George William Robertson

George William Robertson, late of Weyburn, SK, passed away August 23, 2019 at the age of 95 years.

He was predeceased by his parents, David and Helen Robertson; wife Myra; siblings: Effie (James) Watt, Ann (Harold) Winter, David Robertson, Robert Robertson, Andrew (Betty) Robertson, Archie (Billie) Robertson; his brother in infancy; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law: Lawrie Dalgliesh, Elva (Philip) McKenzie, Eileen (Hector) Carrick, Lloyd Dalgliesh, Mamie (Mike) Katerynych; nephews and nieces: Ken Robertson, Del and Terry Carrick, Lloyd and Roslyn Katerynych, and Garry McKenzie.

George is survived by his daughters: Arla McLeod and her family: Trevor (Donna) and their children [Alec, Liam, Kendra], Jennie (Stephen) Potter; his son-in-law, Keith McLeod; Ann (Dan) McCormick and their family: Kyle McCormick and Shane McCormick; sisters-in-law, Reina Wilke and Pat Robertson; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

George William Robertson was born on March 1, 1924, the sixth of eight children born to David and Helen Robertson of Yellow Grass, SK.  George completed his grade eight at Actonvale School, five miles east of Yellow Grass.  George says he went right through school, "In the front door, and out the back."  There were no school buses in those days so they walked the mile and half or took the horse and buggy.  There was always a race to see who could get out of the school yard the fastest.

After completing his grade eight, George had a variety of different jobs such as clerking at the drug store in Weyburn.  George drove a fuel truck out of Regina to different points in southern Saskatchewan, such as Grayson and Springwater.  Every trip was to a different location.  George remembers that he always had to shift to low gear to get up the hill at Lumsden.  In 1945, George owned and operated a grain cleaner in the Weyburn and Yellow Grass area.  One winter, George was employed at Burns Meat Packers in Regina, carrying quarters of beef on his shoulder and loading them into a cooler rail car.  This was export beef for the war effort.  George was in the Army reserve and spent three summers at Camp Dundurn.

In the spring of 1948 he started working for the Saskatchewan Department of Highways as a sub-foreman on one of the road building crews.  In the summers they built highways in different parts of southern Saskatchewan using TD18 International Caterpillars and eight yard scrappers.  Some of the highways that they built included Highway #18 Carnduff to Glen Ewen, Highway #6 south of Ceylon, Highway #11 from Bladworth to Hanley, Highway #35 south of Weyburn, Highway #9 north of Carlyle and Highway #6 north of Regina from present day 1st Avenue North to Armour Siding. In the winter months George worked for the Department of Highways repairing the equipment. 

On November 1, 1952, George married Myra Lillian Dalgliesh of Goodwater.  Myra had finished her nursing training and was working at the Regina Grey Nuns Hospital.  They remained in Regina until March of 1955 when they moved to the John Dalgliesh farm south of Goodwater NE1/4 28-4-13, where they started their life on the farm.  In the early years on the farm they ran a mixed farm with chickens, pigs and cattle and farmed 480 acres of cultivated land.  When his cattle  herd was at it's largest  he had 70 head of adult cattle.  In the fall of 1981 George sold the majority of his herd and went to strictly grain farming.  Myra was a stay at home mother and helped George with a lot of the farm work until 1970 when she completed a Nursing Refresher course and started working at the Midale Union Hospital.  She worked at the hospital in Midale right up to the hospital's closure in December of 1976.  She then worked at the Souris Valley Extended Care Hospital in Weyburn until 1993 when she left work to take care of George after his heart attack and triple by-pass surgery.  Myra was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 1991, Myra lived with her disease until her passing on June 8, 1995.

Two daughters were born to George and Myra.  Arla May was born April 16, 1956 at Weyburn Union Hospital and Ann Louise on August 1, 1962 at Midale Hospital.  Both girls attended school at Goodwater and were involved in a number of activities including CGIT, 4-H and softball.

George continues to live on the farm and work his land, although in the spring of  2003 he rented out a half of his land.  During the winter months, George spends his time cheering on the Weyburn Red Wings Hockey team.  George has been a season ticket holder for a number of years.

George continued to live on his farm by himself with his two cats until December 2014. 

At the age of ninety he moved off his beloved farm into his apartment on Coteau Avenue in Weyburn.  In March of 2017 George became a resident of House #8 at Tatagwa View in Weyburn.  He quickly became known as "Papa George" to the wonderful staff.  Some of the staff had worked with "Mother Myra" at Souris Valley Extended Care.

George celebrated his 95th birthday with a cake and coffee party at March 2, 2019, it was a cold and windy day.  The following day George commented, "Boy there sure was a MOB out for coffee yesterday."

At 95 and a half, George's age caught up with him and he passed peacefully on Friday, August 23, 2019 with his daughters and son-in-law Dan McCormick by his side

A Funeral Service was held Saturday, August 31, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. from Grace United Church, Weyburn, SK with Rev. M. Barnabas officiating. Active Pallbearers were: Lionel Wanner, Glenn Pederson, Dallas Pederson, Milo Erickson, Steven Robertson and Robert Schmidt.  Honorary Pallbearers were: the staff at Tatagwa View and all in attendance. Interment was held at Green Acres Memorial Gardens, Weyburn, SK with a reception and fellowship following at Upper Grace Hall, Weyburn, SK.

For family and friends so wishing, charitable donations in memory of George may be made to a charity of your choice or the Weyburn Therapeutic Animal Park, 623 Brimacombe Drive, Weyburn, SK, S4H 2P3.

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