law, but left to join the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday. He came to Winnipeg because he had met a person from the city while fire-watching in London. He started Law School again and was called to the Bar in 1951. With D’Arcy McCaffrey, he founded Taylor McCaffrey in 1979. He was appointed the province’s first chief commissioner of the Automobile Injury Compensation Appeal Commission in 1994 for seven years. He returned to the law firm and practiced until just a few weeks before his death. He was president of the Downtown Winnipeg Association, the Winnipeg Executives Association, the Manitoba Club, the Manitoba Opera Association, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and chairman of the Volunteer Bureau of Winnipeg and the Diocesan Council for Social Service of the Anglican Diocese of Rupertsland. He was honoured as a Queen’s Counsel in 1971, the Manitoba Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1993, and a life bencher of the Manitoba Law Society.

Dec. 3 — Jack Mitchell, 95. He was a decorated hero for his actions in the Second World War. He was born in Winnipeg and enlisted in the Second World War after graduating from Kelvin High School. He was a Lieutenant and led a troop of 30 men of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles on D-Day. He took a bridge after clearing it of grenades with his bare hands. A few weeks later, in the Battle of Carpiquet Airport, he survived an artillery volley after tripping and falling in mud. While still in a full body cast he received the Military Cross personally from King George VI and he later received the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award for non-patriots. He was reportedly the last officer to pass away who hit the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Dec. 11 — Mary Roblin, 86. She was a reporter. She was born in Montreal and raised in Winnipeg and joined the Winnipeg Free Press as a reporter after graduating from the University of Manitoba. She went on to become a radio producer at CBC and it was while producing a political broadcast that she met the then Tory opposition leader Duff Roblin. They married in 1958 the same year Duff became premier. They were married for 51 years.

Dec. 15 — Aidan O’Brien, 72. He was the godfather to the province’s Irish community. He immigrated to Canada in 1966, first living in Toronto and then coming to Winnipeg. He founded the Irish Association of Manitoba in 1972, and served as its first president. He worked as president and CEO of Manitoba Blue Cross and the province’s superintendent of pensions. Besides the Irish Association, he also served as founding artistic director of the Tara Players Theatre Company, co-founder of the Acting Irish International Theatre Festival, president of the Folk Arts Council and chairman of the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. He was appointed the province’s Irish Consul the last three years. He was president of the Winnipeg Fury Soccer Club and was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

Dec. 17 — Sydney Parsons, 90. He became a chartered accountant after serving in the Second World War. He bought Huggard Equipment in 1963 and was president until selling it in 1980. He served as president of the Manitoba division of the Canadian Association of Equipment Distributors and was chairman of the Manitoba Development Corp. He was on the board of the Shriners Hospital, was president of the Fort Garry Community Club, the Granite Curling Club and the Khartum Temple Drum and Bugle Corps, and served as potentate of Khartum Temple in 1980.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca