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John Linney
June 26, 1926 - August 26, 2016
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<div itemprop="description">John Daniel Linney passed away peacefully on Friday evening, August 26 at Deer Lodge Centre, Winnipeg. <br><br>He was predeceased by his wife, Mae, in October, 2015. <br><br>He was born June 26, 1926, the eldest son of Daniel Joseph Linney and Edith Gertrude Grant (nee Langton). Edith had four children with Alexander Grant before he died – Charles (d), Gordon (d), Edith (d) and Raymond. John also had four Linney siblings – Grace, Bernice, Bruce and Robert. Together this family of eleven was as loving and tightly-knit as anyone could ever imagine. <br><br>John was born and raised in Winnipeg. One day, he and his friends spotted Annie Evelyn “Mae” Prouten returning home from the grocery store. One of the boys knocked the loaf of bread out of her arms and wouldn’t return it. John stepped in and gave her back the bread. He also asked her on a date. She said yes, and so began a long and loving relationship. <br><br>John joined the Army at age 17 and was stationed at Camp Shilo. He was a Jeep and truck driver, recalling how they began his training by placing his Jeep in a gravel pit and challenging him to drive out of it. He didn’t drink alcohol. Apparently while in the Army he was asked to bartend. When he told his commanding officer that he didn’t drink, he was told that was exactly why they wanted him for the job. After the war, John and Mae were married in November 1947. He was working in the Men’s Glove Department at Eaton’s Department Store at the time. He later went to work as an Optician with Stewart N. King Optical and built a long and successful career there.<br><br>John and Mae started their family with the birth of their daughter Janet on Christmas Day 1948. Their son Reid followed in 1951, and Grant in 1954. The family's first home was on Atlantic Avenue in Winnipeg, near the Red River. They survived the 1950 flood and later moved to Polson Avenue, where the children grew up attending Luxton School and St. John's High. The Linneys were then, and for many years afterwards, members of Tabernacle Baptist Church on Bannerman Avenue, where John was a member of the Young Men’s Club and later a Deacon. <br><br>John was active in sports and other activities. He was past President of the Ophthalmic Dispensers of Manitoba and of the West Kildonan Curling Club, a long-time member of Elmhurst Golf Course, a Mason and a member of Toastmasters. He ran for Public Office in Selkirk and for Reeve in West St. Paul, where he lost by a contested single vote.<br><br>John was a barber for his sons and his Dad. He loved tinkering in his garage, or in the basement, and was known for making campers and converting old school buses into mobile homes that he drove cross country and down to California. There wasn’t a mechanical problem he couldn’t solve, or something he couldn’t fix. He never learned to swim, but he was always quick to take his family camping at various Manitoba lakes in the summertime.<br><br>Mae and John had moved to Rivercrest, just outside Winnipeg in 1969. They lived in peace and serenity on Norham Road until 2010, when John was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and the decision was made to sell the family home. John spent time at Donwood Manor and later at Deer Lodge Centre, where Mae visited him two to three times a week.<br><br>John had a gift with people. He loved serving them and they loved him in return. He was quick with a smile and a firm handshake and always had a positive outlook on life. He loved his seven grandchildren and had three great-grandchildren before he died, with a fourth on the verge of being born.<br><br>He is mourned by his remaining brothers and sisters: Raymond Grant (Joyce), Grace McCaw, Bernice Blakeman, Bruce Linney (Norma) and Robert Linney (Pat); by his daughter Janet Meckling and husband Dennis, son Reid and wife Wendy, and son Grant and wife Susie; grandchildren Lisa Pataracchia (Ray), Graham Meckling (Michelle) and Dan Meckling; Blake Linney (Jen), Adam Linney (fiance Caitlin Crawford), Matt Linney (Gloria) and Andrea Linney; great-grandsons Liam Pataracchia, Drake Linney and<br>Weston Meckling; and by numerous nieces, nephews, and family members of the Linney, Prouten and Grant families.<br><br>The family would like to thank the teams at Deer Lodge Centre, Donwood Manor and the Department of Veteran Affairs for their care and support to John. They would also like to thank all of the family and friends who so graciously shared their time and thoughts with Dad over the years. We will all miss him dearly but know that he is now sharing his precious soul with Mae and those who preceded her. <br><br>An informal and happy celebration of life will be held at Glen Eden Funeral Home, 4477 Main Street, West St. Paul, MB on Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. We encourage those who choose to attend to come casual; Dad was not known for wearing formal clothes. Men might consider putting a pen in their shirt pocket. <br><br>In lieu of flowers, Dad would have appreciated you doing whatever you personally can to make the world a better, more loving place.<br><br>Family and friends may sign a Book of Condolence at www.glenedenmemorial.ca<br></div>