Gordon Oakes was a loving husband, a fantastic father, grandfather and great-grandfather and role model who peacefully left this earth in the morning of April 14th, 2021 at the age of 92. Gordon was the only son of George and Violet Oakes, born on September 16th, 1928 in Derby England. Gordon had three sisters, Betty, Dorothy, and Jean who all predeceased him.

 

After leaving school, Gordon enlisted in the British Royal Airforce as a mechanic where he worked on World War 2 aircraft such as Spitfires, Hurricanes and Mosquitoes. While still in the Air Force, Gordon met and later married Jean Webb. Gordon and Jean were married, December 26, 1951, until Jean’s death on May 3rd, 2019.

 

 In 1957 Gordon and Jean moved from England to Winnipeg with their first-born son, Les. Soon after their arrival in Winnipeg, Raymond their second son was born and then their third son, Robert, was born several years later.

 

Gordon started work as mechanic with Powell Equipment in 1957, and quickly moved into management to become the General Service Manager before retiring in 1989. It was after retiring that Gordon took up the game of golf, a sport he genuinely enjoyed, and was still walking the 9-hole course at the Winnipeg Canoe Club in October 2020 at the age of 92.

 

Never a person to shy away from a challenge, Gordon signed up for equestrian lessons in the disciplines of Jumping and Western Pleasure at the young age of 72. Gordon was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed many sports. One of Gordon’s major accomplishments in sports was being one of the founders of the Manitoba Minor Soccer Association. As coach he piloted his team, Crestview, to the first Playground “C” championship in 1965 in the MMSA’s inaugural year.

 

After retirement Gordon focused his time and attention to helping his three sons with various construction products at either Ray’s cottage at the Lake of the Woods or Les’ family’s farm in Alberta and helping Robert with various projects in British Columbia. As a Father Gordon always had his family’s interests first and foremost and would drop what he was doing in an instant to help his family.

 

Gordon will be dearly missed by his two surviving sons, Les and Robert Oakes, their wives, (both wives are named Hilary). He will also be missed by his grandchildren, Daniel, Bentley, Sabrina, and Candace and their respective wives and husbands, Alicia and Rob and Ray’s wife Rose. Gordon also has one great granddaughter, Vivian who lives in Brussels. Gordon enjoyed watching Vivian in numerous videos sent by her parents.

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