William "Bill" Ross LETAWSKY

William Ross Letawsky, known as “Bill” to everyone, passed away at the Rosetown & District Health Centre on Thursday, June 28, 2018 at the age of 90 years.

Bill was born in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba on December 8, 1927. He started working at the age of 15 and moved around to various places, wherever the work was. He had many different job titles until he started his company. On October 28, 1947, he married the love of his life, Isobelle Stragier. Together they had two sons, Ron and Dave. After a few years of being married, they started up their own road construction and earthmoving business called Letawsky Construction and Earthmoving Ltd. They ran the company together for many years and when their two boys Ron and Dave were old enough, they worked with them along with a crew of other guys. Bill was one of the hardest working men around and took complete pride and joy in absolutely everything he did. His dog and cats were his constant companions in the yard and shop and most times when you drove past the yard, you would see Bill with his line of animals following him. As road construction is seasonal work they would have to shut the machines down for the winter and at that time he was already looking forward to spring when he could start them up again. He spent every single day, morning to night out in the shop getting all the machines ready to go. Sunday mornings were spent in the “old” shop having coffee and catching up on all the gossip from the local neighbours that would stop by. Every day when work was done, he would have two beer (some days more!), one in the shop and one at supper, because according to him those were the “doctor’s orders”. He was also constantly joking around, but also had a wicked temper if something didn’t go just the right way; and that was usually in the shop or on the job. He never took much time to relax because there was always something that had to be done or some piece of equipment that needed to be fixed. He passed on his knowledge of road construction to his grandson Jeff, who continues to run the family business with the help of his dad Dave, exactly how Bill wanted.

Bill is survived by his son Dave (Lois) Letawsky of Rosetown and grandchildren: Heather (Blair) Summach and their children Brock, Ryder and Daxon; Rhonda Letawsky (David Puyaoan) and their children Avida, Adriez and Amaro; Jeff Letawsky (Amanda Duvall) and children Lyndon and Shawn as well as other grandchildren and great grandchildren; sister Helen (Dick) Gardner of St. Paul, Minnesota and numerous other brothers and sisters-in-law. He was predeceased by his wife of 70 years, Isobelle and their son Ron, his parents Steve and Kathleen (née Dutchysn) Letawsky, sister Patricia and brother James.

A Graveside Service was held at the Rosetown Cemetery on Saturday, July 7, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. A time of fellowship followed at Shanidar Funeral Services.

Donations in memory of Bill may be made to STARS, Hangar 21, 2475 Airport Road, Saskatoon, SK, S7L 1M4.