Obituaries

DALE COLLEEN SCHMEICHEL

April 29, 1953 – March 8, 2022

With heavy hearts, Dale’s family announces her peaceful passing at the age of 68 on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at Misericordia Place. Her final days were spent in the company of loved ones, including her brother, Allan Smakula; four children, David, Brian (Joanna), Angela (Jesse) and Kelly (Brian); and four grandchildren, Nolan, Tyler, Bentley and Ella. She is predeceased by her mother and father, Ella and Michael Smakula.

Dale was born on April 29, 1953, at the Women’s Pavilion in Winnipeg. She grew up in a loving home on Hector Bay West and attended Harrow School and Grant Park High School, where she excelled in both academics and athletics. In particular, Dale was an avid speed swimmer who for years competed with the Cardinal Swim Club, breaking national records, qualifying for trials for the Canadian Olympic team, and competing in the first Canada Summer Games in Halifax in 1969.

Following high school, Dale studied education at the University of Manitoba. She later moved to Regina for her first teaching job, returning to Winnipeg in the mid-1970s to raise a family. In the ensuing years, she served as an educational assistant, working with children with special learning needs and teaching English to students who were newcomers to Canada. She often maintained friendships with those students after they’d aged out of her class — a testament to her easy rapport with children, and the impact she had on their lives.

Throughout her own life, Dale had a similar effect on those closest to her. She maintained a busy schedule of extra-curriculars for her kids, cheering them on as they competed in hockey, ringette, soccer and swimming. She instilled in them a love of music — usually played at full volume, whether inside or out — creating new fans of ‘60s folk, outlaw country and AM gold. Every summer, she ensured they spent weeks at Trout Lake, where they swam, water-skied and fished from dawn to dusk — often in the company of her father, who was every bit as influential.

She hosted holiday parties for friends and relatives, invited neighbourhood kids to backyard birthdays, and served as coach and co-competitor on junior high and rec-league volleyball teams. She was always quick with a corny joke, an offer to babysit or a batch of cookies. (The latter are the stuff of legend in certain Westwood circles.)

For much of her life, she ran three miles a day or skipped rope in her kitchen when weather didn’t permit. In her later years, she even rejoined a swim team — returning to her old training ground at Pan Am Pool, just blocks from her childhood home. Instead of retiring, she worked as a lunch supervisor at her children’s old schools in Westwood, picking up a new group of friends and colleagues along the way.

When her children became adults, Dale’s circle grew to include four grandchildren, of whom she was fiercely proud and devoted to, telling all who’d listen about their accomplishments. Even while battling cancer, she found in them a source of inspiration, and a reason to fight for each day. Her courage and commitment to recovery — in all its forms — will in turn inspire those left to mourn her. She loved deeply, she cherished friends and family, and she will never be forgotten.

Funeral services for Dale will be held at 11:00 a.m., on Tuesday, March 22, at Wojcik’s Funeral Chapel, 1020 Main St. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Wheels of Hope, the Canadian Cancer Society’s volunteer driving program, at 1.888.939.3333 or cancer.ca/donate.

Condolences may be sent to www.wojciksfuneralchapel.com.