Blaine Alex Ray Campbell

Blaine was predeceased by his parents George and Nellie Campbell and an infant brother Wayne. He is survived by his loving wife Heather and children Tony (Daigan), Chrissy (Denny), and Jennifer (Ottavio); grandchildren Ryan, Max, Kyle, Paolo, Billy and Daniella and brother Colin (Gwen) and sister Joan (Don). He also leaves to mourn many nieces, nephews, cousins and close friends.

Blaine was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan May 24, 1944. He grew up in Mafeking, Dauphin, Powerview and Lac du Bonnet. Blaine became a projectionist while he was still going to school. He had a variety of other jobs before eventually being employed by the Abitibi Paper Company in Pine Falls where he served as Union president for one term. Following his employment at the mill he tried his hand in construction, building two apartments one in Pine Falls and one in Lac du Bonnet.

After his venture into construction he purchased the Lac du Bonnet theatre and two more theatres in Saskatchewan. He added a pool room in the basement of the theatre in Lac du Bonnet which he owned for several years until he became interested in the real estate business. He was employed by Stevenson Real Estate and Kilkenny Real Estate in Winnipeg for a number of years, as a sales representative, later becoming a broker. He became 50 % owner of the Sutton Group Kilkenny Real Estate and later bought the company outright from his partner. It was under the Sutton banner that the company grew to its present size being the third largest real estate company in Winnipeg today with a total of 120 - 130 agents.

Blaine met Heather in 1978 when he was still operating the theatres. Blaine loved his wife and children and grandchildren very much. This was his family and he was very proud of them. They purchased a trailer home in Lilac and would spend many days there in the summer with the grandchildren. Some of his happiest times were with the grandchildren. He was dedicated to his business, but did manage to take a couple of whirlwind trips to visit Heather’s relatives who lived in Prince Edward Island. When asked how long it took them to drive to P.E.I. Heather answered about a day and a half. These truly were whirlwind trips. Blaine did not stop once he got going.

Blaine had a unique gift. He could remember names of people that he only met briefly and never seemed to forget a face. He enjoyed a good story and was always on the alert for a good one-liner. He respected the people he worked with and was there to help them with whatever assistance they needed. He loved the real estate business and proved it by becoming very successful at it. He didn’t back down from challenges and there were many in this business. He brought changes to the business that were adopted and implemented by the Sutton Company as a whole.

Health concerns necessitated that Blaine take a less active role in the running of Sutton. His long time good friend and office manager Roberta became responsible for a larger and larger part of the daily operations of the office along with Dave Smith who dealt with the specific real estate matters. In addition to his diminished hearing, Blaine had severe COPD for several years. He was finding it more and more difficult to walk and conduct daily business and any activity was becoming a greater and greater challenge.

A Celebration of Blaine’s Life will be held at 2:00 pm, on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Boulevard, Winnipeg, MB.

The family is sincerely grateful to the amazing and caring nurses and doctors in the ICU unit at Victoria Hospital. Their empathy, and professional care helped Blaine have a more peaceful and comfortable passing.

In lieu of flowers you are invited to make a donation to a charity of your choice.