Gordon Arthur Curtis

Gordon Arthur Curtis was born in Neepawa, Manitoba on Sunday, January 12, 1947 to Jim and Eileen (Buchanan) Curtis. He was their second son.  Jim and Eileen made their home on a farm near Makaroff, Manitoba.   

Gordon was raised like every other young lad, to be kind and respectful, polite and eat every last pea on his plate and the list goes on.  As he grew, he became a very curious, adventurous, mischievous youngster.  

Gord attended Makaroff Public School and later Roblin High School.  He disliked school but partway thru Grade 10 he left school to help the family out while his father regained his health.  Previous to this, at the age of 16, Gordon got his driver’s licence and all of a sudden became “very religious”, wanting to attend church, only because he could drive the family vehicle, to look cool in front of the girls that were there.    

Gordon made his way over to Esterhazy, got a job at K2 Mine as it was being built, this being in 1963.  Having told a little white lie about his age, he got hired on with Schentag Construction and later on with IMC.  He worked at K2 from 1963 – 1968.  In the later part of 1968 Gordon was in a horrific car accident and unable to return to work.  After re-cooperating, he found employment in Thompson, Manitoba at the mine.  He absolutely hated it as living in a camp. He met a buddy and caught a ride with him, never to return to Thompson. 

He later took upgrading in Dauphin and then went straight into the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon to take an Automotive Mechanical Course.  He then gained employment at Garland Texaco in Portage la Prairie.  While he was attending school in Brandon, he met Wreatha and they were married the following year.  After he and Wreatha moved to Portage, Gord played fastball with the Portage Sky Chiefs.  The garage closed up in Portage, so Gordon & Wreatha moved all their effects to her parents’ home near Forrest, Manitoba, which was just north of Brandon.  As his next employment was not to start until the fall, he chose to go to the farm at Makaroff to help his Dad take off the crop.  During this time their son Todd was born in the Roblin Hospital.  Two weeks later, they moved back to the farm at Forrest, so he could start employment at Victoria Esso in Brandon.  A month later, they moved into Brandon where they resided until October of 1976.  Gordon worked at Victoria Esso Garage for a year, and then gained employment with The Manitoba Telephone Systems.  It was thru MTS that he was able to better himself and apprenticed completing his four years of schooling for his Journeyman Mechanics Licence. 

During this time, his daughter Terri-Lynn was born in Brandon.  In the fall of 1976 The Manitoba Telephone System management informed him that he was being transferred to Thompson to work.  He refused to go. As he always had a hankering to go return to the mine, he made a phone call from the Manitoba Telephone System office, on their nickle, and a week later, October, 1976  he went back to Esterhazy to work for IMC again. The rest of the family moved up a short time later and have made Esterhazy their home.

Gordon worked for Schentag, then IMC, then Mosaic for a total of 42 years.  39.9 years being with just the IMC/Mosaic Company.  He enjoyed his work, but I know he really enjoyed the guys and gals that were employed there with him.  Although, Gord’s language was somewhat crude and when he told Wreatha that they were hiring women to work underground, she “literally” started to pack.  When he asked, she said “You’re probably going to get fired because of the way you talk”.  Consequently that never happened, and he always enjoyed having the ladies around. 

Gord always took an interest in his kids with their school events and sports.  He had coached girls fastball in Brandon.  In Esterhazy he coached his daughter’s fastball team for 2 years, and he also coached his son’s hockey team for a couple of years. He loved hauling his kids around the countryside to whatever sport they were involved in, whether it was hockey, ball, gymnastics, or skating and would not have given that up for anything. Gord began base umping for the Atwater Steelers.  In years later he did a stint of coaching and managing the team in Esterhazy.  He then moved on to being their home town announcer at the ball diamonds.  He loved that job as he had the mic and could heckle the fans.  He also was the voice in the Esterhazy Arena for the Esterhazy Senior Flyers for a numbers of years. 

Gord had played rec hockey while living in Brandon with the Brandon Fire Fighters.  A sport he thoroughly enjoyed.  In later years after having moved to Esterhazy and sometime later, he was asked to join the Good Timers….oh yes, many late nights of getting home, but he loved it!  He seldom missed a game and always found the humour in everything and everybody.                                                 

Gord retired from the mine in May of 2013.   He loved his job, but he really loved the friendships he had made with his co-workers.  It was somewhat bittersweet as he refused to work shift work for the shut down, after having that many years of employment in at the mine, to work shift work again,….NEVER, so he pulled the pin.

He was somewhat lost at first, but soon adjusted and found that he could do what he wanted, when he wanted to.  He consequently started to coffee with the “guys”.  This group as he referred to them as the “Bull Shit Boys”.    This made for some very interesting conversation I am sure, not necessarily the truth, but perhaps a lot of B.S.  He met and made quite a few new friends and was always concerned if someone did not show up for coffee for a few days in a row. 

Gordon had never been introduced to camping until after meeting Wreatha.  Once he got the hang of it he loved it, mainly because of the outdoors.  Going to different parks, the walks, the hikes, exploring different places, cooking over a campfire and let’s not forget those hotdogs!!  Oh yes and the odd beer.  As time went on, they secured a seasonal campsite at Crooked Lake and Gord loved every moment down there.  Coffee or a beer with friends, meeting new people, sitting around the camp fires and back in the day, the odd sing song.  The camp fire was always burning and every one was welcome to come and join in on the fun and have lots of laughs. 

Gord loved to play crib and if he knew you played, the board and the cards came out.  During his bowling years, after the game, he and his good friend Bob Hawcutt would head over to the Legion to play a couple of games of crib.  Now, Bob being a farmer, grew Canola, hence Gord would say he was going to “Win some Canola Cash”!  He was always going to keep tabs on how much he made, but that never happened.         

Gordon loved a good time no matter what the occasion.  Sometimes the jokes were non-stop, the kibbitsing was always ongoing and the people that would always bet against him when it came to his Montreal Canadiens.  Oh how he loved his Canadiens!  

Gordon’s laugh was like no other and so many recognized it, even if they had not seen him in years.  His wife never had to look for him in a store or a large crowd, all she had to do was listen for his laugh.  Gordon had a heart of gold and was always willing to lend a helping hand.  Complete strangers, he would stop and help.  

Gordon loved music, good old country music but also a lot of the newer country artists. I hope the neighbours loved that music too as the radio in the garage would be turned right up or the one in the truck on Willie’s Roadhouse on Sirius XM.  No wonder he had hearing problems!  He had a beautiful voice and could be heard singing with the radio or solo when no one else was around. Many times he was heard whistling.  His newer teeth sort of gave him problems with whistling in the last 5 years.   He liked to strum on the guitar in his younger years but as family l life got busy, he didn’t seem to have the time to continue to pick up the guitar. 

Gord always enjoyed going for a drive in the back country looking for birds and wild life.  One drive he immensely enjoyed was going back to the Makaroff country, to the old farm, where he grew up and to visit the neighbours, Albert & Trudy Nabe.  That would make his day!  He was always amazed at the herds of deer he would see in the valleys over there or here south of town.    Larry Nernberg gave Gord a hardhat which had been transformed into a birdhouse.  This is mounted on the fence at the lake.  Every year he totally enjoyed sitting and watching the little Jenny Wrens coming and going as they made their nests or feeding their little ones.  He was oh so disappointed when having watched them for a few weeks, building the nest and feeding their young, the baby birds flew away just the one time when Gordon went away from the campsite.     

In 2000 the buttons on Gord’s shirt didn’t seem to want to stay done up when his first grandchild, Kayleigh was born.  Then in 2004 another grandchild, Hudsyn came into the world.  Wreatha had to buy bigger shirts by this time as he was oh so proud.  A few years later, in 2010 Holden was born, another grandson, how awesome!  The bragging never quit, two grandsons!!  This little guy lived so far away, so many trips were made to Dawson Creek every few months.  But it didn’t stop there, in 2019 another little bundle of joy came into his life, Hannah.  He was more than overjoyed.  Two granddaughters!  Gordon loved his grandchildren immensely, no matter what.  He could never get enough hugs from the guys and insisted on a kiss on the cheek from his gals.                                                                           

Gord had a nickname for a lot of people….how he came up with these names, who knows, but he had names for some.  He and his neighbour Margaret Sparrowhawk had a very unusual way of greeting each other.  Oh they were close friends, but the middle finger would come up whether they were passing by in a vehicle or walking into each other’s homes.  Who knows why!! 

In 2014, Gord started having health problems, and required open heart surgery having had 8 bypasses done.  Documentation says “after surgery, anyone with 8 bypasses, life expectancy is 8- 10 years; providing there are no other health problems.”  Unfortunately Gord had sugar diabetes.  It would have been 10 years this August since he had his operation.  If he hadn’t of had the operation, we would have had him with us for maybe 1 ½ - 2 years.  So we are very thankful for the almost 10 years that we had.     

Gord was predeceased by his father, Jim (1971), mother Eileen (2001), brother Murray (2001), nephew Scott Carrigan (2015), brother-in-law Rob Brown (2017), brother-in-law Tony Carrigan (2021) his grandparents on both sides of the family,  and many aunts and uncles whom he utterly adored them all.  He was also predeceased by his mother-in-law Florence Turner (1995), nephew Danny Turner (1996), father-in-law Anthony Turner (2007), brother-in-law Ron Turner (2012).

He is survived by his wife Wreatha of almost 53 years, their son Todd and his wife Michelle, their family Holden and Hannah of Dawson Creek, B.C.,  his daughter Terri-Lynn and her husband Kirk Burkholder of Esterhazy, their family Kayleigh her friend Jesse Roussin of Yorkton, Hudsyn and his friend Teleah Wyatt of Arcola, Sask. His brother and sister-in-law Don and Dawn Curtis of Brandon, sister Tanis Brown of Neepawa and sister Shanon Curtis of Neepawa along with many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.  He is also survived by his Uncle and Aunt Maurice and Norma (Curtis) Stewart of Brandon and Uncle Ian Broadfoot of Winnipeg and Uncle and Aunt Murray and Marie (Buchanan) Kolesar of Winnipeg and many, many cousins.

Although Gordon is and will be truly missed, Heaven has gained a tremendous angel; one that will bring a lot of fun and laughter to the skies above.

Til we meet again.