Debra Lee Ledoux

Debbie was predeceased by infant daughter Tristyn, father Ralph Greening, grandparents Fred and Rose Augustowich and Adolphe and Blondina Greening, in- laws Julie and Frank Ledoux, uncles John and Paul Augustowich and Aunt Sheila Augustowich and cousin John Augustowich.

Left to cherish her memory forever are her loving husband Bob, children Jaylene (Joel Foglin), Cory (Sarah Bowles), Robyn (Eric Mourre), grandchildren Austin Jellison, Hannah Jellison (Nate Meeks), Sophie Ledoux and great-grandson Red Meeks. As well, mourning Debbie’s loss are her mother Kathy Greening, brothers Barry and Blake Greening; sister- in- law Denise (Brian) Murphy, brother-in-law Gary (Karin) Ledoux and sister-in-law Gloria (Campbell) Yates; Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Elizabeth Augustowich; Aunt Rose Milko; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

During her youth, Deb cherished the time spent in summer with her beloved Baba, Rose Augustowich, first on the farm, then later on George Street in Winnipegosis. Baba taught Deb how to garden, nurtured her love of flowers and animals, and fueled passions that became lifelong pursuits. It was during those carefree summers when visiting Baba that Deb met Jayne and Stephanie Pawluk, spending endless days in pursuit of adventure and fun and developing a wonderful lifelong relationship.

The Greening family made the move to Hampton Street in St. James in 1970 and Deb went to high school at St. James Collegiate where she and Cathy Morton and a close knit group of friends, learned the fine art of partying and experienced the full spectrum of teenage adventures. Deb played numerous sports throughout her teenage years and was a dedicated and superb long-distance runner. Deb often spoke fondly of the St. James era and Greening family fishing trips, the trip to California and Disneyland in the old Winnebago motorhome and all the summers spent camping and swimming at Twin Lakes Beach where the family later built a cabin.

After high school, Deb spent a year working in Churchill. She embraced the beauty of the North, from the awe-inspiring Northern Lights, to the parade of polar bears constantly rambling through town. In later years, when working for Transport Canada, she had the opportunity to fly to many isolated northern communities and that unique part of Canada always held a special place in her heart.

Debbie had an extremely long and rewarding career in the Federal Public Service in Winnipeg. She worked for numerous government departments, including, Taxation, Public Works, Customs and Excise, Transport Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs. Her career was very diverse and she held various positions including: taxation clerk, pay and benefits clerk, financial clerical supervisor, executive assistant and administration supervisor in Transport’s Civil Aviation Maintenance and Manufacturing Division. She had a unique gift of bringing order to chaos, had a penchant for organizing and monitoring budgets, motivating her staff, and getting budgets, reports and projects done with precision and on time. She thrived at dealing with the difficult logistics and coordination required for arranging conferences or meetings in various prairie cities. She chaired numerous committees for different departments and took the role very seriously. Deb had a tremendous sense of fairness, believed in employee empowerment, always advocated for her staff and continually mentored them to help them advance in their careers. It was during Deb’s brief time at Canada Customs where she met Bob and their 41-year love affair started. Many of Deb’s organizational, conflict management and logistical skills, learned at work, came in handy while raising a family and giving guidance to the children and Bob.

Deb and Bob were married in 1981, moved to Eager Crescent in Charleswood and had an incredibly busy, enjoyable, and memorable seven years there, raising three young children. The family moved to Eglinton Crescent in Whyte Ridge in 1987 and life continued at an even more hectic pace, with the kids growing up and involved in: school events and concerts, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, piano lessons and dance. Deb coached soccer and Bob coached baseball and football, so at times life was more than a bit chaotic. Despite all the activities, somehow Deb had the family schedule completely organized, running smoothly and even found time to sew dance outfits for the girls and put on epic children’s birthday parties. We still marvel at how she was able to accomplish all this while working full time.

Family life in summer revolved around weekends and holidays spent at family cabins, at both Grand Beach and Twin Lakes. There are so many wonderful memories of the long summer days spent swimming, playing on the beach, sailing, fishing, evening walks on the boardwalk, fires on the beach at sunset, Victoria Day fireworks, running through the sand dunes, playing horseshoes, mini golf and badminton, going to bingo with Grandma Ledoux. Summer always ended with the Twin Lakes September long weekend block party. Deb was the leader of the Ledoux beach culture and her children and grandchildren have all inherited her love of sand and surf.

The family had many adventurous road trips to Hecla Island, Clear Lake, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and the Black Hills. Deb had a penchant for packing up the old Malibu wagon with precision, fitting in camping gear, tent, cooler, food, toiletries, suitcases, kids’ books, games, toys and Bob’s guitar The family still laughs at our “Griswolds” vacation trip to Mount Rushmore, which included everything from a flooded tent and campsite, to a flat tire at night in the middle of nowhere on a back road shared only with tumbleweeds. The family also had a memorable trip at spring break in 1991, driving down to Florida, as Deb insisted the kids were the perfect age to go to Disney World. The absolute highlight of the family trips was to Barbados in 1994 and the time spent touring the island with family friend Seymour Cuke. The family still talks about this vacation, the pristine beaches, calypso and reggae music, Bajan culture and cuisine, bustling Bridgetown and of course the infamous Jolly Roger Pirate Cruise. Debbie made a special pilgrimage to Bali with Robyn in 2010 which had a profound effect on both mother and daughter. Deb arranged a family reunion trip back down to Florida in 2012, so that grandkids Austin and Hannah could share in the joy of touring Disney World and swim in the ocean for the first time. Deb also thoroughly enjoyed business trips with Cory and Sarah to conventions throughout North America. More recently, Debbie’s warrior spirit and love of adventure and travel emerged during family backpacking trips in 2014 and 2017 on the famous West Coast Trail in British Columbia.

In later years, Deb and Bob continued with their love of adventure and travel, including trips to BC usually twice a year to visit family, numerous trips to Thunder Bay to visit Jaylene and to spend quality time with beloved grandkids Austin and Hannah. As sun-seeking pilgrims, Debbie and Bob embarked on Caribbean cruises, numerous trips to Florida, a wonderful Bahamas vacation and multiple trips to the Hawaiian Islands. A number of these trips were shared with our travelling companions Glenn and Wendy Wall and many an evening was spent drinking rum and laughing nonstop. The highlight of all these trips was Deb and Bob’s two months spent in Europe in the summer of 2016. This iconic adventure included time spent in London before departing on a bus tour of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and finishing in Paris in time for Bastille Day celebrations. During the tour, Debbie fell in love with the Tuscany Valley and the city of Venice. Following the whirlwind bus tour, Deb and Bob spent another month and a half in France. They stayed in Dieppe, making day trips to the D Day Beaches, Vimy Ridge, Beaumont Hamel on the Somme battlefield and laid flowers on the graves of family members killed in both World Wars. Deb thought the most amazing place in Normandy was the magnificent Le Mont St. Michel Island fortress. The European adventure continued after meeting up with Robyn and Eric, then touring around Provence and the south of France including: Cannes, Nice, Montpelier, Avignon, Marseille, Orange, Saint Tropez with a short side trip to Monte Carlo. Deb called this vacation truly” a trip of a lifetime” and it was. One other short trip Deb really cherished was to Montreal in the summer of 2018 for the Ledoux Reunion. Deb not surprisingly, took the lead in arranging most of the logistics and activities for the get together and formed deep relationship with Ledoux cousins; Michael Ledoux and wife Jin See, Kathleen Ledoux and husband Bob Morton and Mary Ann DiPaolo.

Deb had many passions, hobbies and interests in life. She was the consummate hostess at dinner parties and events for family and friends, flashing her infectious smile, laughing and engaging with everyone. Debbie absolutely loved to socialize, danced up a storm and was always the life of the party, which our fellow travellers on the bus tour of Europe quickly discovered. She was a world class gardener, an incredible cook, an entrepreneur involved in numerous business ventures, loved playing music on her accordion and the piano, loved animals and rescued many a wounded bird. She also enjoyed: tailgating at Bomber games with the Fort Garry Lions coaching crew and wives, crocheting, quiet time spent reading and doing arts and crafts and small woodworking projects. This past two years she truly was in her element as a volunteer at the Winnipeg Zoo, chatting with visitors and of course “talking” to the animals. Deb always looked forward to cheap Tuesdays at the movies with Bob and her breakfast and dinner dates with friends, Jan Hiebert, Kathy Dunk, and the “Transport Canada Gals”. Deb also cherished the time spent touring flower gardens and wineries on Vancouver Island with friends Wendy and Al Harris.

Debbie lived for her family and raised them to know the important things in life: to be fair, compassionate, empathetic, to forgive, to be adventurous and to love unconditionally. She passed on her wisdom, knowledge and passions for the natural world and her great concern for mankind to become better stewards of this planet. Recently, Deb spent a lot of quality time with granddaughter Sophie, teaching her to dance, singing and reading to her, having her help with dishes and cleaning with Baba and teaching her about flowers and having her help out in the garden. They created such a strong bond for the short time they had together. She also got to meet her great-grandson Red last October on a trip to Napanee, Ontario and of course went into full Baba mode, singing to him, cuddling him and making him giggle. Debbie always did have the magic touch around children and they truly brought her such joy and fulfillment.

Deb, you have left your family, extended family and friends an incredible loving legacy and you will be dearly missed. You had this rare inner spark and light around you that not many people possess. We will remember your unconditional love, the life lessons you taught us, your inner strength, spirituality, and your absolute joy of life. You told your family recently to “Stay Strong” and we promise we will and follow your lead in the years to come. We will always” love you to the moon and back” but now it is time for you to rest and take daughter Tristyn by the hand and teach her how to create a truly magnificent garden. May we all meet you again on that beautiful beach where sunsets last forever.

The family would like to extend our thanks to Dr. Nasir, and all the doctors and the nurses (Angels of Mercy), who compassionately cared for Deb the last couple of months, especially the incredible palliative care team at Riverview Health Center.

According to Debbie’s wishes, cremation has taken place. Due to the Pandemic, a private celebration of life will take place at some future date.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, Cancer Care Manitoba, or The Assiniboine Park Conservatory. In memory of Deb, please consider planting a tree, flowers or a garden, or supporting a cause dedicated to helping save this planet for future generations.