John Allan Wilgenbusch July 4, 2015 John Allan Wilgenbusch, late of Halbrite, passed away July 4, 2015 at the age of 61 years after a 4 year battle with cancer.
John Allan Wilgenbusch, late of Halbrite, passed
away July 4, 2015 at the age of 61 years after a 4
year battle with cancer.听 John was born in Midale Au-
gust 20, 1953 and raised on the family farm south of
Halbrite.听 He attended school in Halbrite and finished
his high school in Midale.听 It was there he met his fu-
ture wife, Brenda McGregor. John attended the Uni-
versity in Saskatoon until he heard of some farm land
for sale.听 He purchased the farm that he has operated
for 42 years.听 John and Brenda were married in 1974.听
Always involved in sports, John played and coached
hockey and baseball at all age groups even before his
own children were involved. In 1979, son Colin was
born, followed by Conrad in 1983 and Craig in 1986.听
He was always their first coach and their biggest sup-
porter, his motto was 鈥渋f a job was worth doing, you do
it to the best of your ability鈥�. Because John had been
involved with cattle his whole life and a former 4-H
member, it was only natural the boys were also in-
volved.听 He was Cymri 4-H leader for over 10 year and also served on the local rink board for
many years organizing many hockey tournaments, ball tournaments and fund raisers.听 Supporting
your local community was important to John. The drought and grasshopper years in the 1980鈥檚
changed life on the farm and in order to support his growing family John went to work full time for
Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, he worked for them for 10 years. John loved the work and the peo-
ple he met but hated being away all day from his farm.听 The choice had to be made - sell the cattle
and continue working away or quit the job and expand the cattle herd and try to stay on the farm.
The decision was easy for him, and he expanded the cattle herd and spent more time at home
with his boys. This led to the eventual creation of Wilgenbusch Charolais, the pure bred Charolais
cattle operation that has been the focal point of his life for 27 years.听 John was happiest when talk-
ing to other breeders about their latest calf crop or showing people through the bull pen for the up-
coming bull sale.听 John served on the Saskatchewan Charolais Association for many years and
then the Canadian National Charolais Association until the past year when his health declined.听
During this time John and Brenda travelled to many countries around the world looking at and pro-
moting the Charolais breed.听 Because of his outgoing personality, John made many friends world-
wide. His love of sports led to a life-long love of the Roughriders and the Blue Jays and at one bull
sale in Ontario, the bonus was a Blue Jays baseball game.听 The cows took a back seat to the ex-
citement of going to the Jays game. BSE, in 2003, was a huge hit to the cattle industry and at that
time John and Mike Guest decided the time was right for a meat processing plant to help local
ranchers get a fair return for some of their animals.听 Western Prime Meats was started and John
worked there for over 2 years to help get it off the ground but then it was back to his own cows.听
That year John also decided that to sell his own breeding bulls more efficiently he needed his own
bull sale.听 The 12th annual bull sale was held this past April.听 In 2006, Western Prime was award-
ed a Weybex award for business of the year. That same year John and Brenda were awarded the
Golden Sheaf award by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce for excellence in farming achieve-
ment. John鈥檚 latest passion was his grandchildren.听 The past 3-4 years have been the most painful
for him but also the most exciting.听 It didn鈥檛 matter how bad a day he was having, when those
grandchildren showed up it was time to have fun.听 Have a play fight, read a book, share some ice
cream or have a snooze with grandpa in his chair! John was predeceased by his parents, Henry
and Kay Wilgenbusch, sister, Rita Casey and mother-in-law Marvel McGregor. He will lovingly be
remembered by his wife, Brenda Wilgenbusch;听 son, Colin (Ashlee) Wilgenbusch and their family,
Cash, Carter and Cally; son, Conrad (Erica) Wilgenbusch and their family, Rhea and Turner; son,
Craig (Tricia) Wilgenbusch; father-in-law, Keith McGregor; sisters, Rosella (Jim) McGrane and
family and Marilyn (David) Elliott and family; brother, Daniel (Robbie) Wilgenbusch and family;听
brothers-in -law, Robin (Robin) Casey and听 Ross (Karen) McGregor and sister-in-law Carla (Tom)
Mesic; as well as 15 nieces and nephews and many close friends. A Mass of Christian Burial was
celebrated on Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. from St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic
Church, Weyburn, Saskatchewan with Father Gerry Bauche celebratin g. Interment at Halbrite Ce-
metery, Halbrite, Saskatchewan. Donations in memory of John may be made to STARS Air Ambu-
lance. Condolencesces may be left at:www.fletcherfuneralchapel.comArrangements entrusted to-
Fletcher Funeral ChapelWeyburn, Saskatchewan306-842-5432
