|
Brad McGraw died of heart failure — but you could just as easily say he died of a broken heart.
Brad, who was only 54 when he died on Oct. 30, lost his wife, Kathy, to brain cancer on July 11, 2023, just five days after she turned 55.
Advertisement
Brad died just days before what would have been the couple’s 24th anniversary.
Brad was born in Halifax and grew up in Winnipeg and Oakbank. He graduated from Grant Park High School, and worked at food and wine shop Stephen and Andrew’s (now G.J. Andrews) and Fudruckers, before enrolling in the Vancouver Film School.
After graduating, Brad began designing sports video games for Electronic Arts before being transferred to California. And that’s where he met Kathy.
Kathy was a lawyer in Lancaster, Calif., and she met Brad through a mutual friend. They married on Nov. 20, 2001, lived there for a few years, and together moved to Winnipeg in 2010.
They arrived here on a particularly cold and stormy night and Kathy, who had grown up in Los Angeles, asked with real concern, “If I breathe in will my lungs freeze?” She very quickly learned what she had to wear to stay warm here.
All was going great — they both liked history and debating politics and each loved animals — until Kathy received her diagnosis.
The family says Kathy was the light of Brad’s life so his family takes solace that the couple are together again.
Brad is survived by his mother and stepfather, dad and stepmom, a brother, and several nieces and nephews. Kathy is survived by her mother, two brothers and nephews.
Read more about Brad.
How They Lived
As her family says, Saratha Joseph blazed through obstacles to help others.
Saratha, who died Nov. 14, was a longtime teacher at St. Mary’s Academy and also volunteered in the community.
She was president of the Tamil Cultural Society of Manitoba, volunteered at its Folklorama pavilion, served on the refugee committee of St. Ignatius Parish and was a member of the province’s ethnocultural and advocacy council.
Read more about Saratha.
You can always change careers — and Roger Druwe did.
Roger, who was 87 when he died Oct. 28, moved east, fresh from school, to begin working in the offices of CN Rail in Montreal and Moncton.
In 1966, now with a young family, Roger moved back to Winnipeg to do his education degree at the University of Manitoba.
After graduating, he taught at Louis-Riel Collegiate and then became a principal at Marion School, École Lacerte, Collège Louis-Riel and École St. Adolphe.
Read more about Roger.
Yvonne Cantin was an X-Ray technician who later worked full time at the family business.
Yvonne studied and worked for several years in the medical field before marrying and starting a family.
She worked in several part-time jobs before joining her husband full time at Cantin Drugs.
She also later worked with him when they opened a pharmacy in Rankin Inlet.
Yvonne volunteered as a member and a president of the White Cross Guild at what is now the Health Sciences Centre.
Read more about Yvonne.
Royce “TBone” Anderson helped many have happy wedding memories.
TBone, who was 87 when he died Nov. 2, worked as a plumber for more than 35 years.
But in 1984, he and his wife decided to transform the homestead he grew up on in Grosse Isle into the Hitch ‘n Post Country BBQ banquet facility.
The facility held weddings, business events and conventions and “The Hitch” became a provincial landmark.
Read more about TBone.
For everything they did for Transcona, Peter Frejuk and his family were honoured with the naming of Frejuk Park in 2016.
Peter, who was 99 when he died Nov. 6, was one of the founders, along with his brother, of the Transcona Kinsmen.
The two helped develop the Kinsmen Centennial Pool and Crocus Park sports fields.
Peter also volunteered teaching First Aid with St. John Ambulance and as a CN firefighter, as well as helping to found the K-40 Club.
Read more about Peter.
Gilbert Nadeau was a farmer but he also was a tinkerer.
Gilbert, who was 89 when he died Nov. 13, was always looking for ways to improve the farm and he would create machinery that didn’t previously exist.
He founded Nadeau Seeds and then invented and sold the Rotary Ditcher.
Read more about Gilbert.
A Life’s Story
Kevin McGarry was known as a financial wizard.
Kevin, who died in August, was already a lecturer at university by the time he was 22, before he began working in commercial real estate at J.J. Gibbons.
There he met the person who became his longtime business partner, Wayne Pratt, and in 1984 the two founded Pratt McGarry which later became Colliers Pratt McGarry.
Kevin McGarry poses next to the RIVA (Robotic Intravenous Automation) machine in 2009; he was president and CEO of Intelligent Hospital Systems. (Mike Aporius / Free Press files)
The company was successful, but later Kevin needed a challenge and pivoted his career to helping secure funding for businesses in the world of biotechnology research.
“He had the guts, at that point to say… ‘I need a change,’” his wife Betty said. “To do something that was so far removed from real estate — he loved it.”
Later, Kevin worked with his brother Martin at Cushman & Wakefield Stevenson and also at MMI Asset Management.
Read more about Kevin’s life.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
|
