George Allan Whitter

GEORGE ALLAN WHITTER passed away peacefully on June 28, 2026, at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon at the age of 91. He was born on October 5, 1934 in Prince Albert, spending the first few years of his life with his parents, George Sr. and Alice, in an apartment above the store in Prince Albert perhaps best known as the Hill Grocery (Central Avenue and 20th Street East). Part of his youth was spent playing just down the street in the yard of then-lawyer (and later Prime Minister) John Diefenbaker and his first wife, Edna. Prior to the opening of the family cabin at Birch Bay, Emma Lake, he was an annual visitor at Waskesiu, where his parents owned the original S7 (now Jay 1534).

He was a student at Prince Albert’s King George School and Prince Albert Collegiate Institute, graduating from PACI in 1951 at age 16 (started school early and was promoted from Grade 6 to 8 without ever taking 7).

He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (with distinction) degrees, spending a summer working for Canadian Nickel at its base in Stony Rapids, before getting his Masters Degree in Educational Administration from the University of California (Berkeley).

He met his future wife, Elsie, in 1954; one of the stories he loved to tell was when she surprised him by appearing in Berkeley when he thought only his parents had come to visit. They married on August 29, 1958 in Prince Albert.

His first teaching job was in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, then it was back to Prince Albert, where he taught English and Ancient and Medieval History at PACI. He then moved to Prince Albert Technical High School (now known as Carlton) in 1962, at first as a teacher and then as its Vice Principal, and it was during this time that his children, Arthur and Natalie, were born. A member of the John Howard Society (and its provincial President in 1973), he subsequently moved on to Riverside Collegiate as its principal from 1970 to 1974, the year in which construction of the family cabin at Emma Lake concluded. He then accepted the position of District Superintendent of Education for the Humboldt region, a position he held from 1974 to 1988; the family lived in Saskatoon, home of his parents, as there was no public school in Humboldt at the time without stairs, a requirement for Arthur, his paraplegic son.

During this time that he was a proud founding officer of the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union’s Long Term Disability Program and Tier One representative of the Educators Group in contract negotiations and equally proud to sit as a member of the Government of Saskatchewan’s Educational Boundaries Commission.

Retirement consisted of time at the cabin during which he was the educational advisor for the then-R.M. (now District) of Lakeland. Retirement also meant winters in Arizona, notably Lake Havasu City. The year 2003 brought another way to enjoy retirement, that being cruising. He, Elsie and Arthur embarked on four cruises before Elsie’s passing on February 20, 2006, from cancer, and together he and Arthur went on 20 more cruises over the next 10 years that took them around the world; only an Australia/New Zealand cruise was missing. While the pandemic brought that to a screeching halt, he was nonetheless thrilled to see the pyramids on one of those cruises. Mobility and vision issues arose in subsequent years, and scooters and Access Transit became the main means of transport; he and Arthur became regulars at Smitty’s and Bugsy’s in Market Mall.

He passed away on June 28, 2026, from heart and multi-organ failure with his immediate family by his side. He was predeceased by his wife Elsie; parents, George Henry Whitter on July 5, 1976, and Alice (Cowles) on November 2, 1998 and grandparents as well as sister-in-law Carol Priestley (Hawrysh) (2019) and brother-in-law Jim Priestley (2026), both of Prince Albert as well as other relatives including cousins Randy Whitter and Carmelle Whitter (both in 2026) . He is survived by his son, Arthur (who was named for Alice’s father) of Saskatoon; daughter, Natalie (John) Lobo of Onoway, Alberta; granddaughter, Caitlin Mulholland (Brendan) of Edmonton, nieces and nephews and their families stretching from Alberta to Nova Scotia, numerous cousins as well as friends, some of whom date back to his days as a youth in Prince Albert.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to any of the following: Canadian Cancer Society, Prince Albert Historical Society, the Waskesiu Foundation to be used for the benefit of the Waskesiu Museum.

The funeral service will be held at Mourning Glory–Acadia McKague’s Funeral Chapel, 915 Acadia Drive, Saskatoon on Friday, July 10 commencing at 1 PM; cremation to follow, with inurnment to follow at the Columbarium at St. John’s Cathedral, alongside his beloved wife, Elsie, with whom he will be together again. Arrangements entrusted to Mourning Glory–Acadia McKague’s Funeral Chapel.