Louis Reves

Louis Reves was born in 1925 and passed December of 2023.

Louis was the son to Sandor and Lydia Reves. He had nine siblings and another 4 that died in infancy.

 Of the nine siblings, the oldest was Alex, who taught Louis how to do electrical work. Louis, as a teenager, would use some of those skills with siblings and friends to play ‘chicken’ with the electric cattle fence. Next was John, who lived to 97. He appeared to be a people person, who would often comment that it was his two honeys that kept him healthy, one being his wife, the other being the honey he would put in his tea. His brother Joe seemed to be a very serious and disciplined man. Andy was said to be a kindhearted and generous bachelor. Andy gave Louis his first bike. Louis would talk about how their mom would give first dibs on that bike to his baby brother Fred when Louis wanted to bike with his cousins. He was not happy about this. Steve was the TRUE storyteller of the family and could almost talk the priest into sharing the Sunday offering. His sister Helen was a kind, generous and loving woman who passed away with cancer in her mid-50’s. His other sister Elizabeth who was 2 years older than him passed away when Louis was 12. Louis’ younger brother by 4 years, Fred was a character. When my dad was in his later 70’s, these 2 brothers zipped across a snow-covered lake on snow mobiles trying to reach 100 mph. They only made it to 97 mph before they started to run out of track, and we will leave it at that. His baby sister who is in her 90’s now, Lydia, is still living in BC. She is a sweet, wonderful woman. Each one of his siblings had a unique and special impact on his life.

 Louis grew up in a Hungarian rural farming community near Bruno Saskatchewan. He would talk about being a heavy equipment operator at 14, which really meant that he drove a large horse team, sometimes up to 8 horses. Many of the stories Louis would share about his time on the farm were about the fall harvest thrashing days. Then there were all the entertaining and somewhat frightening stories of his bush camp days of cutting down trees. In the wintertime at a bush camp in northern Saskatchewan the extreme cold and the dangerous wildlife made for quite the adventure for a young man. Louis would often talk about his parents, and it seemed like he was a bit of a mama’s boy who was always trying to please her. He didn’t consider himself the favorite son, but he was always contributing to the family and trying to honor his parents. He said that his mother never complained and always seemed thankful, but she was very strict about the religious background of who the sons courted. Many of the boys had to move out while dating, get married, and then they were accepted back.

 Louis married Lillian Ostermayer, and it sounds like this was partially an arranged marriage by the mothers based on a common religious belief system. They had four children. The oldest is Darlene who still lives in Prince Albert. The second was Faye who passed away at 18 months of age. The third child was Brian who lives in Sherwood Park, and the youngest child is Lyle who lives in Regina. Louis remarried later in life to Hazel who was a great recreational companion for him. They had many travelling adventures together in a small older motorhome before she passed away. They would go fishing in the northern lakes, do daily coffee with the locals and dig up native plants to replant in their massive acreage oasis.

Shortly after Hazel passed Louis lost his driver’s license due to macular degeneration. He was persuaded to move from the Shellbrook area into Regina, where he resided for the last 15 years of his life. In the last few years of his life, he often said that he was ready to sneak out the back door but then on the other hand, he had Lyle stock him up on many different vitamins and supplements to keep himself healthy. Subsequently he recovered from quite a few serious illnesses including covid.

Louis was a storyteller, but he wasn’t always politically correct when expressing his opinions. He had many stories, stories of thankfulness and stories of regret. But through it all he maintained his hope in God and a final resting place in heaven with his Savior.

Louis would say his biggest regret would be the lack of time spent with his two oldest children when they were growing up. This was a time of pre-Medicare and he had to work extra hard to pay off his medical debt. Louis told a story of a year when he was on the pipeline (as a heavy-duty mechanic), when he worked from early spring to just before Christmas with only a half-day off. There were times where he would work 100+ hour per week. He was a kind man, but he also had his opinions which he wasn’t afraid to express. He was a loving father who wanted to see his children succeed.

 Darlene (the oldest child) enjoyed and will miss her scheduled Sunday afternoon calls from her dad. Brian enjoyed spending parts of his summer visiting Louis in Regina and taking him on road trips to see Darlene in Prince Albert, and heading to Estevan where they would reminisce about pipeline days and other events. Brian would often reflect on how proud and thankful he was to have had Louis as his father. Lyle (the youngest) had the privilege of spending the most time with his dad. His fondest memories are when, as a young boy, aged 7-12 years, he spent summer break travelling around Western Canada with Louis on the pipeline. This could certainly not be done today because of the safety regulations.  Lyle would spend one day playing with the kids in the makeshift pipeline trailer court and then the next day he would be out riding with his dad in his big Chevy truck. They would fuel up the equipment and Lyle would get tools for his dad while he worked on the heavy-duty machinery. Lyle started his driving experience in his dad’s four speed Chevy at the age of seven. He was able to ride on the heavy equipment, including backhoes, ditchers, and cats.

All of Louis’ children have hearts that are full of sadness and joy. Sad to see him gone, but this 98-year-old man’s body was worn out even though his mind was strong. He had a few hard hits in his long life but they are so glad to see that he always got back up. Louis would often say that he had a lot to be thankful for and had had a great run. Louis would always tell people: “don’t get old!” But realizing there wasn’t another good option to that, he changed his saying to, “Don’t be in a rush to get old” and with a little smile he would continue with, “I don’t know what I’m going to do when I do get old.”