RONALD VINCENT MCKINNON

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RONALD VINCENT MCKINNON

Ronald Vincent McKinnon, husband, father, grandfather, uncle, friend, professional engineer, world traveler, animal lover, theatre lover and volunteer died in Madrid, Spain on the morning of September 4, 2024.

Ron was born on Bear Island, Ontario in 1933. He grew up and went to school in the part of Toronto known as Cabbage Town in the days before it became gentrified. He graduated from the U of T in 1956 as an engineer and worked for Ontario Hydro. He returned to university and in 1959 received his Master of Commerce. He worked for American Standard and then joined the Federal Public Service in the Department of Supply and Services where he spent the rest of his working life. He first worked in Toronto and then Ottawa and came to Winnipeg in 1982 as Manitoba Regional Director of Supply. In the mid 80's he piloted a project to unite the two branches as one administrative unit and he became Regional Director of Supply and Services. From 1991-1994 he worked in the Edmonton office. He retired in 1996.

In 1988, he married Peggy Barker who shared his love of theatre and travel. When they met, they both had MTC season tickets and less than a year after meeting they holidayed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and drove to Ontario to attend plays in Stratford, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto. For the rest of their life together, an ideal holiday was one that combined travel and theatre.

The first summer after retiring, Ron volunteered at the Fringe Festival. He continued to volunteer until the year before he died. This past summer he didn't volunteer but he went to 14 Fringe shows. He gradually expanded his volunteer activities. He ushered at both RMTC Mainstage and Warehouse theatres and at Theatre Projects Manitoba. Other volunteer gigs included the Pan Am Games, Indigenous Games, Canada Games, Folk Festival, Interstellar Rodeo, Glen Murray's Portage Avenue Street Festival and one Grey Cup Game. Ron also volunteered with several United Church congregations.

Ron has visited every province and the Yukon and every continent except Antarctica. Peggy and Ron went to New Orleans on their honeymoon. Other memorable trips included a driving holiday in Portugal and a decide-as-we-go trip to Australia. Once they both retired the holidays became more frequent and extensive like the 35-day cruise to Lima and the repositioning cruise from San Diego to Tokyo by way of Alaska, Russia and South Korea. Another memorable cruise was from South Africa to Brazil, with a stop in St. Helena Island.

More recently they discovered river cruising. They started with a cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. It was after a river cruise on Portugal's Douro River that Ron took his final trip.

Left to mourn his passing are his wife, Peggy Barker, his children Liz and Jim McKinnon and their mother and grandchildren Haytham and Sahara.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 19 at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, 525 Wardlaw Ave. In Ron's memory donations may be made to Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Winnipeg Humane Society or the Crescent Fort Rouge United Church Endowment Fund.

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 14, 2024, Sep 14, 2024