Robert Arthur Schultz

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our Husband, Dad, Papa, Brother, Uncle, and Friend.

Bob was born in McCreary, MB in 1961, the first son to Bill and Ruth Schultz, who already had 3 daughters. They brought him home to the farm, north of Alonsa and a couple of years later he got a baby brother. The family lived there until his Mom took over the job as telephone operator in 1970,  and they moved into town.    Bob attended school in Alonsa and McCreary.

Once the move to town was made, and he was close to the skating rink, Bob learned to love skating and hockey and spent many hours on the ice, even stuffing newspapers in his socks and playing goalie for the older players, anything to spend time playing the game of hockey!  Hockey continued to play a huge role in his life.   Together with his teammates, he won gold at the provincial level as a 16 year old. He also went on to play junior hockey with both the Dauphin Kings and the Portage Terriers.   Hockey remained a passion for Bob, and even when he stopped playing regularly, he loved to watch NHL hockey and world juniors on the television.

He was also an avid hunter and fisherman. Many funny stories are told about Bob, his brother Kent and their many friends and all of their escapades while hunting and fishing.                      I will not tell them here, because there are too many, and they may not be altogether on the up and up.

I don’t remember when he and I met, but in 1978 at the ages of 15 years old and 17 years old, we began our life as each others partners and best friends.   At 17 he moved to Winnipeg and started working for Safeway in their warehouse.  I followed as soon as I finished school and could secure myself a job.  We were married in 1987 and stayed in Winnipeg for a couple more years.

In 1990, we took a chance and quit our jobs in Winnipeg to run a fly-in fishing outpost camp in the Northwest Territories, which later became Nunavut. We spent 25 wonderful summers here, looking after our guests and the camp and raising our family. To the day he died, he missed our camp at Nueltin Narrows and wished to return there. We made friends of most of the guests that spent time at our camp and exchange letters, emails and phone calls with many of them to this day.

When the lodge was closed down, Bob began to work road construction with Maple Leaf Construction. He settled into this job and enjoyed his time with Maple Leaf as well.   In August of 2016, he was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and began the fight for his life.  He managed to take treatments and continue working until August of 2018, when he had to go on disability, as the pain caused by the cancer began to make it impossible for him to do his job. Every year at the start of construction season, he would say, “I’d kill to go back to work”.  But , instead, he spent his time watching his grandkids grow, and driving around with his dogs for company. Every weekend his boys kept him up to date on how the various Maple Leaf jobs were progressing.

We raised three amazing children together and I know how proud he has always been of them, and we have also been blessed with our kids’ partners and two beautiful grandchildren, so our family has grown, and we have both felt fortunate for having them all in our lives.

Before Christmas 2020, Bob began to feel worse and early in January we learned that our worst fears had been realized and the cancer had spread.   After only three more weeks, Bob succumbed to this terrible illness. We were able to keep him at home with us until he passed away, peacefully.   We are confidant that he was met by his Mom, Dad and his brother, Kent.

Bob leaves to mourn, his wife of 33 years Barb and his 3 children: Ray and his fiancé Lexie, Jordan and his girlfriend Anika, Ashley and her boyfriend Reid, and his 2 grandchildren Gannon and Kinsley.  Also his sisters, Bev (Brian), Debbie (Bruce) and Cathy (Mark); Sisters in law, Bev (Kevin), and Shirley.

Along with his nieces and nephews and too many close friends to mention. He was predeceased by his parents, Bill and Ruth Schultz; by his brother, Kent; by his parents in law, Ray and Hazel Asham; and by his brother in law Brent.

We would like to acknowledge all the support and care we have received on our cancer journey.

Thank you to cancer care and all of the amazing people who work there, to our family doctor Dr. Krzyzaniak, to the palliative care program and nurse

Jenna, to homecare, and to all the wonderful friends and family who cooked, sent messages of support, and carefully visited. Also thank you to our own angel here on earth, Deb.  This support system allowed us to keep Bob at home with his family to the end.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robert Arthur Schultz, please visit our floral store.