Remembering Bob Stefaniuk

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This article was published 28/11/2021 (1134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Depending on who you ask, Bob Stefaniuk elicits a different memory.

For many, Bob is synonymous with the flood of 1997; the year which the Red River bloated to levels not recorded since 1826 and wrecked havoc on regions surrounding it.

The death of the 75-year-old former mayor of Ritchot reanimates the Flood of the Century and the work the St Adolphe resident did to put his community first.

An April snowstorm invaded the Red River Valley after an already above-average snowfall that year; at over 250 centimeters of precipitation in some parts of the area, flood forecasters had justifiable worries as to what the spring melt would bring.

The swollen river crested at unprecedented levels through Grand Forks, Fargo and Southern Manitoba, devastating the region and displacing entire communities.

Intense flooding went right through Bob’s home community of Ritchot which he was elected to represent only one year previous.

Rob Stefaniuk remembers that era of his dad’s life as one involving little sleep and a lot of work.

“It wasn’t until the flood hit that you really saw how important he was,” he said. “I don’t think he slept more than five hours a night for weeks.”

The rookie politician spent those weeks helping to salvage what little some of his constituents were left with, sandbagging and travelling by boat to assess damage left by the unforgiving water.

He took long calls, fielding questions from residents and officials at the local level and those of federal politicians and military officials to coordinate relief efforts.

After the worst of it was over the community received a visit from his royal highness, Prince Phillip, to tour areas which were hit hardest by flooding, an encounter Bob took personally.

“As an anglophile…to be next to the Duke of Edinburgh was a huge thrill for him,” Rob said.

Despite the encounters with royalty and his profile as a local leader, to his three children Bob was merely their dad; a hardworking, committed father figure who lived a full life.

Born and raised in the Interlake town of Selkirk to parents with Scottish heritage, Bob joined the Royal Canadian Navy as a sailor and served for several years before settling in Winnipeg and meeting his wife, Marguerite.

Years later Bob relocated his family from St Vital to St Adolphe in 1978 to provide them with a higher quality of life, despite the long commute to his job at Bristol Aerospace he would incur because of the relocation.

Over the years his place of work moved farther away which meant a longer drive, though it didn’t deter him from committing to keeping his family in rural Manitoba to provide a sprawling yard, recreation and a sense of safety not found within city limits for his family.

“We always had a great life,” Rob said.

Constantly making time to read with his children, the Stefaniuk home became filled with shelves stacked with books fit for story time before bed, accompanied by thick biographies of his idol Winston Churchill.

Bob admired the British Prime Minister, known for navigating the United Kingdom through most of the Second World War and receiving a Nobel Prize for his literature, for his speeches full of intellectual prose.

The sense of leadership and dry wit Churchill instilled in Bob made him not only a dedicated leader, but a good friend.

Hubert Brodeur hopes the community will remember his old friend as a kind, gentle man.

“He was a real nice person…I have the highest regards,” the life-long St Adolphe resident said.

Bob was a loyal customer to his community; he frequented Brodeur Brothers, the town’s GM car dealership, which fostered a friendship between Bob and Brodeur, one which outlasted the decades of Bob’s life in the community.

To politicians and educators across the southeast part of the province, they remember the man as a true gentleman.

St Adolphe councillor Ron Mamchuk said without his leadership and representation in the 1990s during multiple flood years the community would be worse off today.

“He was a great ambassador to the community in all aspects,” Mamchuk said.

The 19-year mayor didn’t just have a political career in the community, but he also put his efforts into trying for better education of children in the area; preceeding his career in municipal politics, Bob served as a school trustee for the Seine River School Division.

Trustee Gary Nelson paid tribute to Stefaniuk at the Nov. 23 board meeting, just one week after his death, recounting his “very valuable contributions over the years.”

“He was a very strong ally. We’re all going to miss him,” Nelson said.

Upon retiring from a life in municipal politics Bob lived both fast and slow; he took an affinity to riding motorcycles across the prairies between days spent reading with his cats and spending long days with his grandchildren.

Though Alzheimer’s disease ended Bob’s time on earth, through his actions the father and husband, who merely set out to build a better life for his family, ultimately enriched the lives of those around him for future years.

Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen said Bob’s hand in putting Ritchot on the map, including playing a role in having the municipality be part of the Winnipeg Capital Region, is a legacy to maintain.

“I want to take someone so well admired in their community and feed off of what they’ve done so well in their municipality and learn from it,” he said.

For his son, Rob chooses to take the sharp humor, patient demeanour and fierce respect for others he learned from his father and live that way going forward.

“Whenever someone you really love and respect passes on, I think the best way to honour them is to kind of emulate the things that you respected about them,” he said.

“He would want people to realize that life is short and it’s precious; it should be cherished and savoured and try your best to do good every day.”

 

– With files from Jordan Ross