Obituary of John Wilks

Our beloved dad, grandpa, brother, and friend, died peacefully after a short but brave battle with cancer.  He shared 54 years of marriage with our mother, Eileen and he cared for her for many years during her current long-term illness.   He shared a great love of hockey with his brothers and was a lifelong Montreal Canadiens fan.  He carried this love into coaching his son’s youth hockey teams, and he could be found cheering the loudest at his grandson, Ben’s hockey games.  He was so proud of his granddaughters, Britany, Jazmin, Taylor, Lily, and Clara and was always available via Poppa’s taxi to pitch in and drive to practices, enjoy dance, guitar, and piano recitals, making sure they had plenty of treats.  Time spent in his garden was his passion and his love of gardening yielded crops of vegetables and flowers he generously shared with everyone.  If you needed a hand to fix anything, to build something, he would be there in a heartbeat with just the right tools.  If you wanted to play crib with this champion, though, you had better be prepared for the challenge!  He stood by his family, friends, and his grandchildren, through thick and thin, supporting our projects and dreams.  His notes to us all on our birthdays and holidays proclaimed his pride in our accomplishments. We love you right back dad, and we’ll miss your dry sense of humour, your way of making everyone feel like a friend and your big, bear hugs.  Our grief is huge, but we know that he would encourage us to get back up, dust ourselves off and carry on.  His children, Tammy (Ryan), Allison (Mike) and Brent (Shawnene) along with our entire family would like to invite you to join us for a celebration of his life on June 25, 2022. Take Highway 11 to the top of Lumsden hill, turn right after the Nutrien plant and follow the signs to the beautiful oasis where we will share some stories and lunch from 11am to 2pm.  Words cannot express how thankful we are to Dr. Bester, the amazing doctors at Allan Blair Cancer Centre, the staff of RGH and Pasqua Hospital and the wonderful Dr. Bowman and the caregivers at Regina Wascana Grace Hospice.  As dad would always say at the end of his daily phone calls “bye for now”