Rev. Ormand Lavenne died on Friday, September 18, 2020 in Calgary, Alberta at age 87 years after suffering a severe blood infection. While our hearts are sad, his family know Ormand is likely already having a great time in heaven meeting up again with family members and old friends. He did his best to stay with us as long as possible.
Ormand was forever thankful for his adoption during the 1930s and that gratitude fueled his call to ministry and shaped the grace-filled ways he ministered to communities and people in Alberta and British Columbia and into his retirement. So many were blessed by his commitment to community and church and his gentle, kind spirit.
Ormand was born in Ponoka, Alberta on July 21, 1933 and eight months later, he was adopted by Clement and Evelyn Lavenne in Bow Island, Alberta. The wider family quickly took on choosing a name for their new family member. Clement’s younger sister, Irene, was still in school and much in love with a classmate named Ormand Mitchell. “Name him Ormand,” she said. Through the years, Ormand valued his Uncle Ormand Mitchell and that he was named after him. The Lavennes and Egans were very large families and Ormand grew up with many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Clement and Evelyn farmed near Vauxhall in the 1930s and then owned a coal mine on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River, north of Bow Island. Ormand rode a pony to a one-room schoolhouse; an animal that frequently turned around and bit him! The family lived in a two-room house beside the mine. The workers lived in a bunkhouse. Ormand remembered that in the fall, vehicles would line up along the road leading to the mine to get their winter coal supply.
The family later moved into Bow Island where Ormand attended high school. He would go on to receive Bachelor of Arts and Divinity degrees from the University of Alberta. During the summers he served mission fields in Alberta and Saskatchewan, congregations that were only able to open in the summer when a student was available. In the first summers, he used a bicycle to visit parishioners.
He was ordained by The United Church of Canada in 1960 and went to serve the Milk River, New Dayton and Coutts congregations. Through his friendship with local farmer James Horgus, Ormand met the love of his life, Gladys, Jim’s younger sister.
Gladys and Ormand were married in July 1962 and their honeymoon through British Columbia included being two of the first people to travel through the newly completed Rogers’ Pass Highway. In 1964, the family moved to Edmonton where Ormand ministered to the then new congregation of Pilgrim United. It was a busy congregation with a growing Sunday School, many groups and activities.
In 1973, the family moved to Banff where Ormand served Rundle Memorial United for one year as that congregation transitioned from two long-term ministers. In 1974, Ormand accepted a call to Richmond United Church in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. In the late 1970s, Ormand chose to explore hospital chaplaincy through the Clinical Association of Pastoral Education (CPE). Ormand and Gladys moved the family to Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1979, where the couple purchased their first house. Ormand enjoyed working with patients and staff at acute care hospitals and particularly at Riverview Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.
In 1982, Ormand accepted a call to Esquimalt United Church in Victoria where he served until his retirement. Ormand and Gladys purchased the house that would be their home for the next 34 years. Esquimalt Church was, and is, a vibrant and active one. Even before his retirement, the congregation planned a big celebration which in Charlie Brown style, they called, “This is Your Life, Ormand Lavenne!”
In retirement, Ormand enjoyed doing pulpit supply and retired supply. He particularly valued being a regular and on-call spiritual care visitor at the Victoria General Hospital. He and Gladys expanded the garden and were very active in the Vancouver Island Caged Birds Society. The couple raised finches, canaries and parrots.
In 2016, Ormand and Gladys sold their Victoria home and moved to Calgary to be closer to family.
What anchored Ormand throughout his life was his faith in God. In his final days, he continued to rejoice in memories of meeting Gladys, his love for her and his family, as well as memories of the many people he was fortunate to meet and minister with through his life.
Ormand is lovingly remembered by his wife of 58 years, Gladys Lavenne; children Shelley (Joel) and Brad (Nancy); grandchildren Eric, Naomi, Joy, Zachary and Jessa; as well as sister-in-law Ethel (Lawrence) Raffin, brother-in-law Andy Horgus and sister-in-law Ludmilla Horgus; several nieces and nephews and cousins. He was predeceased by his parents Evelyn and Clement Lavenne and Winnifred Gill.
Please join us to celebrate Ormand’s life and resurrection on Saturday, September 26, 2020 via Northminster United Church, Calgary on https://www.facebook.com/northminsterunited/ at 1 pm PST or 2 pm MST. The Rev. Janet Craig will conduct the service.
If you wish to make a memorial donation, please do so to a United Church faith community of your choice.
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