J. Wally McKenzie
James Wallace McKenzie (Wally) was born June
16th, 1914 at Plenty,
Saskatchewan. His father had emigrated from
Glengarry County, Ontario and
homesteaded near Plenty in 1905. Wally attened
school at Plenty and was vert
active in sports and music. He played a number
of musical instruments and
earned extra income during the Dirty 30's
playing in dance bands. Weekends
were taken up with baseball tournaments and
hockey in the winter. In 1939 he
married Hilda Rose Pritchard and started working
in a grain elevator at
Stranraer, Saskatchewan. In 1943 he joined
the RCAF and was trained as a
Radar Mechanic. When the war was over he went
back to his grain buyer job
and was transfrred to Inglis, Manitoba working
for the Reliance Grain Co.
When Reliance was taken over by Pool elevators
he bought a grocery store in
Inglis. He became very involved in the community
through the Legion, Chamber
of Commerce, Credit Union and united Church.
He was also active in coaching
youth baseball and hockey.
In 1966 he was elected to the Manitoba Legislature
as the M.L.A. for the
constituency of Roblin, later Roblin-Russell.
He represented the riding
until his retirement in 1986. He died September
7th, 1999 at the Russell
Hospital. He is survived by his daughter Pat
Graves of Grandview, Manitoba,
Judy Ransom of Boissevain, Manitoba and son
Glen McKenzie of Swan River,
Manitoba.
Submitted by Glen
McKenzie