Obituary
On Saturday July 2, 2022, Robert Michael Leslie of Calgary, Alberta passed away peacefully at the Chinook Hospice in Calgary. Over the preceding four years, Mike faced multiple health challenges with courage, strength and perseverance.
Mike was born on August 27, 1958, at Boissevain, Manitoba to Dorothy (Stovin) and Keith Leslie. He will always be remembered in the hearts and stories of his wife, Erin Crealock, his son Brenwyn Leslie, his daughter Rhiannon Leslie, his mother Dot, his sister Cheryl (Greg Stewart), his brother Ron (Noreen Durand), his mother-in-law Dorothy Crealock, brothers-in-law Don Crealock and Wes Crealock (Sarah McEwen), and his nieces, Kelsey Stewart and Alison Crealock, and nephew Rory Crealock.
Mike grew up in rural Manitoba where his roots ran deep. He attended elementary school in Douglas, where Keith was the local elevator agent and Dot worked at the base in Shilo. This was a four room elementary school, so Mike completed grades 9 and 10 at Elton Collegiate in Forest, where he and David Mazier kindled a lifelong friendship.
Those early years in Douglas were carefree years of snowmobiling, tobogganing, riding horses, hiking the marsh or down the tracks, starting water fights in the sand box, skating, curling and hanging out on the church steps or at Madder’s store, usually with Shirley Hooke or Garth Wilkie in tow. Summer holidays included family trips, which involved piling into a station wagon to drive to the coast, and stopping to visit aunts, uncles and cousins along the way, and then filling a cooler with cherries for the trip home. Sundays were family days, with trips to the Stovin farm, or to visit Leslie relatives. There were camping trips to Scottie’s pasture, cattle to round up on horseback, and adventures with snakes in the gravel pit, or pranks with Uncle Murray on the stone boat, usually with a gang of younger cousins tagging along. As the oldest of the Stovin cousins, Mike enjoyed many happy occasions at the farm of his maternal grandparents, Alice and Lawrence Stovin, near Deloraine. Agriculture was always prominent in Mike’s life, and even in Douglas there was a milk cow and calf, horses, a barn to clean and dogs to feed.
In 1974, Keith left Manitoba Pool and moved the family to the farm north of Holland. After school chores became caring for a herd of milk cows, chickens, pigs and a few beef cattle. Mike kept in touch with his Leslie relatives close by, as well as the ones from farther away at the Leslie reunions held every four years. Despite starting grade 11 at Treherne Collegiate as the “new guy”, Mike easily made friends as he became involved in Travel Group, Reach For the Top, and Drama Club. In 1976, Mike graduated from Treherne Collegiate among a group of like-minded individuals who would become lifelong friends, including Dave Drummond, Robert Lesage, Rick Vandekerckhove, Grant Depauw, Rick Warren and their spouses. In 1979, after Mike, Ron and Cheryl finished high school, the family sold the farm and moved to Carberry where Keith continued to work in agriculture, and wherever they went, Dot was well known as a friendly face at the bakery and an avid photographer who documented the growing family in detail. No matter where the Leslies lived, friends and relatives were always welcome.
Following high school, Mike attended Brandon University for a year before deciding to major in Agricultural Economics at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. There, Mike found an expanded community of young motivated people who believed in the importance of agriculture, as well as social connections. Among these connections are John Miller and Jim Gladstone and their spouses. Erin and Mike met at the University of Manitoba through mutual friends and were married on August 26, 1989, at the Crealock family farm near Portage la Prairie. Brenwyn was born in 1994 and Rhiannon in 1997.
Although Mike travelled often for work as his children grew up, he spent as much time as he could attending swim meets, soccer games, piano and guitar recitals, school plays and choir concerts and visiting local attractions, as well as including them in his travel across Canada. He made sure that Brenwyn and Rhiannon developed a taste for fine food as well as essential cooking skills. He kept up with his own friends while creating opportunities for their next generation to form friendships. As his children grew up, Mike could not have been more proud, and the last few years were a gift of time because he had the opportunity to reconnect with them as adults. Mike was able to attend Brenwyn’s graduation from the SAIT Automotive Service Technician program and Rhiannon’s graduation from Mount Royal University with a Bachelor of Nursing Degree. Additionally, he was able to share the thrill of them earning their first full time jobs. Mike passed on his love of reading, learning, travelling and animals, even helping out with Brenwyn and Rhiannon’s recently acquired pets.
Mike’s working life began with pumping gas at a young age in Douglas, helping a local veterinarian, working summers for Circle T in Carberry, testing dairy cattle in Alberta, and working for Federated Co-op while he finished his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics in Edmonton. With Western Breeders in Balzac, Mike sold computers to farmers before they were a commonplace farming tool.
Mike had a lifelong love for reading, especially science fiction, learning, watching documentaries, researching his ancestors, and above all, cooking and exploring, and rating restaurants. His particular professional interest in food was in product development for export, including value-added products. Mike travelled extensively for work, and with his family, to many places across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. Two highlights would be taking his parents to a Leslie Castle reunion in Scotland and an extended time living and working in Japan. In Tokyo, Mike was a trainee sent from Alberta Agriculture in Edmonton to the Seiyu group to learn about the Japanese food market. There, Mike made more friends from around the world as well as from Japan, was mistaken for an American baseball player, honed his interest in food product development for export, and learned the culture and language of Japan. Alex Otsuka and family attended Mike and Erin’s wedding in 1989. Subsequently, Mike spent a second two-year stint in Japan while seconded to the Canada Beef Export Federation and promoted Canadian beef in Japan and other parts of Asia.
In 1997, Mike became a member of the CALL program (Canadian Agriculture Lifetime Leaders) that was run by the University of Saskatchewan. This program brought together innovators in agriculture from across Canada who participated in learning, touring, and sharing ideas and who continue to be a tight-knit group.
Also while back in Calgary, Mike started Nakodo Consulting and enjoyed many more business trips to Japan. He joined the Agriculture and Food Council of Alberta, and always looked forward to the annual Harvest Gala. He developed a course called “Getting a Global Market Focus” for Assiniboine Community College which allowed him to spend time in Manitoba, worked for AVAC (Alberta Value Added Corporation), Alberta Barley Commission, FICBC (Food Innovation Centre of British Columbia), and most recently the Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture. Mike then continued to attend webinars and mentor students around the world online.
Mike’s family would like to acknowledge the many kind, hardworking, and skilled medical professionals that guided him on his health journey and supported his family over the past four years at facilities including those with the Pasqua Hospital in Regina, the Foothills Medical Centre, Rockyview Hospital, the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, the South Health Campus Hospital, the Palliative Homecare team and the Chinook Hospice in Calgary where Mike received excellent care twice along this journey.
Throughout his lifetime, Mike surrounded himself with good food and good people. He has been dubbed “Miracle Mike” for his health journey and “Three Meat Mike” for his culinary talents in anyone’s kitchen and in particular at the annual August backyard barbeque at home in Calgary. His family appreciates all of the love and support, in both good times and in hard times, that has come out of the many relationships that Mike forged.
Mike will be remembered through stories, socialization, and saskatoon pie in both Holland, Manitoba, and Calgary, Alberta. Please join us to celebrate Mike’s life in the Holland Community Hall on Tuesday, August 2, 2022 from 2 pm until 5 pm, or on Sunday, September 11, 2022 from 2 pm to 5 pm at the McInnes Holloway Fish Creek location in Calgary.
A private interment will take place at the Brookdale Cemetery near the original Leslie homestead at Holland, Manitoba.
If friends so wish, in lieu of flowers, a donation in Mike’s name may be made to a local food bank or hospice society, or a charity of one’s choice
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Robert Michael Leslie August 27 1958 July 2 2022 (age 63)..
Death notice for the town of: Holland, Province: Manitoba