Obituary of Ray Mackie

Raymond William Mackie of Biggar, SK, passed away on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, at the age of 87 years. Ray was born on April 8, 1927, in the Harris district. He was the eldest of William and Nettie (nee Baird) Mackie’s six children. The family was living on a farm north of Harris when Ray was born, and later spent a few months living south of Feudal. They then moved to a farm in the Bents district, which became home for the entire family. Great care was taken to make this farm a home, many trees were planted and fences were built for the livestock. As a young boy, Ray made money by trapping and selling pelts of weasels and rabbits. Ray attended Hillview School, and walked 2 ½ miles to attend each day. Ray was 12 when he received his first bicycle, and he enjoyed being able to ride it to school and not have to take the horse and buggy with his sisters. When Ray was in Grade 9 he decided that he wanted to join the air force. He felt a thrill seeing the first airplanes fly over their farm, and it became his dream to fly. During the summer holidays, Ray and his mother went to the recruiting office in Saskatoon. He was not yet old enough to join the air force and returned to school. After completing his Grade 10, Ray joined the army. In the army, Ray trained to become an electrician. Unfortunately, this training did not give Ray all of the knowledge that he needed to work as an electrician. Ray left the army in October, 1945. He then worked for a month in a saw mill on Montreal Lake in Northern Saskatchewan. He worked for local farmers during the summertime, and in the winter he worked for the Lawson Dairy Farm at Biggar. In 1947, Ray went to Saskatoon and began work at Crawford Electric. He then went to Patrick Construction and later Codville Wholesale. On October 23, 1948, Ray married Crystal Moore, and they were blessed with four children, Ray, Thomas, Doug and Sandra. In 1948, Ray joined the Saskatoon Police Department, where he remained until his retirement in 1978. In his retirement years, Ray enjoyed spending time at his cabin at Emma Lake. He loved hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, and picking berries and freezing or canning them. He also enjoyed woodworking, and made furniture, cedar chests and turned wooden bowls on a lathe. He gave many of his projects to his friends and family. Ray loved to dance, and travelled to many dances. While spending his winters in Arizona, Ray became a Pattern Dance instructor. It was at a dance that Ray met Marj Heese, and they were married on May 22, 2001. He enjoyed all of the many friends that he made during this time. When Ray moved to Biggar in 2001, he began a Pattern Dance Club, which remained active for thirteen years. When Ray began teaching dance, he needed specific music for certain dances. This led him to one of his greatest hobbies, record collecting. Ray’s collection of records grew to approximately sixty thousand records. Ray was thrilled to be passing this collection on to his family. Ray had many and varied talents; he saved everything, and could fix anything. He loved going to garage sales, mainly to find records. Ray loved to fly, and in his early eighties he began taking flying lessons in Saskatoon. Unfortunately, Ray never did complete his flight training, as his instructor passed away. Ray got a computer and stayed in touch with many friends and family members over the years. Ray loved his family dearly, and enjoyed their visits, emails and phone calls. He delighted in all the emails that he received and returned. When Ray became a patient at the hospital he never complained, and the nurses loved him because he was a model patient. Ray had a strong faith in God, which helped sustain him throughout his life. Ray will be dearly missed by his loving family and many friends. Ray is survived by his wife of 13 years Marjorie Mackie (nee Schnedar); his children Raymond (Deb Kuzyk), Thomas, Douglas (Terri-lyn Lenz) and Sandra (Rod Schapz); Marj’s children Deb (Ian) McLeod, Tim (Jean) Heese; daughter-in-law Laurie Heese; numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren; sisters Jean (Grant) Abbott, Helen Stapleton-Barr, Naida Ross. He is predeceased by his wife Crystal Mackie (nee Moore, 1997); parents William and Nettie (nee Baird) Mackie; sister Kay (Alf) Garner; brother Lawrence (Senia)Mackie; brothers-in-law Bernie Stapleton, Bob Barr, Delmar Ross. Celebration of Ray’s life took place on Tuesday, June 17, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. at the Biggar Community Hall, 319 1st Avenue East, Biggar, SK. Memorial donations in memory of Ray may be made to Biggar and District Health Care Foundation Inc., Box 1003, Biggar, SK S0K 0M0.Online condolences can be shared at www.pichehawkinsgrondinfuneralchapels.ca. Funeral arrangements entrusted to Piche-Hawkins-Grondin Funeral Chapels, Assiniboia & Gravelbourg.