Obituary of Leo Kinshella

KINSHELLA ~ Leo John Kinshella passed away peacefully at the Lloydminster Hospital, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan on Monday, June 29, 2009 at the age of 73 years. Leo was born in Dewberry, Alberta on April 24, 1936 to John and Thelma Kinshella. He met the love of his life, Mary Duddy of Islay and they were married in Hazeldine 54 years ago. Leo will be sadly missed by his wife Mary; his children: Blaine (Connie) Kinshella of Meadow Lake, Randy (Marie) Kinshella of Lloydminster, Bruce (Rose) Kinshella of Red Deer, Val (Ed) Walker of Okotoks; seven grandchildren; one great granddaughter; five step grandchildren; two step great granddaughters; one sister Edna (Arnold) Barstad of Heinsburg as well as one brother Wayne (Judy) Kinshella of Moose Jaw. Leo farmed his land and raised Charlais cattle for many years. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and trapping and spent holidays travelling. One of his greatest past times was following his grandchildren’s sports activities. Leo and Mary moved to Lloydminster in 2006. He will be remembered as a husband, dad, grandfather and friend who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He had a special talent of storytelling and always had a twinkle in his eye. He made everyone he knew feel special. The funeral service was conducted from the Dewberry Community Hall, Dewberry, Alberta on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 2:00 P.M. with Pastor Brad Diprose officiating. The eulogy was given by Meredith Whiteside. The Mennonite Choir was in attendance. The soloist was Yvette Barnett singing “No More Night”. The organist was Meredith Whiteside. Honorary pallbearers were Brent Blacklock, Shawn Issac, Ed Trach, Lee Jones, Zig Hegedus and Victor Oneschuk. Active pallbearers were Adam Kinshella, Kyle Kinshella, Brian Kinshella, Kevin Kinshella, Tom Walker, Scott Walker and Brandy Walker. Interment took place in the Dewberry Cemetery. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster, Alberta administered the funeral arrangements. Eulogy for the late Leo Kinshella Leo was born at home in Dewberry, Alberta on April 24, 1936 to John and Thelma Kinshella. Leo was the second child with an older sister Edna Barstad and a younger brother Wayne. He attended school at North Park and Hazeldine. Leo met the love of his life, Mary Duddy of Islay, and they were married at the farm at Hazeldine 54 years ago. Blaine was the first born; meanwhile Leo was working for the National Grain Company. The new family bought a trailer and lived in Bruce, Alberta. Val was the next born followed by Randy. Then they moved back to their original family farm and shortly after Bruce was born. Leo farmed his land and raised Charlais cattle for many years. He enjoyed hunting and trapping and spent holidays traveling. He loved fishing and spending time with his family and friends,. He lived for his simple indulgences, surrounding himself with good food, good people and great times. One of his favorite pastimes was following his grandchildrens sports activities throughout the years. He loved chuck wagon races and continued to follow them on the radio. He was a huge fan of the Dewberry mens hockey team and spent a lot of time at the rinks in the winter. Due to his failing health, Leo and Mary moved to Lloydminster in 2006. He became the favorite patient in the dialysis unit and considered his retirement job to bring smiles to those around him. Nurses and patients all became extensions of his second family as he recounted upon good times past and made their daily routines more enjoyable. Despite all of the pain he went through over the years he always put Mary first. He was more concerned about her feelings and comfort no matter what he was going through himself. He was a fighter until the end and will be remembered as a husband, dad, grandfather and friend who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He had a special talent of storytelling and always had that special twinkle in his eye. He was a true listener and made everyone he knew feel special. Leo and I grew up together (we lived about 1/4 mile apart) and along with Wayne “or swede” as he was known spent many days together. In the summer we would be gone all day at the river where we learned to swim or else. I recall one time we had a dip in a slough or creek before the snow was gone. If I remember correctly there were some serious consequences that resulted from that. Fortunately my parents didn’t find out about that incident. We used to ride horseback to school and would have the odd race on the way home which I never won. My half Shetland “Star” was no match for Tramper. I remember playing cowboys on horseback using BB guns as weapons. Those BB’s really stung and left a nice round bruise. A good thing our parents didn’t know about that. Those times came to a close when Leo discovered girls and married his sweetheart Mary. We didn’t have a lot of contact after till we both were farming and were neighbors again. In those days most farmers were dependent on each other, calling on each other when a need arose such as branding, sorting cattle, haying and such. One of our joint ventures was making silage. As two greenhorns every day was an adventure. Using trucks to haul with we soon realized green wet silage doesn’t slide out of an old wooden truck box very well. After much modification we achieved some success but the frame on my old 1 ton Dodge had quite an arch to it. Leo was still talking about our experiences one of the last times I saw him, remarking on the heighth of the clover which was considerably more than width of our silage cutter. He often spoke of the time Bobby Braithwaite was coming up the hill to the silage pit and an axle broke on Leo’s truck, which by the way had no brakes. Bobby rolled down the hill a lot faster than he went up but managed to keep it on its wheels. We would spend a lot of time on maintenance of the silage cutter such as sharpening knives, changing bearings and various other things. After one particularly lengthy repair in the field, I think we had changed the knives, and were finally ready to roll Leo climbed on the tractor and threw it into gear, opened the throttle and there was the most awful noise, metal tearing - bolts breaking - Leo swearing; it seems someone had forgot the hammer was on the feeder...oh well... another repair job. Leo always had a great sense of humor and was always ready to pull a prank or tease someone. Leo provided us with many memories one of which Lorraine remembers was his love of lemon meringue pie with ice cream on it. Connie tells of the time one winter Leo drove into the yard with his station wagon and got stuck turning around, he just happened to have his sled loaded in the back so he climbed on it, started it up and drove right out of the back of that station wagon and went home. We had some memorable fishing adventures to May Lake, a major undertaking in those days, and I think the fish we caught have grown even larger over the years. When I started working off the farm we didn’t have near as much contact but I did try to visit as often as I could, usually around Christmas. I was sad to see Leo’s health deteriorating but he always seemed to be positive about his condition and looked forward to spending time with his family. He especially liked to talk about fishing trips that they had been on and ones that were planned and always had pictures to look at. Then Randy phoned and said Dad was getting tired of the struggle and that he would like to see me. Lorraine and I went to the hospital to see Leo and had a very good visit. There were just the three of us and we talked about happy fun times and also some more serious things. Leo’s love and concern for his family were uppermost in his mind. Leo seemed to have settled things in his mind and asked if I would give his eulogy. I of course accepted. It is a great honor to give a eulogy but especially so when you are asked by the one you are eulogizing. It is a testament to our good and lasting friendship. I would say to the family as you mourn, try to dwell on the good memories we’ve been blessed with. To every end there is always a bright new beginning, to every sunset a sunrise. Goodbye old friend. CARD OF THANKS Leo’s family would like to thank Dr. Gerber, the Dialysis nurses and the 3rd floor hospital staff for making him so comfortable. Thank you to the ladies for the wonderful lunch. Thank you to everyone who sent cards or flowers, made donations or dropped off food to the house. Mary Kinshella Val (Ed) Walker & Family Blaine (Connie) Kinshella & Family Randy (Marie) Kinshella & Family Bruce (Rose) Kinshella & Family Donations in memory of Leo may be made to the Lloydminster Dialysis Unit.