ESTEVAN - Ross LeBlanc is being remembered as a man who loved the Estevan area so much he always wanted to be in the region.
Ross died on Aug. 29 at the age of 86 while residing at Hill View Manor. He had been at Hill View for only a short time.
His son Jason – the youngest of Ross and Shirley's three children – said that Ross was a “loyalist” to the community.
“He was lucky enough to find everything he ever wanted right here in Estevan,” said Jason. “As far as going on holidays and stuff, he did go on some, but his favourite part of the holiday was coming home. And he never wanted to get a house in Phoenix or live in that type of an atmosphere. He didn’t mind going to visit [in those areas]. He liked going to different places but he always wanted to come home.”
Ross, whose first name was Regis, was born and raised on the family farm west of Estevan and resided on the farm for virtually his entire life. He always wanted to be a farmer. At one time, the LeBlanc family had a butcher shop in the 1300-block of Fourth Street. And he worked for Flint as well.
When he had the opportunity to take a management role for Flint Canada in Rocky Mountain House, Alta., he declined because he didn’t want to leave Estevan.
Ross was named the Estevan Farmer of the Year (now known as the Farm Family of the Year Award) in 1993. Jason said his dad saw a lot of changes during his farming career.
Ross was in cattle before his children were born. Jason’s brother Marlin now has the cattle side of the operation. And Ross was always working behind the scenes on the farming operation.
“Instead of going boating, it would be a nice hot day out, a beautiful day, and he’d cut hay because that’s what he liked doing,” said Jason.
Ross started with horse-drawn equipment when he was a kid and the first tractor he drove had steel wheels.
“He always said ‘When you start off with a steel-wheeled tractor and it’s hot out with mosquitoes, you bloody well wanted to farm. It’s not because you got to run nice equipment. He said the smell of the dirt would get your mind off the mosquitoes,” said Jason.
They still have Ross’ first tractor, a McCormick-Deering 15-30, and his final unit, a Case IH Quadtrac.
“He went from doing everything manually to the invention of the hydraulic system so that they could do everything the way we do things today,” said Jason.
Ross was operating the equipment earlier this year, and still had a ritual of going for coffee at Blackbeard’s Restaurant. He was even out on the farm to watch harvest operations a few days before he died.
He had a seizure on July 6 and had to teach himself to eat and walk all over again. Jason noted his dad never lost his sense of humour. But he had a few more seizures after the initial one and his health continued to deteriorate.
While he made connections in the farming world, he was also known for his musical talent. Locally, he performed as part of the Ross LeBlanc Trio. Jason said they have received condolences from someone in Scotland, from former Saskatchewan premier Grant Devine and even from people who watched him play in St. Louis.
“I never realized how many people knew him through the music industry. I got the call from St. Louis. He played in a little nightclub down there when he went on a Monsanto tour to learn about Monsanto canola seeds.”
Ross was also an avid supporter of the Estevan Bruins junior hockey club from the moment of their inception in 1957. He rarely missed a game and even purchased the team’s first bus.
“He did other things like that in the community that he would never, ever talk about, nor will we ever say what he did,” said Jason.
Everything he needed in life could be found in Estevan, Jason said, and his life revolved around a 30-kilometre radius of the city. Ross knew generations of people, was happy and always loved to joke around.
“I think that’s the message is that instead of searching to be happy all the time, you can be happy right here, and that’s what he was,” said Jason.
Ross is survived by his wife Mary, his three children Gwen Nijman, Marlin and Jason and their families, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many other family members and friends. He was predeceased by his first wife Shirley, among others. A funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. on Sept. 2 at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Estevan.
