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When Ross Hawkins was born with Down syndrome in 1959, it was a time when families were encouraged to send their children with special needs to the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie.
Ross’s mom refused. At least, she was able to for a time.
That’s because, seven years after Ross was born, when his mother was sick, and looking after two teenagers, a younger child and Ross, she made the agonizing decision to admit him to the centre.
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The facility, which has gone through several names during its 134 years of existence — all horrific, including the Home for Incurables and the Manitoba School for Mental Defectives — was, at the time, a place where people living with special needs were sent when they were young and only left when they died.
But not Ross.
A decade after Ross arrived, a woman came to the cottage he was living in on the centre’s grounds and took one of the other boys with her when she left.
Ross didn’t know where the boy went — he just knew he never came back.
The next time the woman came, Ross was ready. He looked at her, pointed at his chest and said repeatedly, “Pick me.”
And she did.
That woman was Sister Marie and, as it turned out, she was visiting the centre because she was opening a home for teenagers with intellectual disabilities as part of L’Arche Winnipeg.
After spending a decade in the facility where his mother never wanted him to be, Ross ended up spending 47 years enveloped in the care and love of L’Arche. He was also able to embrace and participate in the community in which he lived.
Ross, who died on Sept. 13, was proud to spend 27 years working at Palliser Furniture and went on to volunteer at both the Health Sciences Centre and Park Manor. He also enjoyed welcoming the customers who came to eat and drink at the L’Arche Tova Cafe.
Halloween was a special time for Ross. He wore costumes depicting Mrs. Doubtfire and Pope John Paul, but his most memorable character was Elsa from Frozen. He came out of the dressing room, threw up his arms and slid across the room with his cape billowing behind him.
Only then did Ross turn to the store clerk and ask: “Where are the boobs?”
Ross even once dressed up as Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard. The assistants at L’Arche never knew whether it was because he wanted to be referred as “Captain” all day, or whether he just wanted to shave his head bald like Picard and another family member.
A favourite saying was, “That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” and his favourite attire was anything bearing a Winnipeg Jets logo.
Ross loved musicals and movies with music — especially ones he could sing and dance to, including Annie and The Sound of Music.
For a person previously destined to stay within the confines of an institution, Ross got around, travelling to Disney World and Las Vegas. He even persuaded his family to book first-class tickets for three of the four legs of the journey to the Magic Kingdom and back.
Sadly, like many people living with Down syndrome, Ross was diagnosed with dementia earlier than most adults.
As featured in a CTV Winnipeg news story back in 2022, his sister reached out to a woman giving away Winnipeg Jets keepsakes and, between the two of them, they created a memory box for him full of donated Jets-themed socks, duct tape, stickers and decorations.
“Now that he’s forgetting, or he’s more… in the moment, I just want to be able to to create all these memories for him,” his sister Barb Cnockaert told CTV at the time.
“He teaches me that I need to be open and enjoy the moment, not have expectations for tomorrow because we don’t know.”
Some years before he died, Ross told his family what he wanted his funeral to be like.
“I want a big picture and a party!”
And that’s what likely happened this past Friday during his funeral mass.
As his family said in his obituary: “September 27 would have been his 65th birthday, so, birthday party it is!”
And, somewhere, Ross is also celebrating something other than his birthday.
That’s because the Manitoba Developmental Centre is now close to shutting its doors permanently. The province announced three years ago it was going to cease operations at the centre and there are now less than a handful of residents waiting to move to a group home.
Or as Ross might have said: “Them too!”
Read more about Ross.
How They Lived
Carla Freedman was a trailblazer twice in her life.
Carla, who died on Sept. 23 at 79 years of age, was the first Canadian woman ordained as a rabbi.
Later in life, she became the first rabbi ever to become a grandmother.
She showed her leadership skills early in life. She was still in high school in Winnipeg when she was elected president of B’nai Brith Girls, District 6.
But, it wasn’t until Carla was 40, and the mother of two girls, that she left Winnipeg on her path to become a rabbi, enrolling in the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati.
After being ordained, she served congregational pulpits in Plattsburgh and South Salem in New York and at Sun City Center in Florida.
Read more about Carla.
Blair Robillard spent his life promoting Indigenous teachings.
Blair, who was 66 when he died on Sept. 16, taught Indigenous games to people across the province for more than two decades.
He taught at the University of Manitoba, received the Innovation in Teaching award and Maclean’s magazine once said he taught one of two “cool courses” at the university.
Blair wrote a book, Playing with Great Heart.
Read more about Blair.
Klaus Kelm spent the first four years of his life in a place no child should ever be in.
Klaus, who died on Sept. 13 at 80 years of age, was imprisoned in a Siberian work camp after his family was forced from Bessarabia during the Second World War.
After the war, and sponsored by other family in Canada, his family moved to Manitoba, farming in Grandview.
Klaus later became a teacher and taught for 40 years, first in Norway House, and then in Nelson House, Winnipeg and Lake St. Martin.
Alf Cuthbert School was where he spent the bulk of his years as a teacher and he retired as a principal in Easterville.
Read more about Klaus.
Jim House helped people eat better.
Jim, who was 57 when he died on Sept. 10, was a professor at the University of Manitoba and the former head of the university’s department of food and human nutritional sciences. He was also a past president of the Canadian Nutrition Society.
He focused his research in, among other areas, sustainable egg production and protein quality.
Jim also loved to sing and he was a longtime member of The Bison Men’s Chorus.
Read more about Jim.
It’s always sad when someone dies much too young — and sadly Bryce Fedirchuk is one of them.
Bryce, who died recently at 22 years of age, grew up in Riverview and played hockey there starting with the Timbits level all the way to when he was 18, including as a Riverview Ranger, Fort Garry Flyer and a member of the Twins hockey family.
His family believes he died of an accidental overdose and is asking for donations to help with mental health and addictions.
Read more about Bryce.
A Life’s Story
Murray Burt was an old-school journalist.
Murray, who was 90 when he died on May 11, was managing editor of the Winnipeg Free Press when I first walked through the door to begin working there. By that time he had already worked decades in newsrooms around the world.
He was born in New Zealand, but he moved to England to first enter the world of journalism. But soon enough he was in Canada working at the Moose Jaw Times-Herald for future legendary broadcaster Peter Gzowski. He went on to work at the St. Catharines Standard and the Globe and Mail before coming to the Free Press as managing editor in 1979. He continued working for the paper until 1990.
Murray Burt and his wife, Betsy, in 1995. (Supplied)
Outside the Free Press, Murray was also president of the Manitoba branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society and past president of the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association where he advocated for journalists around the world.
“His legacy is all the work that he did for the Commonwealth, human rights branch, and journalists association,” said his wife Betsy.
To read more about Murray’s life, click here.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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