How they lived
You could say Steve Cohlmeyer was born to be an architect — after all, both his dad and grandfather were architects.
Cohlmeyer, who died on June 9, was born in Illinois in 1946 and by the time he was eight he was already creating architectural drawings of his own.
Years later, and with his wife, he came to Winnipeg even though he was warned “You won’t find anyone you would care to go to dinner with in Winnipeg.” He set up Cohlmeyer Architecture with a friend and for 40 years he created award-winning projects around the world, including The Forks in Winnipeg. Read more about Steve.
Shirlee Upshaw may not have been crowned a queen, but she was one to her family.
Upshaw, who died on June 14 at age 84, was the first Black woman to participate in the Miss Manitoba pageant back in 1953. She didn’t win, but her family considered her their queen.
And Upshaw touched the lives of many young people. Read more about Shirlee.
Leonard Rance farmed at Sperling and was one of the first farmers in southern Manitoba to start following soil-saving, zero-tillage practices.
Rance, who died on June 20 at age 92, began farming this way in the early 1980s and joined the Manitoba North Dakota Zero Tillage Farmers Association in its early days, even serving as president.
But, as a farmer knows, weather can change crops in a few hours. It happened to him when more than six inches of rain one afternoon in 1966 deluged and destroyed his entire crop. Instead of cursing his bad fortune, Rance retrofitted his van so it could sleep six, and took his family on a three-week summer vacation in the mountains.
Rance did still have to feed his family that year, so he spent the winter driving his farm’s grain truck to Winnipeg where he made department store deliveries, returning to the farm after the four kids were already in bed. Read more about Leonard.
Jean Smellie graced some of the city’s stages.
Smellie, who died on June 10 at 92, came to Canada from the United Kingdom in 1955, and moved to Winnipeg in 1980. Once here, she became actively engaged in the city’s lively cultural scene.
She appeared at the Manitoba Theatre Centre before it became Royal, Rainbow Stage, and, before that, the Edmonton Studio Theatre. She also appeared in television and movies.
Smellie served as the president of the Women’s Musical Club and volunteered with the University Women’s Club. Read more about Jean.
James McRae grew up on a farm in Elva and contracted polio when he was only two.
But McRae, who died on June 15 at 86, had a clever and talented grandfather. His grandfather went into the blacksmith shop and forged a steel leg brace.
The brace, worked so well, that McRae was still wearing it to walk on the day he died. It also allowed him to work as a farm hand, a junior mechanic, and eventually becoming a mechanic at Kingsway Transportation in Winnipeg for 25 years. Read more about James.
A Life’s Story
Lora-Lee Miller was only 49 when she died of pneumonia as a complication of a months-long illness last November, but she was already a prominent member of the financial industry and a leading expert on financial market regulation.
Miller, whose life was the latest to be profiled in our weekly Passages section, grew up on a farm until moving to Winnipeg in her teens. That’s when she began climbing her way up in the investment industry, beginning in a clerical position.
Supplied photosLora-Lee Miller rose to prominence as a regulator in Canada’s financial industry from humble beginnings on a Saskatchewan farm.
She ended up being chair of the board and chief compliance officer of the Canadian affiliate of R.J. O’Brien & Associates LLC, the world’s largest commodity futures brokerage. She also volunteered with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.
“She was very, very thorough and… smart as a whip,” remembered colleague Keith Riddoch, president and chief executive officer of R.J. O’Brien in Canada.
And, as her husband, Jeff, said: “In that mostly male world, she thrived — not to show people up, but to show that a woman could do it.”
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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