John Allan Wilgenbusch

John Allan Wilgenbusch, late of Halbrite, passed away July 4, 2015 at the age of 61 years after a 4 year battle with cancer. John was born in Midale August 20, 1953 and raised on the family farm south of Halbrite. He attended school in Halbrite and finished his high school in Midale. It was there he met his future wife, Brenda McGregor. John attended the University in Saskatoon until he heard of some farm land for sale. He purchased the farm that he has operated for 42 years. John and Brenda were married in 1974. Always involved in sports, John played and coached hockey and baseball at all age groups even before his own children were involved. In 1979, son Colin was born, followed by Conrad in 1983 and Craig in 1986. He was always their first coach and their biggest supporter, his motto was “if a job was worth doing, you do it to the best of your ability”. Because John had been involved with cattle his whole life and a former 4-H member, it was only natural the boys were also involved. He was Cymri 4-H leader for over 10 year and also served on the local rink board for many years organizing many hockey tournaments, ball tournaments and fund raisers. Supporting your local community was important to John. The drought and grasshopper years in the 1980’s changed life on the farm and in order to support his growing family John went to work full time for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, he worked for them for 10 years. John loved the work and the people he met but hated being away all day from his farm. The choice had to be made - sell the cattle and continue working away or quit the job and expand the cattle herd and try to stay on the farm. The decision was easy for him, and he expanded the cattle herd and spent more time at home with his boys. This led to the eventual creation of Wilgenbusch Charolais, the pure bred Charolais cattle operation that has been the focal point of his life for 27 years. John was happiest when talking to other breeders about their latest calf crop or showing people through the bull pen for the upcoming bull sale. John served on the Saskatchewan Charolais Association for many years and then the Canadian National Charolais Association until the past year when his health declined. During this time John and Brenda travelled to many countries around the world looking at and promoting the Charolais breed. Because of his outgoing personality, John made many friends worldwide. His love of sports led to a life-long love of the Roughriders and the Blue Jays and at one bull sale in Ontario, the bonus was a Blue Jays baseball game. The cows took a back seat to the excitement of going to the Jays game. BSE, in 2003, was a huge hit to the cattle industry and at that time John and Mike Guest decided the time was right for a meat processing plant to help local ranchers get a fair return for some of their animals. Western Prime Meats was started and John worked there for over 2 years to help get it off the ground but then it was back to his own cows. That year John also decided that to sell his own breeding bulls more efficiently he needed his own bull sale. The 12th annual bull sale was held this past April. In 2006, Western Prime was awarded a Weybex award for business of the year. That same year John and Brenda were awarded the Golden Sheaf award by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce for excellence in farming achievement. John’s latest passion was his grandchildren. The past 3-4 years have been the most painful for him but also the most exciting. It didn’t matter how bad a day he was having, when those grandchildren showed up it was time to have fun. Have a play fight, read a book, share some ice cream or have a snooze with grandpa in his chair! John was predeceased by his parents, Henry and Kay Wilgenbusch, sister, Rita Casey and mother-in-law Marvel McGregor. He will lovingly be remembered by his wife, Brenda Wilgenbusch; son, Colin (Ashlee) Wilgenbusch and their family,

Cash, Carter and Cally; son, Conrad (Erica) Wilgenbusch and their family, Rhea and Turner; son, Craig (Tricia) Wilgenbusch; father-in-law, Keith McGregor; sisters, Rosella (Jim) McGrane and family and Marilyn (David) Elliott and family; brother, Daniel (Robbie) Wilgenbusch and family; brothers-in -law, Robin (Robin) Casey and Ross (Karen) McGregor and sister-in-law Carla (Tom) Mesic; as well as 15 nieces and nephews and many close friends. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. from St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church, Weyburn, Saskatchewan with Father Gerry Bauche celebratin g. Interment at Halbrite Cemetery, Halbrite, Saskatchewan. Donations in memory of John may be made to STARS Air Ambulance. Condolencesces may be left at:www.fletcherfuneralchapel.comArrangements entrusted to Fletcher Funeral ChapelWeyburn, Saskatchewan306-842-5432