Ross John Strong
March 20, 1947 - September 14, 2024
As published in the September 30, 2024 World-Spectator
The family of Ross John Strong is saddened to announce his passing on September 14, 2024, at the age of 77 years. In true Ross fashion, he managed to get his way and remained in his home where he passed peacefully surrounded by his loving wife of 55 years and all three of his adult children.
The youngest of three siblings, Ross was born to Olive and Clark Strong on March 20, 1947, in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan. When others called him an “afterthought” since he was 14 years younger than his siblings, Ross’s parents countered, “He kept us young.”
Ross attended Prosperity Country School and then Rocanville School, where he met the love of his life, Helen White. They married on August 16, 1969. Their first married home was in Regina where Helen worked on her Bachelor of Education and Ross worked at Dominion Bridge.
Ross and Helen moved back to their hometown of Rocanville, Saskatchewan, in 1971 where Ross returned to work as a steel fabricator for Kenny Goodman at Goodman Steel and Iron Works. Ross would work for Goodman’s until he retired in 2010.
During his career, his strong work ethic and firm belief that you “do it right the first time” served him well, as he found himself in the position of shop supervisor until the business sold in 1987, and then later became senior fabricator. He was proud to have trained many tradespeople over the years and of the many projects he contributed to.
He enjoyed the challenge of the “difficult jobs” and many of the fabricated products he had a hand in including the diamond monument (for Rocanville’s diamond anniversary), and the world’s largest oilcan, will outlive us all.
Ross was always very involved and vocally supportive in his community. He served on the Rocanville Rink Building Committee (1995-2001), served as an alderman on Rocanville Town Council (1988-1997), volunteered on the Rocanville Economic Development Organization (REDO), worked on building improvements for the new pharmacy, and was a strong supporter of the Thrift Store since it opened in 1996.
Ross and Helen raised three children in Rocanville, and he was very proud that they all went on to graduate from university before eventually having families of their own.
Ross had difficulty sitting idle and used much of his retirement to travel to his children’s homes when something required fixing or when home projects were scheduled.
In 2009, Ross and Helen made the difficult decision to move to White City to be closer to the care home where Helen’s parents lived. One of the drawbacks of the decision was that Muriel Pateman would no longer be living across the street. Muriel and her late husband Hartley had helped raise all three Strong children and had become family.
After his wife’s parents passed, Ross expressed that he’d had enough of the Saskatchewan winters, and the decision was made to move to Kelowna, B.C. It was again difficult to leave their new friends and community, but with the promise of staying in touch with their White City neighbors, they eventually moved to Kelowna in 2014.
Now with a large home situated between all three children, Ross enjoyed hosting the family often on long weekends and holidays. He was grateful for all the new friendships formed in Kelowna as well as the many Saskatchewan visitors who made the journey out to B.C.
In 2019, Ross was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Although he struggled with memory loss, had difficulty finding the right words, and could no longer “fix everything” nor complete projects as planned, he remained the kind, generous, grateful spirit that his family and friends knew and loved.
He will be remembered forever by his wife Helen; their daughter Nicole (Dustin) Leduc; their son Adrian (Erin) Strong, Logan and Talia; and their son Tyler (Nelly) Strong, Hayden and Landon; his sister Gaylene Owens, as well as his extended family. He will be missed by his many friends, whom he thought of as family.
Ross has left to join his parents Clark and Olive Strong; in-laws George and Iris White; brother Donnie Strong, sister-in-law Phyllis Strong and brothers-in-law Ross Fergusson and Joe Owens.
A celebration of his life will take place on Sunday, October 13, 2024, at 2 pm in St. Paul’s United Church, Rocanville, Saskatchewan.
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