DOUGLAS LLOYD CLAVER RENNIE

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DOUGLAS LLOYD CLAVER RENNIE 29 September, 1919 - 29 September, 2010 Peacefully on his 91st birthday, Dr. Douglas Rennie was called home after a fall and a brief struggle with pneumonia at H.S.C., during which his family was there to comfort him. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, eldest son of Cecil Rennie and Maud Judah Rennie of Spanish Town. He spent his boyhood at Cavaliers Waterworks, where his father was Chief Engineer, and later at a government experimental farm in Browns Town run by his Uncle Martin. He was educated at Woolmers School and later became an Issa Scholar, which brought him to Canada in the early 1940s. He studied first engineering, then sociology at Sir George Williams College in Montréal, where he earned an MA. In post-Second World War Montréal, he met and married Eva Keilson, his loving partner for the rest of his life. With a Ford Foundation fellowship, he went on to earn his Ph.D. in sociology at Yale University. He then taught at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he was active in mentoring overseas students and where he helped pioneer educational television. Douglas came to Winnipeg in 1964 to head the new Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba. He was concerned with his students' welfare and was generally known as a cheerful, kind, and unfailingly courteous man. During sabbaticals, he taught sociology at CFB Baden-Baden in Germany. He led study groups in Europe and enjoyed travel with his family throughout the US by car; he also visited such places as Alaska, Portugal and Scotland. He participated actively in the life of St. John Brébeuf Parish and the Serra Club. He was an advocate of correct and clear use of the English language; he read sonorously in church and volunteered as a reader of talking books for the CNIB. Starting with his days in Jamaica as a leader of Sea Scouts, he remained a life-long avid sailor of small craft. While deeply steeped in the history of his native island, he viewed himself as a citizen of the world, and retained a cosmopolitan outlook. Douglas was predeceased by his parents, and by his brother, Noel (Barbara) of Kingston Jamaica. He will be deeply missed by his wife of 63 years, Eva Keilson Rennie; by their sons Michael (Indira Rampersad) of Winnipeg and Harold (Joanne Cook) of Halifax; grand-children, Colin and Katherine of Halifax and Anatol of Winnipeg; brothers Errol (Monica, now deceased) of Hamilton and Walter (Valerie) of Toronto, ON; and sister Gloria (Ken, now deceased) Ingram of Kingston Jamaica. He also leaves 12 nephews and nieces and their children and grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, 12 October at 10:00 a.m. at St. John Brébeuf R.C. Catholic Church, with Rev. Mark Tarrant officiating. Interment will be at Chapel Lawn. The family requests that instead of flowers, donations be made in the name of Douglas Rennie to the Parkinson Society Canada or to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development Peace. The Coutu family in care of arrangements: E.J. COUTU CO. FUNERAL DIRECTORS 680 Archibald St. 253-5086

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 02, 2010