ELLINGSON, Glen Robert

ELLINGSON,Glen Robert

Glen Ellingson of Strathmore, Alta., has died. He passed away peacefully on July 3, 2022 — a week shy of his 84th birthday — from heart failure.

The youngest child and only son of Borghel and Olaf was born on July 10, 1938, at his aunt’s house in Maxim, Sask., at the tail end of the so-called Dirty Thirties.

Glen is survived by Lorraine, his wife of 57 years, his sister Betty Funk, his sons Craig (Tina) and Brent, and his grandson Erik. He was predeceased by his parents and his sisters Marian Ellingson, Verna Ellingson and Janet Barsness.

A man of faith, Glen attended church his entire life, including Immanuel Lutheran near Maxim, the Church of God in Saskatoon, Avonhurst Pentecostal in Regina, Central Pentecostal in Edmonton and the Strathmore Alliance Church.

Glen grew up about five miles southwest of Maxim on the family farm. It was located on the eastern edge of the hills of the Missouri Coteau, a glacial moraine of rolling hills dotted with wetlands under a major flyway for migratory birds.

He attended Temple and Colgate schools before moving to Saskatoon in 1957 to attend the University of Saskatchewan, where he obtained degrees in biology and education. He met Lorraine in Saskatoon in 1964; they married the following year and settled in Regina, where Glen taught biology at Scott, Campbell and Martin collegiates over much of the next 10 years.

Glen and Lorraine moved with their young sons in 1976 to Edmonton, where Glen worked in construction through his contracting company Maxim Developments. He returned to teaching in 1984 at Memorial Composite High School in Stony Plain, Alta., before completing his master’s degree in education at the University of Alberta in 1989 and spending much of the 1990s teaching adults in distance education (back in the early days of dial-up Internet) at Alberta Vocational College.

In 1998, when they ‘retired’ from their jobs in Edmonton, Glen and Lorraine moved to Strathmore, returning to their farming roots to help start Bumbleberry Orchards and, in 2005, Fieldstone Fruit Wines with Lorraine’s sister Elaine Gill and her husband Marvin.

Glen and Lorraine lived on the farm 10 km straight south of Strathmore on Highway 817 until late 2002, when they moved into town while continuing to help operate their business with the Gills until 2017. Glen also worked in Strathmore and area via his own handyman business as Mr. Fix-It.

Glen held varied interests, including outdoor activities such as camping, cross-country skiing, hiking and kayaking, as well as Canadian history, travelling, reading, atrocious puns and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

A memorial service for Glen has not yet been scheduled. 

To send condolences, please visit Robert’s obituary at www.wheatlandfuneralhome.ca.