Obituary of Remy "Ray" Roche

Remy "Ray" Roche of Camrose passed away on Thursday, November 21, 2013 at the age of 80 years. Remy "Ray" Victor Robert Roche was born to Victor and Mary Roch in Galahad, Alberta May 12, 1933. He was the fourth of seven children, Josephine, Francis, Rosie, Remy, Madeline, Eileen, and Annie. He grew up and worked on the family farm in Alliance, AB until he developed an allergy to grain dust. He left home to work various jobs: I know of road maintenance on the Alaska Highway; selling Everware kitchen pots and pans; and the oil patch around Wildwood, Alberta where he met Helen Rehn. As I understand Dad met Mom and her sisters when they were playing for a dance with their band "The Rehn Sister Trio". He made quite an impression in his suit coat and gloves and the romance began. They married May 9, 1956 and moved to Dawson Creek, B.C. where Ray drove fuel truck for Remple Trail Transport. Markel Insurance, Remple's insurer, gave Ray many safe driving awards during his ten years of service. During this time they started their family and had three children Bryan, Sharon and Bryce. In 1966 the family moved to High Level, Alberta to run their H&R Service, a Pacific 66 Service Station, and Roche Sales and Service a bulk fuel sales and truck delivery service. There was an oil field boom at this time and the Pacific 66 sales were the highest in Canada for many months. Ray was very busy but enjoyed entertaining friends at home with Mom and various other musicians playing country music, all were invited, young and old. They also visited Nashville and toured the United States for one month in the spring of 1973. Ray always loved his cars but in 1970 he bought the one he cherished most, a Chrysler 300 Hurst, very rare as only 501 of these cars were ever made. It helped us to make the trip from High Level to Edmonton both comfortable and quick. He even had it rigged with a TV and rabbit ear antenna so us kids would be quiet in the back. Dad always liked innovation. We had a great experience with the chrysler again this May when Bryce brought it to Camrose to tour town and drive us to Dads' 80th birthday dinner celebration. 1973 saw Ray and family move to Camrose and he has resided there ever since. Ray wound down his High Level businesses and then bought a truck and hauled lumber for Harold Rehn. Later he started pulling for Capital Transport and then they asked him to run their repair shop for them. This allowed him to be around Camrose more and use his uncanny mechanical ability. He was special at repairing equipment and figuring out electrical problems. If you had a problem you could call him on the phone, tell him what the problem seemed to be, and he would logically walk you through it and get you going! And this was self taught. During this time he was honoured by Mack Truck for driving a truck, accident free, for over a million miles (that's 40 times around the world). From 1978 to 1985 Ray was farming the family farm east of Alliance. He would take time off his job at Capital in the spring and fall to work on this together with Bryce. He was happy to be back there and we could all go and enjoy a country visit there. (and help out as required). I remember one fall was especially hard as we had a Canadian beer strike and had to drink American beer. In October 1983 Ray went to Belgium for three weeks with Bryce, and met his relatives, visited his fathers family home, and experienced England, Holland and France. He also enjoyed the relatives Canadian visits and would tour them around in his van and sometimes houseboating on the Shuswap. On one Shuswap trip he had quit smoking and was working out to keep his weight down. He was in shape and while striking a funny pose, in his swimsuit, someone took his picture and nicknamed him "Mr. Shuswap." Left to cherish his memory are his children Bryan Roche (Marie Prout) of Grande Prairie, Sharon O'Riordan of Killam, and Bryce (Lynette) Roche of Alliance; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren. Remy is also survived by his sisters Josephine (Ernie) George of Ponoka, Anne Bumback of Stony Plain, Madeline Blumhagen of Daysland, and Eileen Redmond of Kitscotty. Remy was predeceased by his wife Helen; sister Rose Sharuga; and brother Francis "Frank" Roche. A Mass of the Resurrection was held on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. from St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church (5010 48 A Ave, Camrose) with Rev. Larry Pederson as celebrant. Cremation has taken place. Memorial contributions are gratefully accepted to the charity of one's choice.