Obituary of Carman Denbow

Remembering Carman Denbow June 1932 ~ October 2014 Carman Fraser Denbow was born on the farm, in the RM of Sifton west of Souris, on the 18th of June, 1932. He was the last of twelve children born to John and Lydia Jane, who went by Jenny. His older brother, Ross, the only surviving sibling, remembers that when he first saw Carman in his mother's arms, he exclaimed, "Another baby! Good thing we've got some grasshopper poison, to take care of it!" As a farm boy, Carman was more often in the house, helping his mother, than in the barn working with his dad. In fact, his dad realized that he'd never make a farmer of Carman, which is why he made sure that Carman had the resources to go to school, and get an education. Carman finished his high school at Deleau, which would have gone to Grade 11. From there, he went to Normal School for two months, and then he became a permit teacher at a small school near Gilbert Plains. Always a man of small stature, when the school inspector came one day, he picked Carman out to be a student and a girl to be the teacher! Many of the younger students spoke only Ukrainian, and Carman relied on the older kids to serve as interpreters. Carman enjoyed teaching the kids, but moved on to work on the railroad; serving the CNR in the freight department in The Pas and eventually to Brandon. While working nights on the railroad, Carman upgraded his high school for a year in Brandon, to prepare himself for enrolment in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba. His cousin Gail, and others in the Denbow clan, recalled the regular gatherings in Winnipeg on Sunday nights. Carman was otherwise studious, but Sunday nights were for fun. The Denbow clan in Winnipeg would order in some food, roll back the carpets, and spend the night dancing. Carman could jive, two-step and waltz. He is remembered for being a beautiful dancer, perhaps a natural outgrowth in a man who loved music. With his sister Isabel, Carman had taken some piano training as a child; and he could play very well by ear. After graduation around 1967, Carman returned to Brandon where he practiced pharmacy at Johnston's Drugs. In time, when Mr. Johnston retired, Carman and Darryl Darling bought the business. It was a fire in the store that put an end to ownership, for Carman. He bounced back fairly quickly, though, taking his skills and service to Clements Pharmacy, on Rosser. In later years, he would also work in Rivers, and briefly at the Superstore Pharmacy. He found that frustrating, however, because they expected their pharmacists to stay behind the counter, dispensing; and Carman was always leaving the booth to assist someone in the aisles. Carman always kept that small-town mindset, and he didn't like to be a cog in the corporate machine. Carman enjoyed also working within his community as a Mason, and later a Shriner; playing Glockenspiel in the Shrine band, belonging to the Garden Club, tending his own vegetable and flower gardens, showing dachshunds with Jim, knitting and doing needlepoint to keep him busy. Carman maintained a strong connection with his family, and nieces and nephews found that Carman was keeping track of their significant others, birthdays and babies. He had strong people skills, loved company, and could be very outgoing. For many years, they raised chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys on the acreage; and family would come out on the day of slaughter to pluck and clean the birds, everyone taking home a brace for their freezers. Jim stuck to the kitchen, those days, to feed the crew, but Carman would be out where the action was. He made time for his crop inspection tours, visiting with family in the country, and keeping an eye on the fields. He always made a point of stopping in to see his aunt Bertha; and in fact, this year was the first time he wasn't able to be there for her 99th birthday. On one of his many country tours, Carman discovered someone had removed a tree or two from his mother's home site. Carman had carefully nurtured and planted trees around her home, and he was far from pleased to find a couple missing. He eventually tracked down the culprit, another member of the Denbow clan who said, he "thought it would be kind of nice to have one of Grandma's trees" by his house in town. To which Carman replied, "It wasn't Grandma's tree. It was his tree, and if he wanted the tree in town, he would have planted it in town." While holidaying in far away places, he would often bring back a lovely piece of jewellery to his mother. Carman had two very special people in his life; both long and loving partnerships. His first partner was Jack Smith, who worked in Advertising at CKX. They were together from the early '50s, until Jack's sad and sudden passing when they were on vacation in 1978. A year or two later, Carman met Jim Terhune, who walked into Clements looking for something, and found someone. They were a couple for the next 35 years, from 1979 until Carman's death on Wednesday, October 15th 2014 at the Brandon Regional Health Centre. They had recently moved from their acreage outside of Brandon to Victoria Landing. Carman is survived by his partner Jim Terhune; by his brother, Ross Denbow, and by his sister in law Rita (wife of the late Scott) Denbow, his aunt Bertha Denbow, and by many nieces and nephews, and cousins. He was predeceased by his partner Jack Smith, his parents John and Jenny, by his brothers Alvin (Buddy), Harold (Vera), Scott, Reuben (Vivian), Lyle, Les (Florence), Lloyd (Helen) and Cleve (Eileen and Myrtle), and his sisters Eva (Eric) Lever and Isabel (Fred) Boorman, brother Ross's wife Vivian, and nephew Jack Denbow and niece Marlaine Boorman. Funeral services were held at the Brockie Donovan Chapel on October 21, 2014 with Rev. Joe Ball officiating. Interment followed at Rosewood Memorial Gardens. Donations in memory of Carman may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, 415-1st Street, Brandon, MB, R7A 2W8 or to the Lung Association of Manitoba, 8-940 Princess Avenue, Brandon, MB, R7A 0P6. Carman's surviving family like to imagine him today in a glad and happy reunion with family and friends who have gone before. They can see his smile, and hear his easy chuckle.