Grant Veilleux

Grant Ernest Veilleux was born in Rimbey, Alberta on November 3rd, 1936.   Grant was the youngest of 4 siblings from Henry and Irene Veilleux; Bruce Veilleux, Berniece Avery and Blanche Pentland and Lois Radcliffe.  He is lovingly remembered by Blanche Pentland, currently of Great Falls, Montana.  He has been married to Geraldine Veilleux for 59 beautiful years and fathered 4 children; Dawn Miller, Kim Randall, Trina Veilleux, Byron Veilleux and daughter in law Stacy Veilleux .  He has 8 grandchildren; Bruce, Griffin, Stephanie, Chad, Amanda, Ian, Anna and Maia.  

Grant had a difficult early childhood with the separation of his mother and father early on in life and his fathers sudden death by an accident at the age of 11.  He had a few difficult years as a young man but he received some wonderful care and likely a bit of discipline from Edith and Elton Yarbrough; as well as friendship and shared youth with Loyd.  Growing up in Ridgewood he developed many lifelong friends including Lorne Griffith. He was very grateful to Grace and Joe Griffith for their support and guidance through his youth and remembered Joe as his best fishing companion.  Grant loved to spend time fishing in the Alberta Foothills, with his good friend Joe Griffith. He was an avid sportsman and learned the value of hard work at an early age.   

Perhaps it was losing his father early and some of his rough childhood experiences that led him to develop a fierce devotion to his loving wife, Gerry and a near obsessive commitment to making sure that his children were taken care of and received the love and home that he had missed.  Grant and Gerry enjoyed camping and being in the outdoors with the family.   They loved to dance through their life together.  Attending dances that began at Bentley Dancing to the Dick Dameron orchestra Sylvan Lake, Ridgewood and Shady Nook as well as at the Moose Hall in Red Deer.  Their children used to enjoy watching them float around the dance floor together with a smile on their faces.  

Grant was very proud of his skills as an electrician and would make sure that we knew his work as we drove by certain landmarks, he would say ‘oh I wired that house with Meeres and Hicks’ or ‘I wired that school when I was an apprentice’. Lazy was a word that you would never think to equate to Grant.  Whilst working a full time job as an electrician he built three family homes and garages, as well as running a very challenging business at Sandy Cove Resort at Pine Lake.  His children had an absolutely fantastic childhood growing up, in particular at the Resort which involved a bit of hard work but also provided memories that make us all smile every time we think back to those happy days.   

Later in life we were blessed to have a cabin in the woods out at Dawn Millers property near Rocky Mountain House.  We all loved our days and weekends spent by Prairie Creek around the campfire where grandpa could watch with joy as his grandchildren played and grew from children into wonderful young men and women.   He was able to scatter the ashes of his good friend Joe into the creek and we used to watch that special brown trout in front of the cabin that we named Joe.

After moving to the condo at the Sierras,  Grant and Gerry developed many close friendships.   Enjoying his time playing pool with his friends and their bi-monthly visits with the group of friends at the casino for breakfast. 

Near the end Grant was surrounded by all of his family, friends and grandchildren and we thank everyone for the support that these friends provided through this life and with his battle against cancer.  We took some comfort in his final hours as he drifted off into his dreams that he was talking about going fishing with Joe.   We will miss you very much and hope that you catch a few fat brown trout where you are going. 

Gerry requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alberta Cancer Foundation c/o Tom Baker Foundation, 1331 – 29 Street NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N2.  A Memorial Service will be held at Woodcliff United Church, 5010 Spruce Drive, SW, Calgary, AB on Thursday, June 27^th, 2019 at 11:00 am.  The Service will be followed by a reception at the Sierras Condo complex, 7239 Sierra Morena Blvd, Calgary, AB. Messages of condolence may be left for the family at www.myalternatives.ca.