LEO DANIEL FLOOD

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LEO DANIEL FLOOD Leo Daniel Flood died peacefully of natural causes early Tuesday, May 26, 2015, at Misericordia Place in Winnipeg. Born on May 15, 1914, he lived for 101 years and 11 days. Leo D. Flood, as he invariably signed his name, was a "working man" throughout his life. To Leo D. that meant that he was self-sufficient, his own man, one who would provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. It meant that he could be counted on to be honest, reliable and competent; that the values of family, church and community service were as unwavering as were the virtues of thrift, sacrifice and generosity. Born and raised in the hamlet of Forget, Saskatchewan, the oldest of 10 children, he quickly became the family helpmate. At age 10, for example, he was made responsible to plant and tend the family garden, a considerable responsibility in rural Canada a century ago. As family gardener, he learned what it means to be a provider, which he remained throughout his life. Leo D. was born into a world at war, and grew up during the hard times of the Great Depression. As with many young men of the time, the Depression cut short his schooling and his desire to pursue a career in the exciting new world that electrification was sparking. Instead, he rode the rails to work in logging camps in British Columbia and later in Manitoba. A steel-wheeled tractor crushed a leg from toe to thigh, an injury that almost cost him the leg and which later precluded him from serving in the Second World War, during which he joined the reserves and acquired a taste for motorcycles. He sold women's lingerie door to door, and delivered cord wood to heat homes in Winnipeg. He travelled the Prairies as a trucker and "hired man," which is how he came to work on a farm in Stonewall, where he met and eventually married Lyla Sturtevant in 1941. They were true partners for 56 years, and so they now will remain. They raised eight children in a healthy and loving environment. While they never had much wealth, they gave their children the priceless gifts of their shared values and examples, never telling but always showing what it fundamentally means to have - and to give - a good life. Leo never stopped working. After he retired from Weyerhaeuser Paper Co., where he worked for most of his adult life, he became manager of the Fort Richmond Community Club, retiring for a second time only to become caretaker of the apartment building to which he and Lyla moved after leaving the family home in Fort Garry in 1986. Throughout all this, Leo D. was a tireless volunteer at his church, at community centres and with such service organizations as the Knights of Columbus. He was elected in the 1950s as a school trustee on a promise to help establish Fort Garry's first high school, which was realized with the opening of Vincent Massey Collegiate in 1960. And, of course, he maintained a garden until 2010. On his 100th birthday, he was awarded an honorary Grade 12 diploma by St. Paul's High School, where he had boarded until the money ran out in the Depression. He also published a memoir, Shy Boy From Lost Horse Hills. Leo D.'s life and accomplishments cannot be distilled into this space. But his legacy can be. His legacy is the example he set for all who knew and loved him. A funeral mass will be held at St. Vital Catholic Church, 1639 Pembina Highway, at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 1, followed by a viewing at 1:00 p.m. and a celebration beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Chapel Lawn Funeral Home, 4000 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg.
Publish Date: May 30, 2015

LEO DANIEL FLOOD Leo Daniel Flood died peacefully early Tuesday morning, May 26, 2015 at Misericordia Place in Winnipeg, at the age of 101 years. A funeral mass will be held at St. Vital Catholic Church, 1639 Pembina Highway, at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 1, followed by a viewing at 1:00 p.m. and a celebration beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Chapel Lawn Funeral Home, 4000 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg. Longer obituary to follow.
Publish Date: May 28, 2015

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 30, 2015