Colin Maxwell Helier Le Rougetel
died on January 22nd, just one day shy of his 89th
birthday. His death is a blessed release from an earth- and body-bound life
that had become a burden to his spirit. He leaves to cherish his memory his
beloved wife Anne, his children, Katy (Guy), Amanda (Val), and Charles (Lisa).
His grand-sons Max and Sam held a special place in his heart; he loved being
their Canada Grand-pa.
Colin was a man who loved and was loved. He embraced life
and took on the challenges it brought. Born in Peking (Beijing) because his
father was stationed there by the British Foreign Service, Colin was trained to
enter the British Navy at Dartmouth Naval College; he served during the tail
end of WWII. He left the Navy to attend university, but he met Anne and, like a
bolt of lightening (as he always told the story), that was it; he was in
life-long love. He left the British Navy, because he wanted to support his wife
and the children whom he very much wanted.
Anne and Colin were married in London, England, in 1951, and
moved across the Atlantic in 1953 to embark on a new life in Canada; it was a
move that served his family well. His work in sales & marketing took him
back and forth between Canada and Europe over the next two-plus decades, and
his children gained tremendously from the experience: Katy was born in
Montreal, Amanda in Toronto, and Charles in Bad-Homburg, Germany. Languages
were learned, friends were made, and cultures were explored; we maybe had gaps
in our formal education, but we had no shortage of life-lived lessons that
formed us and prepared us for our own lives of challenge and change. Colin and
Anne’s home was always the place their children’s’ friends congregated for
conversation and fun.
Over the last 13 months of his life, Colin was faced with
increasing physical difficulties; his body was giving out but his mind remained
active. Conversations with his family were had by phone right up to the very
evening of the night of his death.
The family thanks everyone who has helped along the way. It
takes a village to care for a loved one, and we had a village, indeed.
Carmelita, Robert and Brad from Baycrest were wonderful. Ann, Jennifer and Doug
Tweddle; Barbara Chan; and Al and Jane Dunbar are family in spirit and in deed.
No one could ask for better and truer friends than these.
A celebration of life is being planned in Edmonton for early February.
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