Brian William Rutledge

Mr. Brian Rutledge of Oxbow, SK. passed away at the Galloway Health Centre on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at the age of 70.

Brian William Rutledge was born on June 22, 1950 in Oxbow, Saskatchewan. He was the only child of William and Grace Rutledge. He married Louise Carrier of Alida, Saskatchewan in 1972 and they had two daughters; Tina born in 1973 and Nicole born in 1975. On May 6th, after a long battle with cancer, Brian passed away with his family by his side. Cancer might have won the fight in the end but he had the upper hand right up until a couple months ago. 

Brian always loved to work, but mostly he loved to be around people. His first job was for Alan Shay, at Shay Motors, pumping gas, washing cars and shovelling coal. When he moved on from that job, he continued to occasionally lend a hand on Alan Shay’s farm. He really enjoyed farming and also helped his uncles with the yearly harvest whenever he could. He started a battery operating job with Francana Oil & Gas in 1972. He stayed with the company through all of the mergers and acquisitions, with the final acquisition being Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL). He retired from his position as an Area Foreman with CNRL in 2010. After 3 months of retirement, he decided he wasn’t quite ready for retirement and started his own consulting business, Rut’s Relief. He was finally ready to retire in 2013. After retiring, his favourite pastimes were travelling around to watch his grandkids at their various activities, camping, golfing with his friends, watching NFL and NASCAR on Sundays, and recently, watching sappy romance movies on the Hallmark channel. 

He found a hobby later in life in woodworking. He was very sentimental and made little wooden gifts for his family that we will treasure. He loved vehicles, but he loved to spend time shopping for vehicles even more (Chevrolet vehicles only… he also loved Pepsi and a good party). We knew when the itch for a new vehicle was beginning because he would OFFER to drop Louise off at the mall in Estevan.

Being an only child, friends were important to him and that remained true throughout his whole life. He and his friends spent their younger days playing in the valley and getting into harmless mischief around town. He was easy to be around and he loved to tease…especially his long time friend, Lynn Baerwald. He was always up for new adventures (sometimes with a little coaxing), and even tried surfing in Hawaii at age 63 and when questioned about “How did that go at your age?” got his signature joking response of “What do you mean, I’m an athlete.”

While his kids were growing up, he was a very involved dad. He was always up for a game of catch, taught his kids to drive, coached softball, and was their biggest fan no matter what they were involved in. Parents didn’t attend a lot of sporting events when Nicole and Tina were younger but he was ahead of the curve on that because he was at every event and nothing made him happier than hauling around a car full of kids to those events.

It’s the tests and trials in life that show your character, and in the last year the characteristics that became even more obvious in Brian were his positivity and his resilience. We always knew that about him but he went through a lot of ups and downs in the past few years and not once did we hear him complain or feel sorry for himself. It didn’t matter how he was feeling, he was always up for a visit, and whether you were there for 5 minutes or an hour he would thank you for stopping over to see him and he meant it. He appreciated every visit and every phone call that he received. He loved his wife and all of his family dearly and we all knew that; living with cancer doesn’t leave anything unsaid. He was a devoted husband, dad, grandpa, and a loyal friend.  We will miss him, his boisterous laugh and his jovial spirit. Until we meet again.

Brian is survived by his wife, Louise; two daughters, Tina (Ryan) Smith (children, Lacy, Ethan and Nash) and Nicole (Derek) Sibley (children, Julia and Jolene); granddogs, Bauer, Chumley and Garth; brothers-in-law, Daniel (Emily) Carrier and Richard (Susan) Carrier; sisters-in-law, Irene (Eddie) Demas and Cecile George; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

He was predeceased by his parents, Bill and Grace (Featherstone) Rutledge; aunts and uncles, Muriel (David) Stilborn, Normand Featherstone, Bernard (Ruth) Featherstone, Raymond Featherstone, Hazel (Ken) Kane, Lawrence Featherstone, Carmen (Irma) Rutledge, Maxwell (Gwen) Rutledge, Phyllis (Alf) McMillan; brother-in-law, Dennis George.

A private family service was held.

In lieu of flowers, if friends desire, donations in memory of Brian can be directed to the Oxbow Health Care Auxiliary, Box 268, Oxbow, SK. S0C 2B0.

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