Ronald Wayne Heroux

JANUARY 4, 1951 - NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Peacefully on November 7, 2017, with his loving family by his side, Ronald Wayne Heroux passed away at Eriksdale Hospital, in Eriksdale, MB, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Ron will be lovingly cherished and is survived by his devoted wife Jean; his son Michael (Jodi); daughters Rachelle (Shawn) and Nicole (Jeff); his three grandchildren Kaylen, Evan and Logan; his sisters Gail (Winston) Duncan and Brenda Tegelberg (Andy); brother-in-law Art (Brenda) Brown; sister-in-law Rose (Phil) Leitold; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Ron is predeceased by his parents Lyman and Pearl Heroux.

Ron was born and raised in Eriksdale. As a young man, he competed and excelled in track, hockey and curling. His favourite pastimes were spent hunting, trapping and fishing with his father. In 1972, he married his best friend Jean, who recently celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary. They were blessed with three wonderful children whom they shared many family adventures with. Memorable times were spent camping all over Manitoba, skidooing at their cabin in Steepbank, enjoying good food and family trips to the city. Later on, three grandchildren completed his family, which were his real pride and joy. Ron attended the Maritime Forest Ranger School in Fredericton, NB and upon graduation became employed with the Province of Manitoba as a Natural Resource Officer, retiring after 35 years of service. He was stationed in Riverton, Selkirk, Grand Rapids, Gypsumville, Bissett, Lac Du Bonnet, Birds Hill Park and Ashern Districts. He thoroughly enjoyed the work but most especially, he loved dealing with the public. He had the gift of the gab! Ron was a 20 year member of the Manitoba Big Game Trophy Association. One of his joys was traveling to various communities scoring big game heads. Ron faithfully attended the Annual Banquets and enjoyed the camaraderie with the other members. In retirement, Ron spent many happy hours in his yard cutting the grass, growing his prize onions and tomatoes, goose and deer hunting, trapping and driving his old red truck around the countryside. The grandchildren will always remember his banana splits for breakfast, trips to Havakeen for treats and countless hours watching them climb the willow tree in his yard. Always the protector, his most constant piece of advice for his children and grandchildren were to “Watch out for those Kooks out there!”.

A Celebration of Ron’s Life was held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at the Eriksdale Recreation Centre, Eriksdale, MB. A private immediate family interment took place prior to the service.

The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. Soliman and Dr. Roets, the nurses and staff at both Ashern Hospital and Eriksdale Hospital, as well as the ambulance attendants for the excellent care and compassion given to Ron and his family. Also, thank you to Dr. Drachenberg, Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Torre and the nurses at CancerCare for all of your attention. We will forever be grateful.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the memory of Ron Heroux for McEwen Park Enhancements, payable to the RM of West Interlake, P.O. Box 10, Eriksdale, MB R0C 0W0.

Ron will forever be loved and missed by his family and friends, who will always remember his humour and big smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ron has been a friend for a life time. From sandboxes to bike rides, sports, fishing, hunting, summer jobs

Ron, Cliff Jeffers and I had a part in the Christmas play as the three kings of orient art. Our teacher/director was Dorothy Blue; she had quite the time with shaping the three of us.

We also starred in Frosty the Snowman as the two boys that were mischievous and under constant watch by the mother (Dorothy Cramp).

Trip out west to Banff, Jasper and Nanaimo with Lyman and Pearl was trip of a life time.

I had the opportunity to be at the many track meets he competed at in high school. He was a natural athlete that did very little training. Ron would do some block starts a day or two before the meet and would finish first in the 100 yards. (sick as a dog after the race) and then run the 220 yards and wine that race.

He displayed that natural talent in all especially hockey, football, curling. Ron, Brad Goodridge, Dave Fairbarin and I (and a few other guys) curled competitively in the provincial play downs. We won a few regional championship curling events and curled regularly in many of the local bonspiels. We curled at the Manitoba Juniors bonspiel in 1968. We stayed at Ralph Houges ,with our coach John Forsyth. We attended a party that was our first exposure to cannabis (dope). A fella sitting on the top bunk smoking it up told us he was high. Ron in a brief moment of thought retorted “If you are scared of being high you better come down fella” . Another memorable experiences from that are; the CTV news came out to get some footage; they picked our ice – Ron got down to shoot, made a perfect camera shot delivery but barely got over the first hog line. Nice delivery though. Another that comes to mind is when Ron, Cliff Jeffers and I curled with Charlie Krause at the Eriksdale Men’s. We curled all weekend, including the night. First prize was a large box of Christie Biscuits, which we won and second was 10 pounds of butter from Ben Gibbings – Eriksdale Creamery.

There are a bunch of hunting stories. Ron and I prided ourselves on making sure the old folks had deer meat, fish, geese and ducks. Please note that these were covered off with legal licenses. I know that Ron carried on that tradition while he was in retirement back in Eriksdale. Ron was an eagle eye shot. I have been with him many times he has sited the deer and shot it before the rest of us got ready. We shot many a deer “just before dark”

Fishing at Mantag River was brother Ken, Garry Lindell and Dave Fairbarin, we stopped at Ron & Jean’s to get directions to the dock and campsite the game branch had at Anama Bay. The trip was exciting and eventful, but that is a whole other story. Fishing was not that good. We stopped back at Ron & Jean’s. He was in the process of disposing confiscated fish caught illegally and the bad guys in jail. We did the right thing and helped him dispose of those fish

We toiled long hours at the June grass fields with the Rawlucks that Lyman ran in the summers.

In closing I express Fran & I’s condolences to Jean, Michael, Rachelle and Nicole

Rest in peace, KID

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ron and I had crossed paths many times during our careers…meetings, courses, training and patrols. We never really got to know each other or worked together until he transferred to Ashern.

We both like to laugh a lot so it wasn’t hard to have a good time when Ron was around. From the night patrols…sitting somewhere in the dark with our coffees watching a distinct night might slowing sweeping, working its way towards us through a trail in the back wood of the Interlake…

I’ll always remember one of those night patrols, when I was the driver and Ron in the passenger seat, it was mid to late fall, weather quite cool, we were sitting somewhere waiting in watch of an area where we had complaints of night poaching on private property. In most areas I would usually let Ron rive, as being raised in the area, he knew the ins and outs of the trails in the area…

But this time I was the driver. We’d sit in the dark, sip our coffees and eat whatever snacks…HIS Jean had packed…Jean always made Ron a hell of a good lunch…

We’d sit with our windows down so we could listen for vehicles, or rifle shots in the distance. It’d get cold we would roll up the window every now & then, and just leave them cracked a bit to warm up or cut the wind…on this occasion a vehicle just seemed to come out of nowhere and caught us off guard…we had to spring into action…so would fire our coffees out the window, start the truck and start moving in for the apprehension…I fired my coffee out the window, and started the truck and threw it in gear…almost simultaneously listing to Ron start screaming as if he’d been shot or something…turned out his window was up and being left handed his hot coffee gained momentum before it hit the glass and splashed back covering him and everything around us in hot coffee…we made the stop…turned out it was landowner who had seen us sneak into our position and thought he’d bring us a coffee…He had this crazy look on his face when Ron got out dripping wet with his uniform stained with coffee…we all had a good laugh…I think most officers can relate to that scenario.

Ron was well known to most in the area. I remember once I told him I wanted him to meet my neighbors the Otto Brothers….Ron came with me to their house…These brothers were known for serving up a nice libation and if you too your kids, they’d given them more chocolate and candy than they’d ever seen…turns out when Ron was a kid his dad would visit the Otto boys on the farm and Ron would be the one eating the candy…on this day I played a few tunes on the guitar while Ron played their spoons…they sure enjoyed reminiscing with Ron.

Ron had an old small red truck he’d drive to work from Eriksdale. It was full of rust holes…it was the perfect truck for me after I became the dog handler. Without telling Ron, I used the holes in the fenders, undercarriage, engine and interior to hide everything from firearms, gall bladders and chunks of fish and would leave it there for an hour or so and then let the dog go sniff the items out.

Well I got called out on one of those days…not long after I had hidden a ice chunk of fish…in the door of Ron’s truck…I went to work somewhere else in the province and came back a few days later. Having coffee one morning with Al and David, Ron says “man my truck stinks lately”…needless to say a light came on in my head…” Ah, oops sorry Ronny…”

I was quite impressed with myself for quite a number of years in Eriksdale/Ashern area…everyone liked me…I’d bump into a fisherman, or a farmer who I didn’t think I really knew that well, and we’d have a hell ova good conversation…then as I’d turn to leave I’d hear the man say “have a great day RON”…now there might be a picture of the two of us around here somewhere today of Ron & I…and we do share the same hairline…and good looks…so it’s no wonder we were mixed up…I think we were known as the two Ronnies.

But that is who Ron was…he was so personable with people, he knew just about everybody and was truly interested in them and what they were up to…people enjoyed meeting him on the land and enjoyed his company.

I was happy to have been able to visit Ron a couple of times during his stay at the Ashern Hospital. I’m just sorry we hadn’t got together more after his retirement.

Rest easy my ole friend.

Sincerely

Tim Cameron

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those of you who never knew Ron as a child some of the stories Gail and I are going to share with you will probably not surprise you.

Ron weighed only 4 lbs. at birth but when he and Mom went home from hospital 2 weeks later he was well on his way. I was only 3 ½ yrs old and I remember this little baby with a large head dressed in a cute blue and white outfit. As a child Ron kept us on our toes. Later he kept us laughing entertaining us with his stories.

The little house we lived in was then too small for a family with 3 children and we moved to a much larger house out by the highway. There we spent many hours playing with the Willetts and Henderson children. Rick tells me of when Ron used to chase Dad’s chickens around.

Ron used to like to suck the snow off his mitts. He and the Henderson’s were playing in a wagon that had snow and a broken bag of the poisonous Paris green so by the age of 3 he had had his stomach pumped. The only time in my life I saw someone pee green.

At the age of four he managed to shift Dad’s car into gear and drove it into our woodpile. He and Rick Willetts always wanted to be farmers. At the age of 5, with Ron at the wheel and Rick standing on the hitch, he backed Dad’s tractor across the road straight into the ditch. There was also another time when he and Doug Forsyth got onto one of the tractors at Uncle Len’s, managed to start it, put it in gear and got it stuck a few feet away. When Gladys and Mom noticed the wheels were spinning, the two little fellas were still on the tractor. While we’re on tractor stories I will tell you about when he and Harold Hammer were teenagers. Neither had a driver’s license but Harold’s Mom would let them use her tractor to get around. Ohh the miles they must have put on that tractor! In the summer Austin Hanslip drove Ron’s tractor in Eriksdale parade.

Soon after Ron got his driver’s license he and three friends were going hunting when he rolled dad’s old truck near Hartfield school. Ron always said that they must have been a sight as they were trying to get out of the truck. Four panic stricken teenagers with arms and legs going every direction. Luckily no one was hurt.

Ron always loved horses so he must have thought that maybe riding horses might be safer than tractors and trucks. One day he and Kenny Wilson hooked Wilson’s horse to a two wheeled cart to go for a short ride. They failed to notice the cart was wider than the horse. The next thing Ron remembered was the cart hitting a tree and he and Kenny flying towards the horse’s rear end. Well then it was onto motorcycles, skidoos, and later his quad to hit the4 trails for some trapping, hunting and fishing.

When we were quite young Mom and Dad got a black and white TV. It was when the Roy Rogers Show was popular. Ron loved that show and for Christmas one year he got the cowboy hat, guns and holsters, chaps, cowboy boots and fringed jacket. He probably took them to bed with him…it wasn’t until several years later that he got his real live horse. I was told that he would ride his bike many miles out of town just to ride a horse.

Ron excelled in sports and track & field. He was either in a baseball, hockey, football uniform or a curling sweater and broom so by then the cowboy outfit got left behind.

As a family we would camp at Chiefs Point. He played with another little boy who lived in a tent with his grandfather for the summer. He quickly made friends even back then. We also camped and fished at the narrows. It seemed Ron always caught a fish.

Once Ron was hounding Dad TO LET him have a puff of his cigar so dad let him. I actually believed dad when he said Ron turned green. Never heard of Ron ever smoking after that. Another time he decided to help himself to a couple of sips of Dad’s beer. I recall Dad and Russ saying Ron kept on saying “my hands are loose” and “my head is loose” while he shook his hands and moved his head around. I don’t think that was enough to stop Ron from trying that again. I’m sure he did but it would be years later.

When we moved to the Blue Grass Inn when Ron wasn’t drumming on the counter to the music of the jute box, he was visiting with or teasing customers. He was serving a customer a piece of pie and after setting it down in front of the customer he proceeded to take the fork and eat a mouthful first.

Cye Gardener was a bachelor who lived down the back lane from us. He always ate his meals and came for tea. Ron spent many hours visiting at the counter with Cye. One wet spring Ron took dad’s old truck down that back lane and got stuck leaving big ruts right behind Cye’s house. He was made to go and fill in those ruts but they still remained friends.

Ron played in a little band with Ralph and Albert Kehler when he was in high school. He talked about getting a gig at Pebble Beach for a New Year’s Dance and I think there’s a story to that also.

Ron had a great sense of humor and used it to the fullest to entertain.

My last story about Ron is the time we went to pick him up at Harold Hammers. As we drove in we could hear fiddle music and see in the kitchen window the two of them jigging and swinging each other around by the arms. Now THAT was a kitchen party!!!

Ron was very musical and often played the spoons.

One of his favorite old time pieces was “Maple Sugar” played by Clifford Maytwayashing which we are going to hear now.

Brenda Tegelberg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well…We really didn’t want to be up here in the spot light for this reason. We want to thank you so very much for coming today to be here to celebrate the life of our Dad, to remember a man who was larger than life.

Losing dad is something we never thought could have happened this soon…Dad was so strong and we know that he didn’t want to leave us this early. He was an incredible presence in our family and quite honestly we will never be the same without him around.

For most of you that knew our Dad, you would know that all of this attention today, isn’t really something that he would have wanted us to put effort into as he was very humble. However, as his kids we know that he would appreciate all of you here with us, and he would shake his head and smirk and say “whatever”.

Our parents had a very strong relationship while we were growing up, but above that, they also had an undeniable friendship. They laughed a lot. Most of the time when we would call home during the week, we would find out that dad had gone hunting, shot or caught some sort of animal during the day and then come home and ask Mom to hold it up for him, so he could get a picture of it.

We know over the years, she has always been his side-kick and a good sport with this. A good enough sport that when she would go downstairs to do some laundry, she would see that Dad had put garbage bags down on her ironing board, and was skinning a weasel or some other sort of critter he trapped. I have to say this…even though it’s kind of embarrassing, but – I’m going to share this anyways, as it’s pretty damn funny, that I did come home with a rash from visiting them once…called Mom up and said “Mom, I have a really itchy rash on my arm?” She kinda started laughing and said “ya, it’s probably fleas from those damn pelts Dad has hanging in the laundry room”. She said nonchalantly…”I got the same kinda rash the other day”…Now try telling THAT to your better half…”Yup, I have fleas”. Perfect…then Dad piped in “Don’t worry Chelle, they’ll go away soon”.

One time, I remember Nicole hated going to elementary school and leaving home…She would lock herself in the bathroom just long enough to miss the ride to school. After doing this more than a handful of times, Dad had enough and took all the bathroom doors right off the hinges. This really made going to the bathroom a close family affair…thanks Nic… but eventually, Dad would drive her to school and sit at the end of the school parking lot waiting until the bell rang so he knew she was safe in class. He then proceeded at the end of his busy day to make sure he was there at 3:15 to drive her home.

Growing up with a father as a Natural Resource Officer meant we moved around a lot, or at least it felt like we did. As kids we always dreaded “THE TALK”. The talk meant our parents would be announcing the next town we would be moving to. In the beginning it wasn’t too bad, but as we got older and into our early teenage years it became hard. We hated switching houses, hated being the new kid in school, and hated leaving our friends behind. But when we moved out to be on our own, we began to realize that moving around had affected us in a positive way. It meant that we grew closer as a family. We had no other relatives nearby, all we had were each other to rely on…so we became a really tight unit.

It also meant that we experienced new communities and met a lot of great people. Many of you are here today. Without Dad’s job we wouldn’t have learned to be resilient and brave. If Dad could do it, so could we. That is something that we are forever grateful for.

Dad lived his life to the fullest. He did things his way.

Our Dad was an amazing father, he loved us and we loved him right back. We always felt protected as kids and always were provided for. He loved the outdoors, so spending time with us outside was not a problem. It wasn’t just a snow fort we would build; he spent hours building “The best snow house.” We had a kitchen, hot tub, bedrooms, a couple of couches, and he even made us a toilet! If we had an idea, he would expand on it and go with it. On most winter mornings before school, he would warm up his truck for about 45 minutes just so that we had no chance of getting into a cold vehicle or have to walk if it was blustery out.

As some of you may know, good food was the ultimate happy place for him. He would often say to us “Well, we may not go on those fancy trip kids, but dammit we are eating good tonite!” Usually followed by the eye scan of everyone’s plate…”Hey, eat your meat, that’s the most expensive part”.

Being together at mealtime was very important to our parents. We never sat in front of the TV; it was always at the dinner table, and always together. No topic was ever taboo – you name it – we talked about it! When Dad would eventually get tired from our long conversations, he would start clearing our plates away and bellow out “Great meal Mother!!” And then we wouldn’t see him for the rest of the night! We cherish these memories now.

As you can see, we have something here that was very dear to our Dad’s heart…other than his prize beaver of course…but Dad scoured the countryside for old outhouses that he turned into hunting blinds and put out on his property so there was a place for him and Mike to hunt in comfort…there’s a memorable story from their hunt, last fall…”Mike, you can tell this story…

Dad wasn’t perfect – he definitely had quirks, which at times we thought were ridiculous, but we sure laugh about them now:

• The man liked to cut food on newspaper…still not sure why…but whatever…he said it was an easy clean up.

• Pretty much every meal, he would take his fork and mess around in our food and say “hey, aren’t you going to eat that…” while taking it even if you were eating it.

• We were probably the only cabin in all of MB that when it was -40C outside, it was plus 40 inside by the way he would stoke a fire. Man those were hot nights!

• He liked to wear wool socks and sandals in the summer while either mowing the lawn or jut hanging out on the deck.

• The man loved to cut his grass…he once cut the grass next to a melting snow bank because he couldn’t wait…many times, we would sit on the deck having coffee watching in amazement at his very bizarre pattern of grass cutting skills…wondering “…WHY… why is he going in figure eight circles in the same spot?? It was the oddest thing…but it always looked great…short…and great.

• He like to honk the car horn where ever we went.

• He also loved to sing loud, sometimes yodel, and it was always off key.

• Dad would answer the door in his long underwear no matter who it was…yes, awkward for all involved.

The list doesn’t stop here. We have so many years of good memories of the crazy things he would do to make us laugh still to this day.

One of Dad’s greatest joys was becoming a grandpa.

Kaylen, Evan and Logan…your grandpa loved you so very much and you all knew this. He never would hesitate to spend quality time with you, doing whatever you wanted. Whether it was kicking a soccer ball in the yard, shooting hockey pucks in the driveway, or watching gymnastic routines in the house…he was there with an encouraging word, or he would say “Right On” followed by a firm pat on the back…with those big paws of his…he could knock you over in a gentle giant way. Your grandpa was an excellent athlete growing up, and he was so proud of all three of you, and that you all found your own individual sport, and are excelling in what you love to do. We know he will always be watching over you and cheering you on with that big proud grin.

Dad…we know you are here with us today, because you are way to protective not to be!

So this is for you.

You showed us what is most important in life – and that is family. Life will change, there will be ups and downs, but if we stick together then everything will be okay.

We will always love and remember you every day, and will never forget the warmth of your big hugs and smile. We are so lucky to call you our DAD.

Michael, Rachelle and Nicole

* * * * * * * * * *

Peacefully on November 7, 2017, with his loving family by his side, Ronald Wayne Heroux passed away at Eriksdale Hospital, in Eriksdale, MB, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Ron will be lovingly cherished and is survived by his devoted wife Jean; his son Michael (Jodi); daughters Rachelle (Shawn) and Nicole (Jeff); his three grandchildren Kaylen, Evan and Logan; his sisters Gail (Winston) Duncan and Brenda Tegelberg (Andy); brother-in-law Art (Brenda) Brown; sister-in-law Rose (Phil) Leitold; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Ron is predeceased by his parents Lyman and Pearl Heroux.

Ron was born and raised in Eriksdale. As a young man, he competed and excelled in track, hockey and curling. His favourite pastimes were spent hunting, trapping and fishing with his father. In 1972, he married his best friend Jean, who recently celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary. They were blessed with three wonderful children whom they shared many family adventures with. Memorable times were spent camping all over Manitoba, skidooing at their cabin in Steepbank, enjoying good food and family trips to the city. Later on, three grandchildren completed his family, which were his real pride and joy. Ron attended the Maritime Forest Ranger School in Fredericton, NB and upon graduation became employed with the Province of Manitoba as a Natural Resource Officer, retiring after 35 years of service. He was stationed in Riverton, Selkirk, Grand Rapids, Gypsumville, Bissett, Lac Du Bonnet, Birds Hill Park and Ashern Districts. He thoroughly enjoyed the work but most especially, he loved dealing with the public. He had the gift of the gab! Ron was a 20 year member of the Manitoba Big Game Trophy Association. One of his joys was traveling to various communities scoring big game heads. Ron faithfully attended the Annual Banquets and enjoyed the camaraderie with the other members. In retirement, Ron spent many happy hours in his yard cutting the grass, growing his prize onions and tomatoes, goose and deer hunting, trapping and driving his old red truck around the countryside. The grandchildren will always remember his banana splits for breakfast, trips to Havakeen for treats and countless hours watching them climb the willow tree in his yard. Always the protector, his most constant piece of advice for his children and grandchildren were to “Watch out for those Kooks out there!”.

A Celebration of Ron’s Life was held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at the Eriksdale Recreation Centre, Eriksdale, MB. A private immediate family interment took place prior to the service.

The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. Soliman and Dr. Roets, the nurses and staff at both Ashern Hospital and Eriksdale Hospital, as well as the ambulance attendants for the excellent care and compassion given to Ron and his family. Also, thank you to Dr. Drachenberg, Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Torre and the nurses at CancerCare for all of your attention. We will forever be grateful.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the memory of Ron Heroux for McEwen Park Enhancements, payable to the RM of West Interlake, P.O. Box 10, Eriksdale, MB R0C 0W0.

Ron will forever be loved and missed by his family and friends, who will always remember his humour and big smile.