DENNIS NEIL OUSEY

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DENNIS NEIL OUSEY December 16, 2005 will always be a sad day for us. That's the day our beloved son, brother, uncle, husband, father and friend, Dennis Neil Ousey died. After a short illness at Victoria Hospital, Dennis died surrounded by a loving family. Dennis was predeceased by his father John Buckley Ousey in 1998. Left to mourn for him are his mother Vivian; his brothers, Jack and Gary (Carolyn); his wife Catherine; his daughter and son-in-law, Margot and Joel Baloro; nieces and nephews, Lyn (Alan), Noni, David (Tena), Michael (Charlene), Kevin (Kim), Andrew and Jamie; and many in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins and treasured friends. Dennis was born on June 14, 1947 and grew up in Winnipeg's North End. His father nicknamed him Button . He and his father spent many happy hours together building a boat, fishing and camping with the family. He inherited his father's sense of humour. In the words of niece Noni, Uncle Dennis was one of the funniest men on the planet. I was 12 years old the last time he made me pee my pants . He enjoyed all kinds of humour, from the slapstick of the Three Stooges to the satire of Saturday Night Live. He was known as a practical joker. Dennis loved numerous styles of music and was a drummer. Like many Baby Boomers in Winnipeg, he belonged to several garage bands in the 1960s including, The Good Feeling . His favourite bands included the Beatles, the Guess Who and Queen. Dennis met his wife Catherine, on a family trip to Nova Scotia and it was love at first sight for both of them. They married in 1967 and had one daughter Margot, in 1978. She will forever be her Dad's muffin . Dennis was very proud of earning his private pilot's license. While working at Bristol Aerospace, he was part of the Emergency Response Team. In 1987, on their 20th anniversary, Dennis and Catherine renewed their wedding vows. Dennis retired from his job as a Buyer at Bristol Aerospace in May 2002. He enjoyed attending plays at MTC, going out to dinner and playing Trivia Games with good friends, Al and Janine Bertrand and Paul Lariviere and Pat Lewicki. His most frequent toast was, Here's to good food, good wine and good friends . He loved crossword puzzles and every Sunday, he and his wife Catherine did the New York Times Crossword Puzzle together. He delighted in all sorts of computer activities, including writing a blog titled, Prairie Dog Blog. Friends may access this blog at http://www.dousey.blogspot.com/. He was very proud of his blog and liked to brag about how many hits he had. He was a movie buff and avidly watched reality television shows and comedy shows. Dennis loved to research his family history and compiled family trees and collected stories about his ancestors. He was proud of his connection to the voyageurs of Manitoba and was a descendant of Amable Hogue, one of Governor George Simpson's favourite paddlers. Since his retirement, he did volunteer work for the Western Canada Aviation Museum. He enjoyed greeting visitors to the museum and conducting tours of the museum. He was full of knowledge about the planes and was enthusiastic about sharing that information. He had many friends at WCAM and loved them all. Dennis was also a member of the Humanist Association of Canada and the Humanist Association of Manitoba. He sat on the Executive of HAM, using his considerable computer skills and writing ability as editor of the HAM newsletter and maintainer of the HAM blog. He believed in the Humanist principles of caring for humanity, democracy, science and taking care of Earth. He worked tirelessly on causes he believed in, separation of religion and state, social justice for all, same-sex marriage, peace and equality. His last summer, Dennis and his wife went on their dream trip, an Alaskan cruise. They and their dog Suzie, spent many happy hours in their new RV in Gimli. A celebration of Dennis' life will be held at the Western Canada Aviation Museum, 958 Ferry Rd., at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21. All those who loved him are invited to attend. Instead of flowers, family and friends are asked to send donations to any of his favourite charities, Humanist Association of Manitoba, Doctors Without Borders, the Western Canada Aviation Museum, the Humane Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Diabetes Association or the Cancer Society. The family would like to thank the staff of Unit 5 at Victoria Hospital for their outstanding care and compassion. Doctor Ogaranko, many nurses, health care aides, porters, housekeeping staff all took an interest in him and shared his sense of humour. You are the best. Many thanks to Dr. Craig Hildahl and Dr. V. Woo.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 20, 2005