|
Larry Grift grew up on a farm, loved the farm, wanted to farm, and figured he would always be on the farm.
Then Larry met Fran, and realized he loved Fran more than the farm.
Larry, who died on Dec. 2 at 78, didn’t leave farming entirely. He just didn’t live on one.
Advertisement
Instead, he studied civil technology, graduating just eight days before he married Fran on July 8, 1967.
He then worked at Dillon Consulting for several years before joining the City of Winnipeg in 1984, where he worked as a bridge inspector for the next two decades before retiring.
The newlywed couple lived in St. Vital for their first two years together, they then moved back to Transcona, not far away from the dairy farm where Larry grew up. Occasionally the farm — or maybe it was the cattle — would be calling.
“Larry would occasionally have to go get the cows that had wandered into the Starlight Drive-In,” the family wrote in his obituary.
Earlier in life, Larry played football with the Transcona Nationals and in intramurals at St. Paul’s High School. He also golfed through the years and bowled with Fran in the Transcona Seniors.
His two daughters said he drove them and their friends everywhere when they were children, and continued to do the same for his two granddaughters.
“No man has happily sat through so many gymnastics events, musical theatre performances, piano and dance recitals, nor driven kids to so many track meets as our father!” said his obituary. “Dad was always there for us when we needed him, without fail.”
As for Fran, who changed Larry’s career and life direction, she predeceased him in July 2019, after a bout with cancer. They had 52 years together, none of them living on a farm.
Larry is survived by his daughters, granddaughters, and other relatives.
Read more about Larry.
How They Lived
Nancy Donnelly developed her love for art and painting while caring for her kids at home.
She became serious about her work while painting in England while her husband was a visiting fellow at University. She would drive out to the rural areas and spend hours sketching or painting.
Back in Winnipeg, Nancy continued her art; she was also instrumental in establishing the Forum Art Institute and was a founding member of the Medea Gallery cooperative.
She was and she was active until her nineties, and died on Nov. 28 at age 100.
Read more about Nancy.
Don Kunderman owned a construction business — and he also helped sick kids.
On the working side, Don, who was 88 when he died on Dec. 2, was an advocate for his industry and president of the Winnipeg Construction Association.
After business hours, he was a Shriner, helping fundraise for kids’ surgeries. He started with the Khartum Drum and Bugle Corp, became the captain, and rose to become president and then potentate of the Khartum Temple.
Read more about Don.
Betty Dyck was a late-blooming writer.
After her three children were in school, Betty, who died on Dec. 4 at 90, followed her passion for writing.
She wrote poetry and stories for local publications before taking writing courses at the University of Winnipeg and joining The Penhandlers, a local writing group.
Betty wrote biographies and histories of municipalities, receiving an award from the Manitoba Historical Society for an account of the history of the RM of MacDonald.
She served in executive positions of the Canadian Authors Association’s Manitoba branch for 40 years.
Read more about Betty.
Just last month I wrote how the Bea in Bill & Bea’s Variety Store in Teulon had died. Now the Bill on the sign has also passed away.
Bill McMahon was 91 when he died on Nov. 29, 35 days after his wife.
Bill and his wife bought the store in 1970 and upgraded to a new building five years later.
He was known for his love of vanilla soft ice cream, which involved frequent “testing” of the store’s product numerous times through the day.
Read more about Bill.
By all measures, Lil Gibson lived a full life.
Lil, who died on Dec. 6 at 87, was the first non-Scot to join the Heather Belle Pipeband.
She also played on a baseball team, the senior Tigerettes, which were inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame.
And Lil also coached baseball and ringette, helped with the flying-M tack club, and was a Girl Guide leader.
Read more about Lil.
Many Winnipeggers’ hair was trimmed by Rocky Curatolo.
Rocky, who was 84 when he died on Dec. 5, spent more than five decades as a barber in the city.
He first opened his shop near the University of Manitoba, but made 290 Pembina Hwy., his mainstay for four of those five decades, before moving across the street for the last few years of his business.
Rocky’s customers were not only loyal to him — they were also his friends.
Read more about Rocky.
A Life’s Story
Roger Roulette’s passion and life’s work was to preserve his language.
Roger, who died at 64 on Nov. 3, didn’t just preserve and speak the Anishinaabemowin; there weren’t many people who understood it as deeply as he did. He knew the regional differences and also the cultural information imparted by the words.
Friends and language activists Roger Roulette (left) and Pat Ningewance at the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre in 2021. Roulette died in November at the age of 64. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files0
“He grew up in the language,” his friend, Pat Ningewance, a University of Manitoba professor and translator, said.
“He was very lucky to do so. To hear older people speak, you absorb a higher level of language and he spoke that higher level. I don’t know anybody else right now, except for people who are older than me, that speak that level. Nobody in his 60s like he was can speak that level of Ojibwe.”
Learn more about Roger’s life in our A Life’s Story feature.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
|
