Allan Crossman

With great sadness, we announce the passing of Allan James Crossman, from a courageous battle with cancer at the age of 84.

Allan is survived by his wife Margaret of 60 years, his children Sandy (Dahlton), Jamie (Angie), Arlene (Rick), grandchildren Jeannine (Jamie), Cody, Ryan, Colin, and Ray (Nyla) and great granddaughter Mariah (Joey). Also survived by his sister Helen Rygmyr of Florida, brother Larry Crossman (Judy) of Vancouver Island. Also survived by his brothers in law Bill Jenken (Shirley), Dave Jenken (Kim), Daryl Jenken, Fran Delannoy, and Lori Jones (Rick), and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Allan was predeceased by his parents James (Jimmy) and Evelyn Crossman, In-laws Ted and Nellie Jenken, brother in-law, Richard Jenken and son in-law Rob Fournier.

Allan was raised in Hazelridge, Manitoba on the family farm. Since the early 1940’s he spent summers in Gull Harbour on Hecla Island where they had a small cottage. Allan greatly enjoyed his time at the lake and was very close with his cousins (the Gillespie’s) who also had a cottage there. In his teens, Al learned to sail and built a small wooden motor boat from a kit he purchased. At that time the Island was accessible only by ferry or boat. In the late 1960’s, he started to bring his own family to enjoy Gull Harbour until the island was expropriated in the early 1970’s to turn Hecla Island into a Provincial Park.

Allan’s work life started at a very young age working on the family farm. This lifestyle was likely what gave him his very strong work ethic, always puttering at something. In his late teens he used his farming experience to land a job with Malmgrens Farm Equipment doing various factory work. During this time, he took a course in Drafting which opened the door to his long career as a Mechanical Draftsman, even securing a position in Malmgrens Engineering department as a Draftsman. While employed with Malmgrens he also worked as a Car Mechanic at Holmes Auto in Lockport. After nine years at Malmgrens he decided to venture out and moved his family to Uranium City, SK where he worked as an Electrical and Mechanical Draftsman at Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited. Allan was very involved in this northern community and operated the only movie theatre and the CBC TV station. Four years later he moved the family back home to Manitoba where he worked as a Draftsman for Allied Farm Equipment while again working as a Car Mechanic at Texaco Garage in Winnipeg as a second job.

When the kids were still quite young, Al saw an opportunity to build a home next door to his childhood home and his parents on Hazelridge road. He designed it, had it framed, and completed all the interior finishing work himself, including a beautiful cedar deck on the back. There were many benefits to living in the country and it was a great place to raise his children and for the grand kids to experience “life on a farm”. Allan settled into his longest employment position with Nord-Sen Metal Industries as a Draftsman for the next 31 years until he retired.

In parallel with his career with Nord-Sen, he also operated his own grain farm in Hazelridge with his family, as well as owned and operated a bicycle shop, Community Cycle & Repair, in Winnipeg over 10 years. This brought Allan many joys as he loved to work with his hands, work with his family and cherished the many friendships built through customers, staff and the place where everyone just wanted to be. Allan worked hard to ensure his family had a full, happy and satisfying life.

In the late 1990’s Hecla Island was re-opened to cottagers and with the help of their family, Al and Marg built a beautiful home on the lake where many more happy and memorable years were enjoyed by all. Although retired, Allan decided to return to work part-time at the Gull Harbour Lakeview Resort performing various maintenance work throughout the building, which included maintaining the seven pools.

Al was an avid sports fan and enjoyed going to many Blue Bomber and Jets games. He was very involved in his kids sports and other activities and rarely missed his grandkids hockey and ringette games.

There was almost NOTHING Al couldn’t do and he would always help someone in need. He enjoyed a few hobbies in his “spare time” including stained glass, building models and more recently, painting. Always doing something to keep busy, never rushing to get things done, carrying a “slow and steady wins the race” kind of approach.

Together, Al and Marg built an amazing life for their family, filled with memories that will be cherished forever.

A celebration of life for Allan will be held August 19, 2022 at 1pm at Seasons Funeral Chapel, 576 Balsam Crescent, Oakbank, MB.

In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation to Heart and Stroke Foundation or Cancer Care Manitoba.