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HAROLD JOHANN NEUFELD
Born: Oct 10, 1927
Date of Passing: Jul 12, 2025
Send Flowers to the Family Offer Condolences or MemoryHAROLD JOHANN NEUFELD
Harold passed away peacefully at the age of 97 on July 12, 2025. Cremation has taken place. Harold was predeceased by his parents, Isaac and Agathe Neufeld; siblings Alfred Neufeld, Irmie Konrad, and Hildy Bergman. He will be lovingly remembered by daughters Donna Heymann and Kimberley Neufeld, sister Edith Neufeld, sister-in-law Patricia Shalley, brother-in-law John Konrad, grandchildren Erich (Jenn), Alexis, Lauren (Ryan); and great-grandchildren Taylor, Mikaela and Emma; and many nieces and nephews.
Harold was born on October 10, 1927, the second son of parents Isaac and Agatha (Epp) Neufeld of Altona, Manitoba. He was brother to siblings Alfred, Edith, Irmie and Hildy. In April, 1939, the family left Altona, moving to the North Kildonan area of Winnipeg. Attending Lord Kitchener School, Harold got involved in sports, playing soccer and softball. He added hockey and football to his talents while in high school at Lord Selkirk. At age seventeen, Harold and a friend recruited others to form a hockey team. Before long, he was invited to join a North Kildonan team playing in the Commercial League.
In September, 1947, Harold was introduced to Verdeen Scott at a wiener roast. He'd had hopes that summer of playing hockey in the NHL, having been scouted by both the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins. He was signed as a "C-Form" with the Canadiens to attend their rookie camp in Saskatchewan. Alas, when he attended the camp, he was told "not to quit his day job." Having met Verdeen, he decided it was time to start thinking about his future. He completed his Grade 12 university entrance qualification at MBCI in 1949 and began the five-year Chartered Accountancy program, articling with Millar McDonald (Deloitte's), graduating in 1954. Harold and Verdeen were married July 7, 1951.
Neither his new profession nor Verdeen hampered his sports prospects. When Harold's hockey career ended in 1948, he turned to football. He was first recruited by the Winnipeg Rods; in the 1949-50 season, he played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers; in 1951, the Winnipeg Rams Senior Team; and in 1952-54, the Norwood-St. Boniface Legionnaires. Both his Norwood and Rams Teams were inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (2006 and 2015). Thus ended his football career! Nonetheless, Harold remained active, a regular at the Reh-Fit for more than forty years.
In 1956, he joined TCA (Air Canada), leaving in 1958 to "hang up his own shingle" in an office on Henderson Highway. His first employee, Verdeen, answered calls from an extension to the house phone, and typed his clients' tax returns and financial statements while caring for two babies! In 1960, Harold merged his firm with that of two classmates to form Kelm, Neufeld, Gateson & Company. In 1978, they merged again with Thorne Riddell (KPMG). Harold retired from the CA profession in 1987. In 1988, Harold successfully ran as an MLA candidate for the PC Party in the Rossmere Constituency. Premier Gary Filmon appointed Harold Minister of Energy and Mines, and to the Treasury Board. After five years in the Manitoba government, Harold retired for good.
Harold always maintained "you cannot live in a community, enjoying all the benefits, without giving something back." He volunteered his time, energy, and expertise to "whatever, whomever, whenever, wherever" the needs of others might be. He served as President of Rossmere Country Club and the Manitoba Institute of Chartered Accountants. For many years Harold canvassed for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Diabetes Canada, the United Way and MS Canada. Other community involvements are too numerous to mention. Harold's parting words: "It has been a good long ride. The road wasn't always straight and smooth, but we have never lost sight of the goal line. We have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. The family is small, but what we lacked in quantity, we sure made up for in quality!"
A Celebration of Harold and Verdeen's Lives will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday July 7, 2026, at First Mennonite Church, 922 Notre Dame Avenue, Winnipeg. Flowers gratefully declined. If so desired, a donation to a charity of your choice, or the Mennonite Central Committee, would be sincerely appreciated.
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 04, 2026
