Robert (Bob) Peter Winnitoy

Bob was born in Vegreville, Alberta in 1946 to Nick and Mary Winnitoy. Bob was the oldest sibling to two sisters and a brother. They moved to Scarborough, Ontario where Bob attended school and excelled in all subjects. He had an affinity for math and science and an exceptional memory. He was musically talented and played piano, guitar and bass guitar. He loved cars and rebuilt his first engine at the age of 14 which began a lifelong obsession with restoring and racing cars.

On New Year’s Eve in 1967, he met Ruth in what they describe as “love at first sight” in Muskoka which was where they would have many of their fondest memories in the decades to come. They were married on December 19, 1968, and had four daughters who he affectionately referred to as his “boys”.

He earned his mechanical engineering degree in 1971 from the University of Toronto and began working at the Imperial Oil refinery in Sarnia as a refinery engineer. In Sarnia, both he and Ruth earned their pilots’ licenses and enjoyed pleasure flights in their Cessna. He accepted a role with Petro Canada as a project engineer in downstream gas processing and the growing family moved to Los Angeles for a year before moving permanently to Calgary. He accepted a new role at Wolcott Gas Processing as the VP of Engineering, Construction and Operations where he and his team successfully designed, constructed and ran multiple gas plants, pipelines and gathering systems. His gas plants incorporated groundbreaking innovation for the time, and that role led to a role as VP Projects at Duke Energy. He retired from his leadership position in 2003 for a few short months but missed the technical challenges and quickly returned to engineering at Cimarron Engineering and Equinox Engineering until his real retirement in 2016.

His family life was filled with family, cars, music, and travel. He loved restoring cars which are too numerous to list. His favourite was a 67 Valiant with a 440 engine. He called it a “sleeper car”. No one knew the surprising power under the hood. He always brought his daughters into the garage and had them help with car repairs and restoration. Friday nights were spent at Race City Speedway where he and his teenage daughters would drag race his latest restored car. He said there were no limits to what they could do, and he taught them everything from how to gut fish, how to launch boats, how to do the twist, how to waterski, how to drive standard up the steepest hill in Calgary, and so much more. His love of music was embraced by his daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren and there were regular family jam sessions. He had a sharp wit and was always ready to lighten the mood in even the most serious of situations. The house was filled with laughter, and family time was the best time.

Bob leaves behind his loving wife Ruth, his four daughters, Susan, Jennifer (Alex), Stephanie (Tyler), Pamela (Trevor), and six grandchildren, Catalina, Lydia, Mateo, Neve, Madeline, and Finn. He will be forever loved and missed.

A Memorial Service will be held at FOSTER’S GARDEN CHAPEL, 3220 – 4 Street N.W., Calgary (across from Queen’s Park Cemetery) on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alberta Cancer Foundation at https://albertacancer.ca/

The family would like to thank the wonderful people of Unit 47 at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre for their kindness and compassion in his final days.