Robert GILLANDER

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GILLANDER: C. Robert Stuart. With sadness, we announce Bob’s passing on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at the Brandon Regional Health Centre. Bob was born at home in Elva, Manitoba on January 21, 1937. Bob was raised in Elva, where he met his wife Evelyn when she and her brother Frank moved to Elva to teach school. Bob began his career as an electrician at Russell’s Electric in Melita, and in 1958, he and Evelyn relocated to Winnipeg where Bob worked for Melnyk’s Electric. In 1959, Russell’s Electric hired Bob to work at a new location in Dauphin, MB where daughter Heather and son Blaine were born. In 1969, enticed by the warm, sunny weather encountered on holidays to the Okanagan, the family relocated to Peachland, BC and then to Kelowna, BC before returning to Manitoba in 1973. The family settled in Brandon, where daughter Jami was born and Bob started his own business, Gillander Electric. Although he retired officially, he continued to putter with electrical and beekeeping until his health challenges interfered. Bob loved little kids, and really enjoyed spending time with Heather’s sons when they were little. He was delighted when the second crop of grandsons, Jami and Jeff’s boys, arrived two decades later. If he was having a bad day, a picture of Jesse and Luke would always bring a smile and a chuckle. Another highlight for him was seeing the little kids at the daycare next door playing in the yard and visiting with him. They always said “Hi Bob!” Bob is survived by his wife of 58 years, Evelyn (nee Basiuk), children Heather Lynn Gillander and her sons, Scott, Andrew and Paul Johnston; Blaine Gillander; and Jami Jacobson and her husband Jeff and sons Jesse and Luke. Bob is survived by his brother John Gaylord Gillander and John’s sons Gary and Bob (Eleanor) and their mother Shirley, his sister-in-law Nadine Gillander and her children Debra (Wayne) Braun, Reid, David (Qui), and Tim; and nieces Lisa Mackie, Wendy Mackie (Brian Creamer), Susan Mackie (Keith Beilman) and Linda (Kevin) Waldern. Bob is also survived by his in-laws: Lena Basiuk and her daughter Loretta Basiuk and son-in-law Ken Harder; Floreen Basiuk, and her children Wendy, Dean (Debbie), Lonnie (Melissa), Kevin, Cory (Susan) and Jody Excel; Frank Basiuk and his children Bob (Josephine), Karen (Ken) Barrows, and Grant (Susanne); and Evelyn’s twin sister Eleanor Wowk and her daughter Arlyne. There are also numerous grandnieces and grandnephews. Bob was predeceased by his parents Elizabeth Mary Gillander (nee Reid) and James Gillander; siblings Jim Gillander and Joyce Mackie (nee Gillander); brothers-in-law Henry and Joseph Basiuk, sister-in-law Thelma Basiuk (nee Banks); nephew John Gillander and nieces Valerie Harder (nee Basiuk) and Kathy Weiss (nee Gillander). Special people in Bob’s life included John and Mary Snyder, his cousin as well as his best friend; Frank and Thelma Basiuk, good friends as well as family; and nephew David Gillander and his wife Qui, who maintained a very close relationship in spite of great physical distance. The funeral service will be held at Trinity United Church, 1515-6th Street, Brandon, MB on Monday, March 14, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Interment at the Melita Cemetery will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Society, Unit 10 Mezzanine, 120 Donald St. Winnipeg, MB, R3C 4G2 or the Heart & Stroke Foundation, 824-18th Street, Unit 3, Brandon, MB, R7A 5B7. Arrangements in care of Redpath Funeral Home, Melita, MB. (204) 522-3361 Neil Redpath and Kurt Ardron – Funeral Directors. To send messages of condolence to the family please visit: www.redpathfuneralhome.com

As published in Brandon Sun on Mar 12, 2016