Ernie Jacob Rodenbour

July 7, 1927 – April 14, 2019

It is with very heavy hearts that we announce the very sudden passing of Ernie J. Rodenbour at Bethesda Hospital on April 14^th, 2019.   Dad had not been well and went into hospital care shortly before his passing.

Born 1927 Delmas, Saskatchewan to Alphonse and Helen Rodenbour.  Ernie was their only child and grew up during the great depression.  Ernie worked hard helping on family farms, and, helping at his father’s general store.  As young boys sometimes will, Ernie got into some trouble and was sent to Catholic school for a short period of time.  His stay with the sisters ended after an argument when he kicked one of the nuns in the shins and then walked down the railroad tracks 9 miles home.

After his parents divorced, at the age of 14, he and his mother ended up in Neepawa Manitoba. There they fell on hard times and to help support him and his mother, he got a job at the newly opened airbase there as the war had started. For the duration of the war, dad worked as ground crew for the Commonwealth air training program at first Neepawa and then Portage La Prairie.  Ernie was too young to actually fly airplanes, so at the age of 14, he became a prop spinner.  Planes were started manually by someone turning the prop at that time, so he became a professional prop spinner for the Tiger Moth airplanes that were on the base.  One of Dad’s favorite story, that he shared often, was how he kept going to the base asking for any job he could do so that he could help his family.  To this day, Dad maintained that after pestering the guards at the gate, one of the “bosses” asked him why he was always hanging around and what he wanted.  When the Sergeant found out, he told the other guys to “give the kid a job already, he needs to help his family”.  That was Dad’s start as being a professional prop spinner.  He was very proud of that since it was a huge step up from cleaning out grain cars for .25 a car, plus whatever grain he could haul home to feed the chickens, and it brought in a lot more money.

After the war, he returned west to help on his uncle’s farm and started to work heavy construction as an equipment operator. During this time he worked on a multitude of road and irrigation projects in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC.  During his time in BC one job, he was particularly proud of the construction of a huge emergency runway at Puncy Mountain for the US Airforce Bombers to use. The main runway was over a mile long.  As time went forward, Dad found jobs working all over Canada and the US with BACM.

Ernie returned to Manitoba after working some time in BC, ending up in Winnipeg where his mother and now stepfather lived. It was here Dad started a very long and successful career in heavy construction when he started to work for Simkin construction. Hired by Blackie Simkin, dad started off as equipment operator and through hard work and a natural talent worked his way up the ladder to foreman and then to a senior superintendent. Decades later BACM was purchased by the American mega-corporation, Becknell.

During this time Simkin construction had grown and become British American Construction and Materials, BACM. One of the largest heavy construction companies in Canada at its height with assets from BC to Ontario.  

As a foreman and later a superintendent, Dad oversaw a large segment of the Winnipeg Floodway construction, the construction of site locations for the national Microwave tower network, site construction for NORAD radar stations, and the construction of new runways and taxiways at Winnipeg international airport.  During the late 60s and 70s, Dad oversaw the earth and rock excavation various hydroelectric dam projects for Manitoba Hydro.  

His success with the dams lead to Dad to be chosen to go to Fort McMurry and oversee the excavation and site prep for the Syncrude tar sands processing plant in 74, long before any of the growth had taken place.  Using the funds earned during this job, Dad bought the family farm in the southern Interlake of Manitoba.  Dad owned the farm from 1976 to 2012 where it was operated as a mixed Beef cattle operation.  

Though he had the farm Dad continued to work construction and completed even more massive projects.  He was sent to Vancouver Island where the project entailed the literal destruction of a mountain and its placement in the ocean to create a dock for large ships. It was after this Dad was sent to the high arctic and oversaw the construction of the Dempster highway across the tundra to connect the north to the rest of Canada.

Dad returned to Manitoba for a time and oversaw a variety of construction projects and was then sent to look after the earth and rock excavation for the Limestone hydro dam.  It was not long after this BACM was closed by its parent company, putting Dad and thousands of others out of work. Having to support his family, Dad took several equipment operator jobs before being contacted by Dick Mulder of Mulder Construction and was hired as a foreman. For several years Dad worked for Mulders before retiring to farming. When the flood of ‘97 occurred, Dad came out of retirement to run dozer, to protect homes along the Red River between Winnipeg and Selkirk. The owner of the dozer commended Dad, saying he moved more dirt in a single shift than what the other operator had moved in nearly a week. Dad had a natural talent when it came to running equipment.

Dad had little formal education leaving school in grade six, but he did what he could to teach himself as much as he could and learned enough to look after multimillion-dollar projects.

He married his wife Eileen in 1960 and had one son in 1968.

He was very talented with his hands and was a magnificent carpenter, mechanic, and welder which was demonstrated by his very many restoration projects.

With Dad’s retirement came a move from the farm to Stonewall in 2012.  They passed the care of the farm on but still had many fond memories of their life there.

In 2018, with Eileen’s passing, Ernie became an even bigger part of Ernest and Tess’s lives.  They spent the first 7 months with Ernie at his home in Stonewall, then moved to Steinbach in October of 2018. 

Ernie visited with friends that popped into the house and enjoyed time with them as they did with him.  One such visit, with one of his “lady friends”, had a shared conversation that I want to share with you today.

Quoted from Ernie: “I was hard as nails, a loner, a hard worker, a boss and had a slightly tarnished heart of gold.”  As he described himself to a friend, and a homecare worker, as soon as Ernest and Tess arrived back from their errands, there was a moment of tenderness and love where he reached out to take Tess’s hand and speak to Ernest.  He always understood that they had things to do and although sad to see them go, he was always so happy when they got home.

Ernie particularly loved banana cream pie and barbequed smokies!  Although he loved everything that was served, his eyes lit up, particularly when he saw banana cream pie!  Dad was a workaholic all his life and even right until the week before he went into the hospital, he kept busy playing solitaire, doing crossword puzzles and putting labels on books for Tess.  He always said it gave him a purpose and he loved to help.

Dad, you are and will continue to be missed terribly.  We loved you so much and were so happy to be able to spend the last year with you.  Your kindness and love will be a treasure we carry in our hearts, always.

As per Dad’s wishes, cremation has taken place and private interment will take place at a later date.

Please join us for a celebration of Ernie’s life on Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 2:00 p.m., in the chapel of Voyage Funeral Home, 471 Kirkfield Street, in St. James. BACM and Mulder’s friends are more than welcome.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Ernie’s name to Siloam Mission.