Following a lengthy battle with cancer, Brent Jackson Ray passed away peacefully on March 29, 2023, at 64 years of age.
Brent was born October 13, 1958, in Minnedosa Hospital and lived first with his family in the village of Newdale, and then in 1962, the family moved to their ancestral farmhouse “on the hill” just outside of town.
After graduating from Strathclair High School, Brent enrolled for one year in the University of Manitoba’s agricultural program while also farming part-time with his dad. But Brent’s heart was really more into tinkering with engines of all kinds. He and another local lad, Cameron Murray, formed a business partnership and went out into the world to learn their trade.
Their first stop was Uranium City, SK, and Brent eventually understood that his niche was going to be maintenance of heavy (industrial/mining) machinery. At some point along the way, he obtained his journeyman’s licence. The mine at Uranium City eventually closed and then the two friends set their sights even farther north to the town of Yellowknife, NWT. It was there that Brent met the love of his life, Leah La Charité, whom he married on July 10, 1990.
Brent and Leah lived happily for many years in an alpine-style house that Brent had built with his own hands. Their own little piece of paradise stood at the top of a forested rise overlooking a pristine northern lake dotted with water lilies and teeming with fish. During that time both Brent and Leah had developed a love for Doberman dogs and they had two magnificent specimens those years at the lake.
By 2005 the couple had decided the winters were too long and hard in the north and they decided to move south to BC, and there they settled in the town of Powell River. Brent’s wife Leah suffered from poor health for many years and passed away suddenly in April 2022. Brent, who’d been diagnosed with cancer a few years prior to his wife’s death, passed away just 11 months after her. They had no children.
Besides Leah, Brent was predeceased by stillborn twin siblings in 1954, his father Jack in 1991 and his mother Ivy in 2005. Left to mourn his passing are his elder brother Calvin, as well as relatives in Manitoba, BC, Yukon and in Sweden.
A special thank-you to Leah’s cousin Carol Corfe and neighbour Liz Woods for being there during Brent’s difficult time. Our family will not forget your kindness.
Cremation is planned and Brent’s ashes will be interred along with Leah’s in a natural setting private ceremony at a later date. For those who may wish to make a donation in memory of Brent, the family suggests the Canadian Cancer Society.
