Obituary of Major Fox

FOX ~ Major Jay Fox passed away suddenly and tragically in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Friday, December 23, 2011 at the age of 32 years. Jay is survived by his loving wife Angie; his children: Devon, Charlee, Porter and Major; his parents: Lyal and Virginia Fox; his brothers: Lyal II (Rose) and their children: Peter, Spencer, and Isaiah; Jon (Shelly) and their children: Tyra, Jon, Jim Bob and Jorja; Stirling (Sheena) and their children: Bexson and Broker; Ben (Linda) and their children: Emma, Sutherland, and Benjamin; his sister: AJ (David); his grandmas: Molly Fox and Mildred Ellis; his parents-in-law: Andy and Marilyn Russett; his brothers-in-law: Randy (Nicole) Russet and their children: Keagan, Heidi and Camryn; Clinton (Carrie) and their children: Jared, Alyssa, and Bailey; his sister-in-law: Darlynn (Corey) and their children: Ashton, Brody, and Skylar; Angie's grandma: Florence Hamel; his special friends: Gina, Kate, Wade and Lindsay Cole. He was predeceased by his grandfathers: Arthur Millington and Jonathan Fox; his uncle Charlie Bob Fox and his special friends Glen Cole and Jim Mantler. A funeral service was conducted on Wednesday, December 28, 2011, from the Westlake Community Centre, Eddystone, Manitoba, with President Richard Baronins presiding and President Marvin Beaumont conducting. The Invocation was conducted by T.J. O'Sullivan. Interment followed in the Willowgrove Cemetery in Eddystone, Manitoba. Pallbearers were his brothers; Lyal, Jon, Stirling, Ben; brother-in-law, Randy Russett and friends Corey Dennett, Wade Cole, Kelly Bray, Kelly Millward, and Vince Wilkinson. Honorary pallbearers were members of the Eddystone 4-H Club, the Manitoba Beef Producers Board of Directors and Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers. The memorial service was conducted from the Stockade Convention Centre, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan on Friday, December 30, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. with Mr. Kim Campbell officiating. The eulogy was read by Ben Fox and Stirling Fox. Leaders of song in Lloydminster was Marlene Risling and Jay's mom, Virginia Fox. The hymns sung were "Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel", "How Great Thou Art" and "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" accompanied on the organ by Verla Campbell. Special music was played by Tyra Fox. The following portion of the eulogy was delivered by Ben Fox: Major Jay was our youngest brother, born around noon on Monday, October 23, 1979 in Lloydminster, SK arriving shortly after a Sale of the Year, AJ asked Dad, "What did we get this time?" and Dad's smiling reply was "Another Boy!" In preparing for this service, I found out from Mom that Major is a happy note in music terms and Jay is one of the most stoic birds, put that together and you have Happy bird which, if any of you have chased/sorted cows with Jay you could possibly disagree with this designation. Major was the baby of the family, many times he thought that he got more than his fair share of picking on by his siblings. On the other hand, his siblings thought that he received more than his fair share of leniency from Mom and Dad. Growing up, Major was a very happy lad, making many feel at ease when he was around them. He used these skills in his first entrepreneurial endeavor selling out of some mutt puppies at the Lloydminster fair in a matter of hours. With so many young children to care for; our sister AJ helped out a lot. She and a very young Jay used to record stories for the rest of us to listen to and follow along with in the book. Of course AJ read and brother Jay lent his talents to be the "Tinkerbell" to signal the change of the page. AJ still endearingly refers to Jay as her tinkerbell. We believe her nickname caused Jay to leave no doubt that he was no tinkerbell! With the rest of his siblings away at school Jay had more time to himself around Justamere and, of course, to all the people that were there. Grandma Molly recalls trying to trap some moles around the garden with the help of young Major. The traps were all set the night before and early the next morning Major went to meet Grandma. When he approached Grandma and the traps he looked up and innocently and quite excitedly asked "Did you get the little bugger Grandma?!" Grandma Molly always said that Jay reminded her so much of my uncle Bob, with his personality and mechanical aptitude. Jay showed off his budding talents at an early age, plotting against his first nemesis, Ike the border collie. Jay had free range to explore the farm and the fastest way to get around was his bicycle. Our dog Ike loved the challenge of catching little boys legs as they pedaled by. Jay, unfortunately was the littlest of us, and would often be pulled to the ground by the playful dog. After several incidents of road rash on his hands, arms and legs, not to mention several torn pant legs, Jay's ingenuity kicked in. He transformed a regular willow branch, using lengths of radiator hose, several hose clamps and rocks for weight into a defensive weapon that he swung vigorously to thwart the oncoming attack. Though most of us wept a little for Ike when years later he was struck by an Oilfield tanker, understandably Jay's eyes were dry. Fortunately, this episode didn't hinder Jay's love of all livestock. One such animal was his first dog May, who may not have been around if both Jay and I had our way. Jay and I were about 6 and 7 years old and we were in front of our house on a beautiful summer morning, when we heard a distressed whimper from the family dog, June. Upon investigation, we came across June and a stray male dog entwined with each other. Now both Jay and I had no idea why these two would be stuck together, and we interpreted the incessant whining and panting as a trouble signal from June. After several failed attempts to aggressively separate the dogs, both Jay and I decided that a more drastic approach was required. Dad kept a 25-20 in his boot closet and we felt that it would do the job quite nicely. As we tried to aim, our beloved June kept moving into the sights, as we didn't want to cause her any more harm we decided that we needed to be closer. Just as we approached the pair of dogs, AJ arrived with quite a puzzled look and saved the amorous mutt's life. Thus, May was born five months later and gave Jay a good friend on the farm. Major started school in 1985 at Avery school; he also started 4-H the same year being a pee-wee member in the Kitscoty 4-H club. Major had projects in cattle sheep and Horse throughout his 4-H career. He was a founding member in the Alberta Bandits and was the only sibling to show draft horses. One of his many accomplishments was showing the champion market lamb at the Lloydminster Fair. The lamb was purchased from John Priest and he was so proud of Jay and his lamb that he bought everyone of us ice cream. The prize for winning the show was a $1000. Jay received the prize money and quickly deposited it into his account. Jay was ecstatic with his winnings as was the shop keeper of Weaver Park Grocery, where he purchased over a short time about $950 worth of pop, candy bars and chips. Jay held all offices at the 4-H level and his early selflessness helped mould his leadership skills and predicated his future abilities to serve and lead others. In the fall of 1988, we moved to the ranch at Kitscoty and the three younger brothers went to Kitscoty for the remainder of our education. Like Stirling and I, Jay enjoyed the more rural school and made lasting friendships from his time at Kitscoty. Jay played all the sports that were offered at the school and was a member of the inaugural Rugby squad. Jay played hard at all the sports he was involved in, sometimes a little too hard, as he believed in taking an eye for an eye but being the first to strike. His basketball team in his senior year won the Zone Championship earning a spot at the Alberta Provincial Basketball Championship. Jay was very pleased with being on this team especially because they accomplished this with a first year coach. Major Jay thoroughly enjoyed his time as a member of the Canadian Junior Hereford Assoc. spending several summers showing cattle at their summer Bonanza shows all across Canada; making long lasting friendships throughout the country. Jay was proud to finish his time with the organization as their president. Throughout Jay's scholastic career he had to overcome many obstacles. One of the greatest came in his senior year when he needed 50 credits out of 100 to graduate; a daunting task indeed. When it was said and done, Jay earned the required 50 credits through grit, determination and knowing Jay, probably some cussing. He graduated high school in June 1997 with his peers. This same grit served Jay well in his future endeavors. Directly out of high school Jay picked heavy mechanics as a field he wanted to undertake. He apprenticed with Shane Tingley outside of Blackfoot, AB and learned his trade well. His tools were very dear to Jay and if they weren't replaced in exactly the right spot, the perpetrator was dealt with by any means necessary. His tool box and his shop were items that Jay had a very high affinity for and they were highly organized when Jay brought them out to the ranch and they stayed that way. During his developmental years Jay decided to get baptized in April 1993 and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He gained tremendous strength and spiritual knowledge from his membership and had progressed to a leadership role within the church. My brother Jon wanted us to mention the time Jay spent in Oklahoma working with Express Ranches. Jay made some lasting friendships and had some fellow ranch hands thinking he walked on water. Oklahoma does not get below freezing very often, but it just so happened to when Jay was down there. In order to fix the frozen watering bowls the consensus to those from the southern U.S. was to smash the float on the bowls with a hammer to get the water flowing. Jay poured hot water on the floats saving the ranch considerable plumbing repairs and I'm sure making his southern friends feel completely incompetent with a roaring laugh. In 2000 Major moved to Manitoba for good; to help dad out on the then named Taylor ranch. Dad had been out here on his own for about a year and he could use the help of his youngest son. Major truly loved this place; well over half of his life was spent away from this area and still Eddystone was his home in no uncertain terms. In his first summer in Manitoba, Major learned about fire fighting with his fellow Alberta compadre Glen Cole. The brand new case tractor got stuck in the middle of the pasture as a grass fire raged nearby Glen and Jay just kept making circles with the disk and when everything was said and done the tractor was the only thing that remained even the tow rope used in the attempt to get the tractor out of trouble burned but the tractor remained intact. On the topic of fire fighting Jay would tell a story of his hired hand Dean Horn with such vigor that it must be included today. Dean was only in Manitoba for a very short time when a fire broke out in the Northern part of the ranch. If anyone has followed Jay on a Quad through his pastures, he was tough to keep up with at the best of times. I can only imagine how tough it was to follow him when there was smoke everywhere. Inevitably poor Dean got lost following Jay through the bush and after a couple hours of wandering aimlessly in the smoke and fire; was so happy to see the fire truck that he jumped in the truck with the crew; leaving his quad on the north side of the ranch. Unfortunately for Dean, the truck was carrying on to fight more fire at Crane River; he made it back to the ranch several hours later, exhausted and received a smiling "way to go dumb ass" greeting from Jay. The Cole family was very important to Major Jay; even though Glen was 15 years his senior he considered Glen his closest friend; one he could count on when things got tough. Unfortunately; things got tough for the Cole family and after a battle with ALS Glen passed away in 2008 and Gena, Glen's wife, tells me that the Cole family found out just how much they could count on Jay as well. Gena would call Jay up asking how many cc's are we supposed to give this cow, when unbeknownst to her, Jay was in the middle of a Manitoba Beef Producers directors meeting. He would put everything on hold to get her the answer she needed. Jay was there for many of us on several occasions. It was very important to Jay to give back to the community and the industry he cared so deeply for. Because of this over the past few years he selflessly served the local community as well as the province of Manitoba whether it be through 4-H beef leader with the Eddystone combined 4-H club; member of the Westlake grazing club; Dauphin and area beef show committee; or the Manitoba Beef Producers, Jay gave his all for the betterment of his community. Jay and Angie were proud to win the Young Farmer award for Manitoba in 2008. Through the Young Farmers of Canada program Jay was able to raise $26, 000.00 for Larsen Brunel through a charity auction he organized at this year's Outstanding Young Farmers convention in Brandon. Jay was a director with the Manitoba Beef Producers for 6 years serving on the Finance committee; Production management committee; Keystone Ag producers Executive; Crown lands committee; Ag policy framework committee and as the MBP's president from 2009 - 2011. The previous General Manager of MBP stepped down in mid 2010 leaving Jay to make the trek to Winnipeg three to four days a week for 7 months to ensure the office ran as smoothly as possible. Angie tells me Jay was determined to get the right man for the job and he was very happy when Cam took the General Managers position in mid 2011. I understand some of his fellow board members were happy that they did not have to navigate the streets of Winnipeg with Major as the driver. The greatest joy in Major Jay's life began on December 31, 2005 when he married Angie Russett, and soon after became Devon's dad. You immediately saw a change in Jay whenever he and Ang were together; he seemed to have a new sense of responsibility and determination that he would never let his new family down and he never did. Jay was fun loving and always had a one liner about how he had to keep Ang in line; but anyone spending five minutes with the couple knew how much that girl meant to Jay. Angie tells me that Devon was Jay's outlet to be a kid again. Whenever there was something fun to do Jay would come to Ang and say "boy, it has been a while since I spent some one-on-one time with Devon." When Ang would ask what they could do, surprisingly, Jay had an answer for her right away whether it was skiing or seeing a movie there was always something that Devon really wanted to do; unbeknownst to his son. Major thought the world of Devon; and when he rode his first steer, Major was on the phone to each the uncles replaying the whole ordeal. Devon was with Jay when he finally loaded old 834G his nemesis in the herd on the gooseneck after seven years of trying; Devon also watched as she carried Jay on her head out of the gooseneck as her one last parting shot. Charlee Rae was born on October 12, 2006. Jay loved telling the story of bringing the car salesman from Yorkton to the hospital in Dauphin the day Charlee was born. As Angie lay in bed she signed the paperwork for the new van. I don't know if the salesman or Angie was more embarrassed; but Jay couldn't have been happier. Charlee was the apple of Jay's eye. Her love of music put a smile on her dad's face like nothing else could. Jay being the big tough guy that he was would be seen shopping for dresses throughout stores in Manitoba with a huge smile on his face; anything for his little girl. Charlee inherited her dad's larger than life personality; it served her dad well. Porter Glen was born on November 21, 2007. The name sake of Jay's dear friend Glen Cole. Jay loved doing chores with Porter and reveled at the intelligence of his middle child. Porter was Jay's handsome little man and he often would have the biggest smile on his face when he would describe his incredibly hard working 3 yr. old that would stay by his dad's side all day. Little Major Jay was born June 15th. 2009. Jay was so proud to give little Major his name. It gave little Major's dad the greatest pleasure to hear "Amen" from his youngest boy after their family prayer. When my brother would see his two youngest playing he would smile and tell Angie they look just like Ben and I did when we were kids. The following portion of the eulogy was delivered by Stirling Fox: What is the single greatest asset my youngest brother could pass on to those of us looking for some solace? In my opinion it is his conscience. It is a very humbling thing to for an older sibling to have to go to his younger brother to ask for advice. However, I would seek Jay's advice whenever I would push boundaries between what is right and wrong; whether he knew it or not Jay has been my moral compass for a long time. To explain I need to go back to Jay's younger days for a moment. Jay was caught swearing by my mother one day when he was very young. Mom told him that if she caught him again he would get his mouth washed out with soap. A few short days later, Jay was sick one afternoon. When mom asked what was wrong he told her the soap made his tummy hurt. It seemed Jay did swear and felt so bad about it that he washed his own mouth out with soap. His conscience kicked in countless times throughout his childhood and I understand from talking to Angie it still happened regularly. My compass is pretty simple; would Jay feel bad enough about this to confess? If the answer was yes; then maybe I shouldn't do it. It has kept me from feeling regret several times through my adult life. We had to pare the stories down considerably in order to keep this from becoming unbearably long. It makes me feel an awful lot better that Major Jay lived a full life to have so many fond memories. Jay was brought to his final resting place by a slightly used 1990 GMC pickup. This is unit #412. Dad bought #412 from RJR Noyes in Lloydminster and like any of Dad's trucks it was not new for long. After enduring a few years of pasture driving, which to dad is the equivalent NASCAR racing with trees and the odd cow speed bump thrown in for excitement; this unfortunate ½ ton then went to my brother Ben when he turned 16. Ben at 16, as you can imagine, had the aggressive driving habits of dad on steroids and was not kind to his mode of transportation. Finally mercifully the old pickup ended up in Jay's hands in Manitoba. With one injector left, no 4wd; and definite drive train opportunities; any rational person would park it in the back forty. Jay was not that person; he slowly but surely fixed the old girl up enduring much ridicule from his siblings and I'm sure some of the neighbors. Getting it to the point of repair, that just a month ago, Jay was using his trusty side kick to corral a couple of cow calf pairs when one daring bovine infant had the audacity to turn back just before the gate. At 30 km/h our youngest brother who was not the most fleet of foot in recent years lunged out the door to stop the calf and proceeded to holler son of a bitch as he twisted his ankle and his old friend hit a tree almost simultaneously. Not to dwell on a piece of equipment however this anecdote about old #412 truly illustrates to me what my little brother was all about. If Jay believed in you, there was absolutely nothing he wouldn't do to get you back on your feet again. Whether it was paying out monetarily or taking time out of his own duties at home to aid the people and causes that he felt strongly about. He stuck by the people and the causes he held dear no matter what. How fitting his outfit is named Steadfast Ranch. (Just a side note, old #412 didn't falter with Major in the back on the way to the cemetery, and I could just picture the satisfactory smile on Jay's face). Jay would finish his monthly article to the Manitoba Beef Producers with a line that I feel is the most appropriate conclusion to our time today. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, LITTLE BROTHER , WE WILL NOT WEAKEN. The Fox and Russett families would like to express their sincere gratitude for all the community support and kindness from our family and friends. In particular we appreciate the many thoughtful cards, messages and flowers, from those who shared in the loss of our husband, father, son, grandson, brother, uncle, son-in-law, and brother-in-law, dearest Jay. We would like to thank the Lloydminster Exhibition team for providing the facility and lunch for the memorial service. Special thanks to the staff of McCaw Funeral Service, particularly Glenn, Dave and Amanda for their assistance and professionalism. Thank you to Kim Campbell for officiating, Verla Campbell as the organist and Marlene Risling for leading us in song. Thank you to Tyra Fox for her special music selection. Thank you to Sherry Martin for all her work behind the scenes assisting with the organization of the Lloydminster memorial service for Jay and also for putting together a commemorative binder of all of Major Jay's articles that he wrote for Cattle Country during his time as president of Manitoba Beef Producers. Thank you to all the emergency response personnel who attended to Jay at the farm, along with the doctors, nurses and staff at the St. Rose Du Lac, Dauphin and Winnipeg hospitals. Thank you to all the neighbors who helped out with chores in Lloydminster and Manitoba. Thank you to the Sneath-Strilchuk Funeral Service staff in St. Rose du Lac for your professionalism. Many thanks to all who have donated to the TD Trust Account set up for the education of Major Jay and Angie's children, Devon, Charlee Rae, Porter and Major Jay, Jr. Angie, Devon, Charlee, Porter, Major The Fox families The Russett families Donations in memory of Jay may be made to a trust fund for his children set up at any branch of TD Canada Trust.