Roland Joseph Henault

Suddenly, on July 30, 2013 Roland Joseph Henault aged 86, passed away at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, MB.

He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 66 years Sylvia, children Raymond (Loraine), Douglas (Alison), Marc (Pam) and Gary, grandchildren Rick (Sandra), Mike (Alyssa), Louise (Wanda), Daniel, Lisa, Justis, Nolan, Charlotte, Crystal and Cindy, great grandchildren Isabel, Nick and Amber, great great grandchild Madison, siblings Carmelle (Jack), Simone (Paul), Dennis and Jeannette.

Roland was predeceased by his parents Edouard and Imelda as well as his brothers Phillippe, Leo and Raymond.

Roland was a crop duster (Henault Aerial Spray), and a bush pilot from 1958-1965. Roland was also a commercial airline pilot for 20 years (1965 -1985) for Transair, Pacific Western, Canadian Airlines and Air Canada. He remained an active pilot until his passing.

Visitation was held at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at Thomson "In the Park" Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd., Winnipeg, MB. R3T 5Y4. Celebration of Life followed at 2:00 p.m.

Donations in Roland's memory can be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, 6 Donald St., Winnipeg, MB. R3C 3V6.

Eulogy – Delivered by Rick Henault

Son of Raymond/Eldest Grandson of Roland Henault

Good afternoon, I am Rick Henault, proud grandson of Granddad and Grandma and I am very honored to up here sharing a few thoughts with you today. Dad asked me to try and keep it to a minute or two and I laughed. Anybody that knows me will tell you that is not possible, for you see, I seemed to have inherited the gift of gab that is common with the Henaults.

I would like to touch on some fond memories I have of granddad that I think many will be able to reflect on and I hope that in their mind, they will say yep, that was Granddad.

I would like to start with my most recent memory that occurred just 2 short weeks ago with a visit at Gram and Granddads before he passed away. As we all know, Granddad loved dogs, that is not a secret. During that visit, we brought our dog Snickers which made Granddad very happy to see. After our conversations about airplanes and important stuff like that, he wasted no time to get down and play with him. Heck he was even laying on the floor playing fetch with him. Snickers, being a very personable dog, soaked it all up. That evening, Grandma, as always made sure that we were all well fed by cooking up a tray of mini quiches. The part that made me laugh the most was watching granddad look around and then sneak at least one of those quiches to snickers. That dogs tail was wagging a hundred miles an hour, and granddad had a smile from ear to ear. As it turned out, not only did snickers have the main course that evening, he also had appetizers of nachos and cheesies. Granddad would always make sure that the dogs were happy.

One of the things I cherish and will miss the most were the conversations about aircraft and flying. You see, after all the pleasantries and hugs after we arrived, and after we had something cold to drink in our hand, it was right down to business and we would talk about flying for the rest of the evening. It would be about anything from the days of crop dusting, to the transition to the jet age in the F28’s and Boeing 737’s. We would talk about the people he would fly and work with, and some of split second decisions he made to make sure he would fly another day. We would also talk about the people that we both knew (and of course their dogs) involved in the aircraft industry and the maintenance of the aircraft. Clearly these were things he thought about all the time, which I believe kept his mind active and sharp till the time he left us.

During all those conversations, I always noted a theme and formula that made him so successful. In one of our last conversations, he passed along words of advice. He said to always treat the people you know and meet with respect. Be kind to them and always keep a sense of humor. For the people he met that he didn’t like, he had a few French words I cannot repeat here, but you get the idea. The one thing that amazed all of us around him was his amazing ability to strike up a conversation with anyone. I loved hearing his stories when he returned from those impromptu conversations.

On the day of his passing, my daughter Isabel asked me how I was doing. I said I am doing ok. She said you know, he is probably standing in heaven right now with a whole pack of dogs standing around him waiting for a treat. We laughed, and knew that would be so true.

He will be greatly missed, but his character and reputation as being a happy outgoing person will live on in the memories of anyone that has met him, even if it was only for a brief moment.

Thank you for your time and have a safe journey Granddad.

Eulogy-Delivered by Granddaughter Lisa

Over the years I’ve come to learn there’s a lot I don’t know about granddad. I mean, I know the bare bones…the number of sons, their names, his passion for flying, trains, fixing things and keeping busy…but it’s not a recount of his life that I wanted to express today…what I wanted to share with you is what granddad meant to ME, and although maybe not exactly the same, I’m sure my experiences parallel your own in some way or another.

For me…going to see grandma and granddad was a safe sanctuary of love. A place where I could laugh and visit and play and hear granddad’s well known robust chuckle usually followed by grandma’s quiet giggle. Visiting grandma and granddad’s meant velcro darts, a pool table with pockets too small and a stationary bike with a seat no one should ever be subject to sit on…making grandma’s and granddad’s all the more fun because of these novelties.

More importantly, however, we got to share. Share stories share laughs and share hugs…

And like most things in life…it wasn’t really until I moved away to Vancouver that I realized how very much I missed them. Being horrible with phone calls I suffice to visits whenever I’m in town…grandma and granddad’s stop always the first on the list of people I had to see, not because I had to but because they mean such a great deal to me.

Something about the ying and yang, the quiet and the loud…the balance they found is what drew me to them from childhood until now. For coffee, for tea, wine or beer, whatever it was I just wanted to be around.

With granddad being gone I’ll miss the man who listened intently, who always said “that’s good liza” and who never failed to ask about our dog Lucky. If I had a nickel for every time he told me dog stories…I’d probably have flown here first class. I’ll miss that tell your friends about it kind of laugh…the hedz hedz hedz hedz laugh…but more than anything I’ll miss those ever eager twinkling eyes accompanied by a grin to hear about my life.

Before I close I think I need to thank granddad for a few things. Things he’s surely passed on through the family and things I know I get from him and can attribute to some of my life success.

Before I finish I just want to share a note I came across on my phone…one I’d written to grandma and granddad sometime around Christmas. Although I’m not sure I think they ever saw it, it seems fitting to close with it now directing it to granddad in my final words, being as true now as it was then.

To Granddad,

I just wanted to tell you how very special you are in my life. I hope you know how much I truly love you and wish I could see you more. I cherish our time together more than I ever could express. So please know I think of you often and send you all of my love.

Thank you

Eulogy– Roland Henault/Dad

Winnipeg – Tuesday, 06 August, 2013

Delivered by Raymond Henault, Eldest son of Roland & Sylvia Henault

Greetings – English & French

Intro

Thanks on Mom’s behalf and that of whole family.

We are grateful for all expressions of sympathy and assistance from many, including family, friends, neighbours, Thomson "In the Park" Funeral Home, Father Lanoie and many others.

We also appreciate you all being here today, especially those that have traveled from afar.

And while it is always difficult to say farewell, this is an opportunity to celebrate the life of someone who was very dear to us and who will be remembered fondly for the joy and laughter that he brought into our lives, each in our own special ways.

What defines my Dad Rolly/husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather, brother, uncle, friend and colleague:

There are many things that come to mind when I think of what defined our Dad, Rolly, but there are a few that truly stand out, and will likely come as no surprise you.

And those, for me and our family, are:

• His love of my mother and his family

• His love of aviation

• His love of trains, and

• His love of dogs

And, as my mother lovingly said a couple of nights ago, she wasn’t sure that it was always in that order!

First of all:

Our father had an enduring love for our mother, Sylvia, his wife of 66 years and constant companion throughout those six decades and more.

They shared everything together, through thick & thin, from the early years of child raising, truck driving, crop dusting, bush flying and airline scheduling, to the pleasures of travelling the world and making Arizona their almost permanent winter destination after retirement.

They were inseparable, for as long as I/we can remember, and reinforced and supported each other in everything they did, right up until our father’s last day.

Our mother was always my Dad’s rock, she has been our rock over the years, and she still is in this difficult time.

Our father had a deep love for his family, and he was always proud of all our achievements, something – as all of you will remember - he never missed an opportunity to talk about to anyone that would listen.

He was also very proud of his own achievements, and I can assure you that he never gave up on anything he undertook, no matter how difficult it might be. If nothing else, he was fiercely independent, determined and persistent.

Indeed, he rose through the airline ranks to reach the highest level of achievement to become an aircraft Captain, something he did despite the fact that he had only a Grade 8 education. Such was his perseverance, determination and raw talent as a professional aviator.

And we saw that same determination in him as he strove to re-instate his pilot medical over the last year, after coming back strong from a serious illness in the spring of 2012. He was almost there!

Secondly:

Dad’s love of aviation was unqualified. It was a passion that he pursued relentlessly for more than six decades and which very much defined his universe.

He was flying before I was born and took me up for the first time that I can remember at age 5 here in Winnipeg.

He went on to become a crop duster, bush pilot and eventually an airline pilot, as I mentioned a moment ago, accumulating more than 35,000 hours and continuing to fly until the week before his final departure.

In fact, he became a somewhat permanent fixture during the summer months at Lyncrest Airport after retirement, and the many light airplanes that he owned and flew over the last 25 years were his pride and joy.

His love of everything to do with flying throughout his life also defined what I and my brothers have become.

He gently nudged all of us into aviation in one way or another, with me becoming an Air Force pilot and officer, my next youngest brother Doug becoming an Air Traffic Controller and Sky Diver, our brother Marc becoming a Quality Assurance Manager with Boeing Aircraft in Winnipeg, and brother Gary becoming an aviation mechanic.

Indeed, for me, the circle is complete. I flew my first trip with him and my mother at age 5, I went on to enjoy a wonderful career in the Air Force, and we flew his final trip together just a couple of weeks ago in his little homebuilt. It is a memory I will always cherish.

Thirdly:

While aviation meant everything to our father, he also had a terribly soft spot for trains.

He loved the old steamers and the glamour of the old days of railroad, and would go to any end to visit a train museum or listen to a train record (of which he had a huge collection).

In fact, he knew the name and characteristics of all the former steam locomotives, he could identify them just from the sound of the train and the whistle, and he read about trains almost as much as he read about airplanes.

In years gone by, while he was flying a regular airline schedule, he would often come off a trip and make a quick change at home into his conductor’s uniform, to spend the rest of the day travelling up and down the track on the Prairie Dog Central.

And he would often ride along on a CN locomotive or drive the CN simulator in Gimli with one of his railroad buddies.

In addition, a visit to a train museum was always on the list of things to do when Mom and Dad visited my wife Loraine and me in the many parts of the world that we lived.

His passion for trains was also reflected at home, where he built a beautiful model railroad set in the basement (which is still operational) and proudly demonstrated it to anyone that showed an interest.

In particular, it was very popular with his grandchildren, whom I know will always remember him fondly for that.

And, his love of dogs:

Our father, Rolly’s love of dogs was unqualified.

He loved them all, short and tall, big and small. And they loved him in a way that would make even the Dog Whisperer envious.

He and my mother had many dogs over the years, but the one he spoke about the most was their German Shepherd Princess.

She was his constant companion when she was alive, and often flew with Dad in his little airplanes, even his open-cockpit Stearman.

And he always kept a box of cookies in his truck for every dog on his street, every dog that came out to the Lyncrest Airport with its owner, and every other dog that crossed his path.

Every dog in the Trailer Park that they stayed at in Arizona in the winter, or anywhere he was traveling over the years, also got a cookie or two and a pat from Rolly.

And all the dogs in the family, including our little dog Shiraz and our son Rick’s dogs Kaylee and Snickers, adored him.

Dad/Rolly will be missed in many ways!

And one final note.

If there is any one thing that truly defined our father Rolly, it is his outgoing and gregarious nature.

He would speak to anyone, anywhere, anytime; short and tall, old and young; and he would bring a note of joy and laughter into any room into which he stepped.

In fact, many will say that you could put him into a room of strangers anywhere in the world, and within an hour he would know them all by first name and be a lifelong friend.

Also, you could always find him in a big room full of people by looking for the small and noisy crowd in the room. Our father Rolly would be in the centre of the group, driving the conversation, and having a great time.

Such was our Dad/my mother’s husband/Rolly’s life.

Closing Remarks

Alors, je termine en vous remerciant tous d’être parmi nous cet après-midi.

Mon père serait fier de voir que tous ces gens sont venus le saluer pour une dernière fois, et il vous serait éternellement reconnaissant.

We, my mother Sylvia and all members of the family, are most grateful that you have come today to celebrate our Dad/Rolly’s life.

He will be sorely missed, but we hope that he is now happily flying that big DC-3 in the sky.

Merci beaucoup.

* * * * * * * * * *

ROLAND JOSEPH HENAULT

Suddenly, on July 30, 2013 Roland Joseph Henault aged 86, passed away at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, MB.

He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 66 years Sylvia, children Raymond (Loraine), Douglas (Alison), Marc (Pam) and Gary, grandchildren Rick (Sandra), Mike (Alyssa), Louise (Wanda), Daniel, Lisa, Justis, Nolan, Charlotte, Crystal and Cindy, great grandchildren Isabel, Nick and Amber, great great grandchild Madison, siblings Carmelle (Jack), Simone (Paul), Dennis and Jeannette.

Roland was predeceased by his parents Edouard and Imelda as well as his brothers Phillippe, Leo and Raymond.

Roland was a crop duster (Henault Aerial Spray), and a bush pilot from 1958-1965. Roland was also a commercial airline pilot for 20 years (1965 -1985) for Transair, Pacific Western, Canadian Airlines and Air Canada. He remained an active pilot until his passing.

Visitation will be at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at Thomson "In the Park" Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd., Winnipeg, MB. R3T 5Y4. Celebration of Life will follow at 2:00 p.m.

Donations in Roland's memory can be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, 6 Donald St., Winnipeg, MB. R3C 3V6.