Obituary of Donald Kieth Rempel

Donald Keith Rempel was born February 8, 1941, to Bill and Mary Rempel of the Cherry Ridge district near Nipawin, Saskatchewan. Don was the youngest of five children and grew up on the family farm and attended the one-room schoolhouse in Cherry Ridge.

Don went on to high school in Nipawin and then attended the Vocational Agriculture program completing a diploma at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. While at college he made a number of lifelong friends. He was very proud that his son Kurt was a VocAg, as well.

Don married Myrtie Nicholson of Nipawin on July 15, 1963. Myrtie taught in Choiceland for a year and then they moved to100 Mile House in B.C. When Myrtie received a scholarship to complete her degree in education, Don was a man ahead of his time in moving to the city to support his wife. Don became a member of the Saskatoon City Police while Myrtie completed her degree and then informed his young wife that “farmers live on farms” in deciding to move back to Cherry Ridge.

Don and Myrtie moved to the Rempel farmhouse in 1967 just before the birth of their first child Don; Kurt and Darcey soon followed. Don farmed with two of his brothers, Herman and Willie, later on, his own, and then with his son Kurt until his retirement. Don and Myrtie were very happy raising their family in Cherry Ridge. They moved off the farm and into Nipawin in 2010.

Don was a bone cancer survivor benefiting from an experimental procedure at the B.C. Cancer Agency in 1992, in Vancouver. His bone marrow was harvested and taken to the Terry Fox Laboratory to be reinfused free of cancer. Don returned home to enjoy living a full life with Myrtie, adult children, their spouses, and seven grandchildren who were never far away from their loving home.

Don passed away on November 15, 2017; he was predeceased by his parents Bill and Mary Rempel, in-laws Tom and Janet Nicholson, daughter Darcey Sargent, sister Joyce Newman, and by his brothers Fraser and Herman. He is survived by his loving wife of 53 years Myrtie, sons Don (Janet) and Kurt (Julie), grandchildren Sydni Thorpe, Nigel Detbrenner-Rempel, Zoë Sargent, Hawken, Levi, Avalon, and Hartlee Rempel, brother Willie, brother-in-law Ian (Terry), and a number of nephews, nieces’ and their families.