Arthur Robert Wiley, honourable and loving husband of Alice of Orcadia, SK passed away suddenly on March 22, 2013 at home. Arthur was born on August 4, 1934 on the Wiley homestead, in the Perley district, to Herbert and Katie (Bradshaw) Wiley and was the oldest of four children. On August 3, 1957, Arthur was united in marriage to Alice Emsley and they were blessed with four children. He was a loved soul-mate and husband, a loving and treasured father and grandfather, a dependable and caring neighbor and friend. True to his roots, Arthur loved the world of outdoors. He was trapper, hunter, and lover of fishing. In the winter, he followed in his ancestors' ways and trapped many wild animals including beavers, muskrats, and coyotes, and sold the pelts in the spring. But more, he was learner, observer, participant in nature's dramas, steward of birds of the sky, animals of nature, and fish of the waters. He was farmer, lover of animals (especially horses), skilled in his working with them and patiently taught each of his children how to ride and care for a horse. Arthur was an avid athlete, whose passion for baseball in the summer and hockey in the winter, showed through as he taught his children to become capable ball players, and coached his son's hockey teams for many years. He was gardener, whose skills nurtured large and productive vegetable gardens and whose fruit trees and plantations tested the imagination and sometimes tolerance of those charged with keeping up to the harvest. The family acreage was a dream that, with much hard work and perseverance, became treasured reality and home. Over the years after leaving school, Arthur worked at a variety of jobs in various communities. He had time on the oil rigs, in lumbering, in construction, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Livestock division, Gerber Construction, Atlas Concrete, and many years at Morris Sales and Service. He loved the challenge of the big green machines and his work with neighbor, Don. His community involvement included membership in: Rokeby Gymkhana Club, Silver Spur Gymkhana Club, AQHA, Saskatchewan Wildlife, and an associate member of the Yorkton Exhibition Association. The measure of a man is not what he has, but what he gives to others. He loved sports of all kinds and that involved him in coaching hockey and baseball. At home he was always ready for a ball game, soccer, of course wrestling, and teasing the grandkids was a favorite activity. With declining health he was an armchair athlete at the end. Arthur enjoyed cooking, was a masterful soup maker and recently produced some fine cabbage rolls. It was all part of enjoying life, learning and sometimes pushing boundaries. Despite a full share of challenges and struggles, life in the Arthur Wiley family included lots of laughter and adventures. An abundance of episodes to fuel story-telling and conflicting explanations and remembrances, not surprisingly, loved cousins and friends feature in many of these storytelling fests. Art was predeceased by his parents, Herb in 1997 and Katie in 1993 and leaves to celebrate his life; his wife of 55 years Alice of Orcadia, SK; daughters, Sandra (Allan) Hnatuik of Yorkton, SK and Tracy (Wayne) Paul of Stony Plain, AB; sons, Clayton (Lisa) of Red Deer, AB and Ian of Burgis Beach, SK; grandchildren, Brett and Larissa Hnatuik, Nathan and Nicole Paul, Melanie, Kendra, Shelby and Chantel Wiley; his three sisters, Mildred (Dan) Meneley, Merle (Dale) Ward and Vicky Wiley; his brothers in-law, George (Marion) Emsley, David (Violet) Emsley and sister-in-law, Ada (Ben) Hoehne as well as many nieces and nephews, other relatives and good friends. Reverend Walter Farquharson presided over the funeral service held in The Chapel of Christie's Funeral Home, Yorkton, SK on March 27, 2013. The organist, Vange Shipowick, led the congregation in the singing of the hymns, "Softly and Tenderly", "Abide With Me", "The Old Rugged Cross", "Morning Has Broken" and "Just As I Am". A special taped music selection of "Peace in the Valley" as sung by Anne Murray was played. Art was laid to rest in Bredenbury Town Cemetery with Brett Hnatuik, Nathan Paul, Eugene Porter, Don Wilson, David Emsley and Dean Wiley as pallbearers. The Honourary Pallbearers were Maurice and Jean McKen, Lee and Barb Bennett, Don and Bilkes McKen, John Miller, Karen Hierlihy, Earl and Susan Hughes, Violet Emsley and Casper Haas. Friends so wishing may make donations in Art's name to Ducks Unlimited or to The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation as tokens of remembrance. Friends so wishing may forward their condolences to the family by visiting www.christiesfuneralhome.com. Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Christie's Funeral Home & Crematorium, Yorkton, SK
