Owen William (Bill) Steele

Bill is survived by his devoted wife Margaret, his children Margaret (Dirk), Donald (Claire), Heather (Peter), Jennifer, Darrell (Alan) and Roslyn (Darcy), his grandchildren Alison (Harry), Lindsay (Brock) and Jennifer (Gabe), Christopher and Martha, Mackenzie (Michael), Carson (Katherine) and Landon, Brendan and Aiden, his great-grandchildren Dawson, Colton, Isabell, Daniel, Colin, Logan, Owen and Eleanor, his brothers John (Dorothy), Ronald (Mary), Harold (Marilyn) and Martin (Sybil), his sister-in-law Jane, brothers-in-law Bruce (Pat) and Donald (Susan) and by many nieces, nephews and cousins. Bill was predeceased by his parents Victor and Sybil, his brother Geoffrey, and by his brother-in-law David and sister-in-law Joy.

Bill was born in St. John’s on April 28th, 1938 and remained a proud son of Newfoundland from then on. During his school years, the Steele family lived on Maxse Street, and Bill and his brothers attended Bishop Feild College. Summer months were spent at the family’s country home in Manuels, a place that inspired Bill’s adventurous spirit, and offered many opportunities to test his mettle, including on one occasion, a swim in Conception Bay in the wee hours, with his brother rowing beside him for moral support. His poor mother would have been mortified if she ever found out. She never did.

A gifted athlete, the Feildian Grounds, St. Bon’s Forum and Memorial Stadium in St. John’s were home to Bill’s exploits in track and field, football (“real” football, as he would say) and hockey. A particular point of pride was that, to this day, he is the Provincial record holder in the juvenile 1-mile race walk. Later, during his Winnipeg years, still passionate for competition, Bill found a love of squash as a member of the Carlton Club and the Winnipeg Squash Racquet Club, where we were told, by him, that he was known as “Whippey-Blue Steele”.

Growing up in Newfoundland, perhaps more than anything else, Bill was proud to be one of the six “Steele Brothers” and he carried his deep love and admiration for each one of them throughout his life. It must also be said, though, that he showed that love in his own unique way, and took to his role as “family provocateur” with great enthusiasm, tormenting his long-suffering, but ever-understanding brothers mercilessly. Oh, the banter!

In 1956, after turning 18, Bill headed west to the mainland to join the RCMP. After graduating from training in Regina, he was posted to several rural Manitoba detachments in Beausejour, Ashern and Portage la Prairie. After a few years, however, Bill longed for a different career path and headed to Winnipeg, secured a job with Manufacturers Life, and began taking real estate appraisal courses.

Living in downtown Winnipeg, Bill began attending a young adults’ group at All Saints’ Anglican Church where, in 1960, Margaret Thompson, a lovely, spirited young nurse-in-training at the Winnipeg General Hospital caught his eye. He never looked away and she became the love of his life. Bill and Margaret married in early 1963 and shortly thereafter Bill was promoted to a position in London, Ontario and the newlyweds relocated.

Soon, twins Margaret and Donald arrived and eighteen months later, daughter Heather. Two years after that and a move back to Winnipeg, Bill and Margaret welcomed another set of twins, Jennifer and Darrell. After moving from Fort Garry to a larger home on Athlone Drive in St. James Assiniboia in 1967, Bill and Margaret worked tirelessly (as one must with 5 kids under the age of 3 ½) to build a supportive, if chaotic, home for their growing brood. With Margaret organizing life on the homefront and Bill working hard to provide for the family, they proved to be a remarkably effective partnership.

Yes, life was busy in the Steele house as the kids, nurtured by Margaret’s love and Bill’s adventurous spirit, thrived at school and in their increasingly diverse interests. Still, something was missing and in 1973, that void was filled with the arrival of daughter Roslyn, “Snoz” to Bill, his baby girl. The sixth Steele sibling, she completed the family and prompted a move four doors away, to a house on Flamingo Avenue.

But it wasn’t all work for Bill. Every winter, he led his family in the construction of a skating rink that covered the entire back yard, meticulously levelling and flooding (and flooding, and flooding) the rink until it met his exacting standards. Those rinks became home to endless hours of hockey, ringette and speedskating practice, school and neighbourhood skating parties, jam pail curling bonspiels, and raucous broomball games.

All the while, Bill’s career was progressing as he built his expertise in real estate development and property management, and his leadership experience with promotions to ever more senior roles at Montreal Trust, Metropolitan Estate and Property Corporation (MEPC), Morguard and The Imperial Group.

Ultimately, though, Bill’s entrepreneurial spirit could not be suppressed and in 1979, he and Margaret formed Sterling Real Estate Investment Services, a consulting firm providing real estate appraisal, development and financing advisory, as well as property and project management services in the Winnipeg area. With Bill’s industry knowledge and Margaret’s organizational skills, honed at home, together they built Sterling into the preeminent practice of its kind in Manitoba and operated it until the early 2000s.

As fulfilling as life in Winnipeg was, Bill’s favourite place (on the mainland, anyway) was the family cottage on Clytie Bay in Shoal Lake. Named “Terra Nova” after his beloved home (and less formally “Jellybeans” after we don’t quite know what), it was there that the best parts of Bill came alive. Leading his family workforce by example, he developed two lots of untouched wilderness into a family vacation property with two cabins, a boathouse, dock, paths and drainage ditches (so many drainage ditches!). Brush cleared in the summer months would be piled neatly in several piles around the property, followed by wonderful bonfires on the following New Years Eve and Day. In the process, Bill imbued his kids with skills in carpentry, land and water management and so many practical life lessons… and fun, with regular breaks for waterskiing, swimming and snorkeling.

After the kids had grown and left home to pursue their lives, with most of the heavy lifting done, Terra Nova became Bill and Margaret’s summer retreat with frequent visits from family and friends. Winters would often bring a vacation in Cuba or cruises together, and several times, scuba diving in the Caribbean (Bill hated cold water despite, or perhaps because of, the Conception Bay adventure noted previously).

In July 2021, Bill and Margaret moved to Guelph to spend their remaining years close to those kids who had settled in Southern and Eastern Ontario.

More than any place, physical structure or invention, though, Bill’s greatest legacy is in the lives he touched.

Bill gathered friendships throughout his life: with colleagues from his time in the RCMP and Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, to Rotary and work associates, from other Lord Selkirk Boy Scout Pipe Band parents to certain of his kids’ teachers, and sometimes even complete strangers with whom Bill had no problem striking up a conversation and finding common ground. Bill loved “holding court”, solving the problems of the world at Tim Hortons with his coffee, his apple fritter, and one or two good friends. In more recent years, since the move to Guelph, periodic phone calls with his friends helped sustain him.

Never one given to outward displays of affection, “Dad” / “Grampie” quietly burst with pride at the accomplishments of each of his kids, grandkids and great-grandkids (and with the “original six” and, in time, their growing families, that was a lot of bursting!). Whether it was hockey, ringette, basketball, volleyball or football games or cross-country meets, parades, recitals or exhibitions, Bill was there for them, cheering each of them on. He taught them the importance of kindness to strangers, perseverance through hardship, integrity and fairness, and the value of hard work and a job well done. None will forget his place in their lives.

Finally, Bill and Margaret’s enduring love has seen them enjoy the sunny days, and weather the rainy ones. They saw something in each other that completed each of them, and provided the foundation for the full life they enjoyed together. In his final months, Margaret was Bill’s constant, devoted and loving caregiver, and his eyes told of his lasting love and gratitude for her. Their love is an inspiration for us.

Our family would like to express our deepest gratitude to the staff at Guelph-Wellington Homecare, and to so many medical professionals who provided care for Bill, and support to Margaret, over the last few months and in his final days. You have been a blessing.

Final arrangements have been entrusted to Gilbert MacIntyre & Son Funeral Homes in Guelph. In lieu of a funeral service, Bill’s family will be taking his remains home to Newfoundland this summer, where they will be scattered lovingly in places of special significance to him, and to them.

There will be no goodbyes, William / Dad, because we cannot imagine a world without you in it, but we know that each of us carries a part of you safe and warm in our hearts, where it will burn brightly until we are all together again.

Rest easy, Skipper. You’ll be home soon.