Obituary of Andre Bellanger

BELLANGER ~ Andre “Andy” George Bellanger passed away peacefully in the Battleford Union Hospital, North Battleford on Monday, August 1, 2011 at the age of 83 years.

Andy will be sadly missed by his wife Liz; children: Claudette and Michael McGuire, Louise and Darryl Roach, Carol and Treverr Poole; grandchildren: Brett and Cassie Jullion, Brody Roach, Tayla Poole and Trayton Poole as well as numerous other relatives.

The prayer service was conducted from the Christ The King Roman Catholic Church, Edam, Saskatchewan on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 7:30 P.M. with Father Lester Kaufman officiating.

The mass of Christian burial will be conducted from the Edam Community Centre, Edam, Saskatchewan on Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 10:00 A.M. with Father Lester Kaufman officiating.

The eulogy was read by Claudette McGuire and Carol Poole.

The 1st reading was read by Cassie Jullion.

The 2nd reading was read by Maurice Thom.

The prayers of the faithful were read by Diane MacNab.

The honorary bearers were Pete Roach, Charlie MacNab, Charlie Blaquiere, Walter LaClare, Milton Conacher, Darryl Schick, Lloyd Bingham, Bill Mork, Don Rookes and All Of His Friends.

The urn bearers were Brett and Cassie Jullion, Brody Roach, Tayla Poole and Trayton Poole.

The interment was held in the Edam Catholic Cemetery.

McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Turtleford, Saskatchewan administered the funeral arrangements.

EULOGY

Good morning everyone. On behalf of our family please accept our sincere thank you for attending Dad’s funeral today. It was with honour and a great deal of sadness for Carol, Louise and I to prepare Dad’s eulogy; we loved him and now miss him very much. We would also like to thank everyone who came to visit Dad in the hospital. Dad enjoyed your company and we appreciate the time taken. Father Kaufman who is officiating today visited Dad often. Father we are so grateful for your kindness with Dad. He truly enjoyed your company and prayers.

Dad was born in Edam August, 24, 1927 to loving parents Georges and Caroline Bellanger. Dad was the youngest of the family of four: Uncle Louis and Uncle Emile and Aunt Georgette. Like many of you here today Dad’s parents were immigrants, new Canadians, homesteaders, farmers, ranchers....Dad was part of a generation that were stewards of the land because their very existence was tied to the land. Dad grew up in a time of one room schools, threshing machines, real horse power, homemade butter, wood stoves, outhouses, baseball games were an outing, and hockey games on frozen sloughs. His childhood revolved around his horses, his dogs, his great love for his parents and siblings and his friends….and many of those friends are here today, and always or dad loved the outdoors.

Dad meet and married Elizabeth Tetz in June, 1956, They lived their lives farm in the Mervin Area. We think the this union was terrific cause they got us three!

Louise, Carol and I grew up listening to Dad’s stories….he loved telling us about the pranks pulled when he was a schoolboy, about threshing stories, about how mad Aunt Georgette was when they tipped the caboose over coming home from a dance in Mervin, about George driving the model T into the slough and the resulting seaweed stuck in his glasses, about the great stallion Dean, the pet deer his mother had, about the NorthWest Mounted Police stopping at their home and how mad his mom was over the fleas they left behind, about his school teacher Mickey…we could go on and on because there were so many.

Dad will be remembered most though we think for his sense of fun, for the twinkle in his eye when he disrupted church yet again by stealing Walter’s hat or sending a spitball into Charlie Blaquiere’s head, – resulting in Father Ted actually asking him to behave, or Louise sending in Brody to keep an eye on him – or when he had a plan….like an anonymous gift of horse nuggets mailed to Millie Gudmundson, tying big red apples in Charlie MacNab’s little apple tree, helpfully putting cow paddies on Gordon MacNab’s lawn when he asked Dad for help fertilizing, and planting potatoes in the neighbour’s flower garden. Mom and Dad loved to go to masquerade dances and there is not a soul who will forget Dad dressed up as Miss Grey Cup and Gordon as a Roughrider cheerleader. Dad was a gardener and very competitive about his tomatoes to the point of purchasing tomatoes and tying them in his plants so he could show his neighbour Sandra his tomatoes were better than hers!

The caliber of a man is often measured by the company he keeps and Dad had many many great friends, including two great old friends Carol, Louise and I affectionately refer to as the “two Charlies”…Charlie MacNab and Charlie Blaquiere were some of Dad’s best fishing buddies. Many many hours were spent fishing, either on the ice or in the boat, many hands of crib were dealt, and many stories were told. It was a dollar for the first, a dollar for the most and a dollar for the largest….we think that these dollars just passed back and forth between them. Many of you seen the photo just now of the two Charlies and Dad peeling potatoes? This was at our cabin up north at La Ronge…and I’ll never forget Charlie Blaquiere saying to Dad, “You know Andy I don’t think I’ve peeled a spud in 40 years!”

Dad loved his grandchildren and spent much of his time watching their hockey games, their ball games, grinning at their short acting careers at Christmas concerts, and watching them grow up. Dad always had a thirst for knowledge and a desire to pass on what he knew to his grandchildren. In fact he helped Cassie with a paper for a University class. Dad was well known for his ability in hunting, in fact he always told us that he was known for being a “good shot”…it was with a great deal of pleasure and pride that he passed his shotgun and rifle to his grandson Brody who has inherited Dad’s love of hunting and the outdoors. Dad was always very curious if Tayla had a boyfriend and teased her constantly. Dad was an avid gardener and it gave him great joy when his grandson Trayton showed a great deal of interest in growing things. The two of them could often been seen picking vegetables in his garden. Dad Cassie, Brody, Tayla and Trayton will miss you very much. But Dad we have to ask…do you think you finally taught Cassie’s husband Brett how to fillet a fish?

Dad was a Herford man and it made him very happy to pass on his extensive knowledge of cattle to his son-in-law Darryl Roach. Dad often went to the bull sales with Darryl which he truly enjoyed: critiquing the bulls and visiting with old friends. Dad’s two nephews Maurice and Robbie Thom know that Dad was only a phone call away to help move equipment, pick up parts or take fishing. Thank you Maurice and Robbie for your thoughtful kindness to Dad. As everyone knows Dad lived to fish and the fact that his son-in-law Mick McGuire had a float plane and liked to duck into little northern lakes to fish was a bonus. Treverr, Carol’s husband has a construction company where the coffee pot is always on and Dad loved to go down and visit with Trev, his Dad Gary and the guys. That also gave him the chance to bug the girls, especially Jody about her tomato growing ability. He could also check in on Carol’s alpacas, or as he referred to them as “the goats” .

So Dad from us girls thank you for making sure there were reindeer tracks on the roof at Christmas, for teaching us how to bat a ball so we wouldn’t be last picked for the ball teams at school, for teaching us how to play crib, how to saddle a horse and drive a team, how to drive a tractor, why we shouldn’t cut all the hair off our horse Silver’s tail and that horses really didn’t care to wear earrings, why fishing is the greatest sport ever, why it is OK to shoot magpies out the kitchen window while eating breakfast, why you don’t lock your sister in the outhouse, how to plant a garden and why it is absolutely alright to laugh out loud, to take on life with a grin and that good friends are your best asset. You have taught us to live our lives as best we can with purpose, with love and with joy. To use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them and to treat others with the kindness and respect we wish for ourselves. To phrase a line from the poem Dad had picked out for his Memorial Card…I give to you my love. You can only guess how much you gave me in happiness…Dad we will all be OK because you were always there with your love.

In closing we want to say “have you heard the one about…..”

Thank you Dad!

Donations in memory of Andy may be made to the Mervin Memorial Park.