JAMES FINLEY SCAIFE, P. ENG.

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JAMES FINLEY SCAIFE, P. ENG. September 10, 1919 - December 24, 2010 Peacefully at Deer Lodge Centre with his family by his side, Finley passed away in the early hours of Christmas Eve. Left to mourn and cherish his memory are his beloved wife of 61 years, Kay; daughter Barbara; son Robert; grandchildren Karen and Robert; brother Howard; nieces Gail, Lynn and Susan; and nephews Larry and Craig. Dad was predeceased by his parents, William and Mary Scaife; infant brother George; sister Marguerite; and daughter Elizabeth. Born in Winnipeg, Dad spent his school days in Vancouver and Brandon and then back in Winnipeg where he graduated with a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in 1942. While at university, Dad worked in the summer constructing runways in support of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Upon graduation, he joined the army and served overseas as a Lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Engineers. After returning from overseas, Dad worked for the Manitoba Highways Branch from 1946 to 1948, doing the field engineering on highway reconstruction around Gladstone, Neepawa, Dauphin and Arborg. He also did a winter survey of the Icelandic River from its source to Lake Winnipeg for a proposed drainage improvement project. In 1948, Dad left the Province and joined the Municipality of St. James as Assistant Engineer. In 1949, Dad married Kathleen Schofield, the sister of his engineering classmate, Stewart Schofield. (Dad didn't even know Uncle Stewart had a sister until he met her after the war!) In 1950 Dad and Mom moved to Duffield Street where they raised their family and spent many happy times with their neighbourhood friends in the Duffield Street gang . Dad's career took him through various reorganizations of the City of Winnipeg and surrounding communities. In Dad's 35 years in St. James, his engineering department designed numerous sewer and water and paving projects and supervised many contracts to serve a growing community that increased from 16,000 to over 80,000 people. He joined the ranks of the Duffield Street Retirement Club in 1983, when he retired from his final position as City of Winnipeg District 2 Engineer (St. James-Assiniboia). During his career, Dad served on the Executive of the Local Chapter of the Engineering Institute of Canada and was elected a Life Member in 1984. He served as a Director on the Western Canada Water and Wastewater Association and became an Honorary Life Member in 1990. He had a long association with the Manitoba Chapter of the American Public Works Association, serving as President at one time, receiving the Samuel Greeley Local Government Service Award in 1978 and becoming an Honourary Life Member. In his latter years, he was a member of The Canadian Society for Senior Engineers. Dad earned his Private Pilot's Licence in 1964 and served as a Director and was an Associate Member of the Winnipeg Flying Club. He and his friend, Bill Keith, enjoyed many hours flying their Piper Cub over southern Manitoba. Dad loved to travel and he and Mom enjoyed many special winter holidays, travelling to the Far East, South America, Egypt, the Panama Canal, the British Isles and Europe. Dad always had a project on the go, designing and constructing boats (including a sailboat he modelled after the one he had sailed in Germany), working on his plane and designing a desk and cabinets for Mom to work on her projects. He was happiest spending time at the cottage at Dorothy Lake in the Whiteshell where the family enjoyed many happy summers since 1957. Each summer Dad had a project - adding on to the cottage, building a guest house, and single handedly dismantling and moving the boathouse to a location above the highest recorded water line to escape flooding by the Winnipeg River. He designed a modular, portable dock to deal with the constantly changing water levels. (You should have patented that design, Dad!) Dad could fix anything, whether it was electrical appliances, plumbing, heating, cars, bicycles, outboard motors you name it. He was the original environmental engineer, recycling wood for his many construction projects, reusing and repairing items and keeping them operational long past their expected lifetime. We still use the cooking pot at the cottage that he carved a wooden handle for when the plastic one broke. Dad loved nature and would spend hours watching his birds, squirrels and chipmunks fighting over the well stocked bird feeders at home and at the cottage. He loved music, was a great dancer, and had a fine singing voice. He and Mom never missed their favourite Lawrence Welk Show on Sunday nights. Dad was a quiet man, demonstrating his love and devotion to his family with all the little things he did for us every day. You could always depend on Dad. He was kind and fair, and very patient. (He taught Mom and us kids to drive!) He encouraged his children that we could be anything we aspired to be and supported us in our decisions (even if he didn't always agree with us!) We have been blessed with the finest husband and father we could ever hope for. We love you Dad and we will miss you dearly. We would like to express our appreciation to the wonderful staff on T5 and T3 at Deer Lodge Centre who took such good care of Dad and were like family to us all. Cremation has taken place and a private family service will be held at a later date. If desired, donations may be made in Dad's memory to the Deer Lodge Centre Foundation, 2109 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3J 0L3, the Grace Hospital Foundation, 300 Booth Drive, Winnipeg, MB R3J 3M7, or a charity of your choice. Chapel Lawn 885-9715

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 31, 2010