Obituary of Hubert Rieland

Hubert Leo Rieland passed away at the Lloydminster Hospital, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, on Friday, August 28, 2020 at the age of 68 years.

 

Hubert Jr. was born to Christine (nee Freriks) and Hubert Rieland Sr. in Ste. Rose du Lac, MB. He started life on the farm at East Bay, he had so many stories and fond memories of farm life with his siblings. The family moved to Gladstone, MB in his early teens. Later teens, Hubert moved to Estevan, SK to live with his brother Dennis’ family until he met his wife. They went on to have three sons, Bradley (1972), Randy (1974) and Brent (1976). During these years they moved to Spruce Grove, AB, Hinton, AB and eventually settled in Blackfoot, AB in 1980. Hubert became a Grandpa in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2013 and he was beyond proud of each one of them.

 

Hubert is survived by: his son, Brad & Brenda (nee Cooper) and their children Aleshia, Leah and Caitlyn of Lloydminster, AB; his son, Randy and his son, Ethan, of Red Deer, AB; his four brothers, Joe, Ralph, Henry and Frank; his seven sisters, Terry, Bernadette, Betty, Christine, Mary, Sheila and Sharon; four sisters-in-law, Lorna, Verna, Doreen and Darlene; four brothers-in-law, Roman, Emile, Greg, and Les;  along with many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews.

 

Hubert was predeceased by: his son, Brent of Blackfoot, AB; his parents, Christine & Hubert Rieland of Gladstone, MB; his sister, Sylvia ‘Cindy’ Mertz; and his brothers, Dennis, Alfred, Gerald and William Rieland.

 

A Celebration of Life for Hubert will be held on Friday, September 4, 2020. In keeping with current health recommendations, the service is by invitation only. A come and go social gathering will be held at Blackfoot Hall beginning at 3:30 pm.

 

Donations in memory of Hubert may be made to the Cross Cancer Institute or Blackfoot Lions Club.

 

Hubert's memorial card can be viewed or downloaded from the link below.

 

https://indd.adobe.com/view/d64dc60c-ddf0-4d1a-9dfa-18d7e3925968

 

Eulogy:

Hello, my name is Vince Frazer, I have been a friend of the family for around 35 years and consider us family.  I have chopped and hauled a lot of wood for the fireplace, went on hunting and fishing trips and even DJ’d one of the Rieland family reunions. I will never forget the time Hubert thought it would be funny to pretend to throw me off the roof of the addition on the house and as scared as I was that day, I will always admire the work he put into the family home.

Hubert Leo Rieland was born January 28, 1952, at Ste. Rose Du Lac, Manitoba to Hubert Sr and Christine Rieland.  He was number nine of seventeen children and with that many siblings, life was never boring at the Rieland household.  He grew up on the farm on East Bay Road north of Ste. Rose.  Hubert attended a country school two miles from the farm called Dane McCarthy School from the age of six to thirteen.  The Rieland kids were put to work on the farm right from the start, tending to animals, helping with haying or gardening, whatever needed to be done.  Just sit down at a table with a few of the siblings for an hour or so and you will hear all kinds of fun, silly, scary, ‘what were they thinking!’ kind of stories.  Hubert had a bit of a tractor accident that got him out of haying for a while, when the steering wheel broke his arm and his sister Betty had to fill in for him.

When the family moved off the farm, they eventually settled in Gladstone, Man. where Hubert Sr took a salesman job.  Some siblings had started to move off on their own, while the teens at home started to get their own jobs and still others were toddling around being helpful at home.  Hubert went to work at the local butcher shop.  He wasn’t there too long but learned some great lessons and skills that he used the rest of his life.  He was even helping the boys to butcher a couple moose at Brad’s house not too long ago and loved to show the grandkids a few of his butchering tips.  He did realize early on that butchering would not be his career, as the repetitiveness in the cold caused some early arthritis to set in.

In 1968 Hubert went to his Brother Dennis’ wedding in Estevan, Saskatchewan and that was his cue to make the move from Manitoba and he didn’t look back.  He met some great friends and had many stories from his Estevan days.  He also met his wife, Kathleen Eddy there and Bradley Maxwell blessed their union in 1972.  They moved to Spruce Grove shortly after so Hubert could begin working construction with his brother Joe.  Randy Hubert came along in 1974 much to Bradley’s delight.  His construction career moved the family to Hinton, Alberta where Brent Ryan was also born in 1976 and completed the Rieland family of five.  Hubert was becoming a Jack of all trades with his experience in building homes and pouring concrete, he was on the crew that built the Hinton hospital among other buildings.  He even took a fly in construction job in the North West Territories where a dog ended up coming home with him for the boys.  They named TukaTuk because he came from Tuktoyaktuk.  Brad remembers going for rides on the back of that dog, it was part wolf part husky.

Hubert also worked at the Cadomin mine near Hinton where he drove very large mining trucks taking coal from the mine to the plant.  Brad and Randy camped near there ten years ago as their base camp to go sheep hunting.  Brad, Brenda and the girls, along with Hubert, revisited the same base camp a few years ago where Hubert was very excited to see the mining trucks and the plant and tell the kids about his working stories.

In 1980, the family moved to Blackfoot, Alberta, it was in this same summer that they tragically lost Brent in an accident.  Hubert continued in various capacities in the construction industry in Lloydminster.  Eventually Hubert began a new career in sandblasting.  He worked at Christie Corrosion for about 25 years.  Hubert worked here right through his cancer diagnosis, surgeries and treatments, only being done when the company sold.  He did odd jobs after to stay busy, took up axe throwing, had time to enjoy the grandkids and play many rounds of Yahtzee.

Hubert became a super proud Grandpa in 2006 when Aleshia was born, again when Leah came along in 2008 and Brad and Brenda’s youngest, Caitlyn in 2010.  He patiently waited for Randy’s son, Ethan, to arrive in 2013.  Hubert was always ready for snuggles when the kids were babies, horsy style knee rides as they got older and beyond excited when they started to become interested in the outdoors.  Whether it was fishing and hunting, looking for sheds, berry picking (so much berry picking!) or camping.  He was moved to tears watching Aleshia take her first bear and encouraged her to practice her archery to become stronger.

Hubert passed his love of hunting on to his boys and they spent many hours together in the bush.  They had many adventures whether it was a bear coming into camp at night, almost swamping the Jimmy going across Kakwa River or Brad learning an important lesson to always empty the barrel and put his safety on before moving, after the shot is taken.  They made many family memories and did many hunting trips with friends as well.  In the 90’s Hubert built an incredible portable shack that he put on Turtle Lake.  Many days and nights were spent out in this shack by family and friends.  It was a much appreciated place to hang out and get some deadly fish.  He tweaked that shack into a hunting shack that he used for deer camp and now the kids and grandkids will continue to enjoy.  He then started working on a new ice fishing shack that Randy and Ethan will have the privilege of testing out this winter.  Hubert would be thrilled to see the boys and grandkids continue on this part of his legacy.

When the Grandkids were asked about some of their memories of Grandpa, right away the girls talked about the play kitchen that was at his home in Blackfoot and how their mom wanted them to just pretend to bake a cake but Grandpa got right in there and helped them mix up a real cake and bake it in his oven.  They don’t remember if it was tasty or not, but it was so much fun.  Their mom remembers the mess!  Another big memory was the camping trip to Jasper and going to the Miette Hot Springs.  Grandpa was a good sport about jumping in the cold plunge pool with the girls.  On that same trip they made a pit stop just west of Hinton and went zip lining.  I’d have to say that was probably Hubert’s favorite memory of that trip as it was something he spoke of often … even as recent as last month.  One of Brenda’s memories is of the many road trips her and Hubert took to Edmonton for doctor appointments and how it never failed that when his truck was started you would nearly jump out of your skin because of the volume of Neil Diamond (or another moldy oldie) blasting on the speakers.  He enjoyed his driving music! 

Ethan loved all the camping trips Grandpa took with him and his Dad.  They spent many hours quadding and dirt biking in the foothills.  Hubert had quite a scare one time when him and Ethan went for a quick ride and deer jumped right in Ethan’s path while he was cruising along on his bike.  He was just as proud when Ethan avoided them and came out of it unscathed and super excited to have seen the deer.  Ethan also got to make a huge ice-cream and fruit smoothie with Grandpa Hubert that they both enjoyed the last time they came to see Grandpa at Brad’s house.  Brad was super impressed when he realized all his favorite ice-cream was gone!

Hubert came to stay with Brad, Brenda and the girls after one of his surgeries last year.  It was a transition for all involved but they were able to have so many great times too.  Hubert was a great help picking up the girls from any one of their many activities and he enjoyed cheering them on in whatever they were doing.  His presence will be greatly missed in their home and all his kids’ and grandkids’ lives.  He fought hard since his cancer diagnosis in 2013 right up until his last day.