Norman Richard Ward, ‘Rick’, died surrounded by loved ones at Pasqua Hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday, March 31st at the age of 74. He is predeceased by his parents, Norman and Betty, his brother Donald, and sister-in-law Robin. Rick is survived by his spouse Estelle, children Eric (Emily) and Kathleen (Dustin); grandchildren Isobel, Abigail, Rhiannon and Elijah; his twin sister Nancy (Tom) and siblings Nora (Jim), Colin, Michael (Andrea), sister-in-law Colleen, and numerous beloved nieces, nephews, and grand-nieces and nephews.

A geophysicist by training with a master’s degree in political science, Dad was drawn to the world of computers when he joined the workforce as a young man. He was variously employed as a statistician, software developer, database designer, network architect, and lastly as a manager in IT. He spent most of his working life at the Department of Regional Economic Expansion (DREE), Cameco, and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). An early adopter of household internet, Dad’s relationship with his dear friend Willem must be one of the earliest examples of two people meeting online through shared interests that turned into a real-life, long-distance friendship that resulted in more than one visit to the Netherlands.

Dad often joked, particularly to the young people in his life angsting about future careers, that he still didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up. His only criteria, he would say, was that he wanted to do something useful and interesting that gave him enough time to pursue the other things that were important to him. Vast were the ‘other things’ that made up Dad’s interests and talents. He was a detail-oriented woodworker who turned out buildings, furniture, cabinetry and smaller items like pens, pepper grinders and tiny furniture for his grandchildren's dolls. He was a skilled guitarist with a warm baritone singing voice who could replicate any tune his children or grandchildren asked of him. He enjoyed exercising these talents in the company of family at Wakaw Lake and regular gatherings with the Lexiers and friends. Dad had an eidetic memory that served him well at any game of trivia, and made him an excellent storyteller. Our bedtime stories were often lengthy rhyming verses recited with no reference material but his own childhood memory. 'The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts' was a favourite source, though neither of us have ever seen a physical copy of the book.

Dad had a rich intellectual life and was committed to a journey of continuous learning, spending much of his time surrounded by books on every conceivable subject. He had a working knowledge of almost all the physical sciences, but was particularly fond of physics and astronomy as they gave him a good reason to enjoy some recreational calculus. He was never content to just know that something worked. He wanted to know how it worked. Be it home maintenance or reflections on the meaning of life, he applied the same rigour of thinking to everything he did.

As clever and accomplished as Dad was, his legacy is best described as one of love and kindness. His family and friends were of the utmost importance to him. He spent some of the last years of his life caring for his grand-daughter full-time with Mum in the early days of the pandemic. He cherished Mum and never missed an opportunity to tell any of us that he loved us. He cared deeply about his siblings, in-laws, his nieces and nephews, and about our friends. It was an open door policy at our home growing up for anyone who needed a place to be. We will remember Dad as a warm, compassionate, and dutiful family man who could always be relied upon to give a sensible analysis of any situation. We will miss him terribly.

We would like to extend our thanks to the many health care workers who supported Dad in his last few weeks of life, particularly those in Unit 4A, the Oncology Unit, and the Palliative Care Unit at Pasqua Hospital, and Dr. Souied with the Allan Blair Cancer Centre. Your collective expertise, your care, your good humour and grace during a trying time was so deeply appreciated.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Movember Foundation to support research on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health. A private celebration of life will be held at a future date.