Randy Gerald Pike passed away near Waseca, Saskatchewan, on November 9th, 2016 at the age of 65 years. Randy will be greatly missed by his family: his Mom Lois; siblings: Keith (Debbie) Pike, Kevin (Yvonne) Pike, Melanie (Morris) Freeston, 8 nephew and nieces: Brett (Val) Pike, Melissa (Shawn) Klisowsky, Serise Pike (Nelson De Almeida), Maxine (Jordi) Johner, Angela (Richard) Perkins, Tara (Jim) Pierce, Lanelle Freeston, Chandra (Bryan) Fischer and 18 great nieces and nephews. Randy was predeceased by his father, Gerald Pike and by his grandparents, Everard and Winifred Pike and Cyril and Muriel Corker. The memorial service for Randy was conducted from the Maidstone Legion Hall on November 16th, 2016 at 11:00 A.M., with the Reverend Jessie Pei officiating. A slideshow presentation in celebration of Randy’s life was played before and after the service. The Eulogy was given by nephew-in-law, Richard Perkins. The hymns sung were, In The Bulb There Is A Flower and The Lord’s My Shepherd accompanied by Eileen Evans on the piano. The active pallbearers were nephew and nieces: Brett Pike, Melissa Klisowsky, Serise Pike, Maxine Johner, Angela Perkins, Tara Pierce, Lanelle Freeston, Chandra Fischer. The Honorary pallbearers were all those who shared in Randy’s life.
Eulogy
Good Morning,
On behalf of the family and myself I would like to welcome you all here today to celebrate the life of Uncle Randy. I would also like to extend our gratitude for the tremendous support our family has received in this difficult time and for those who were not able to attend but offered their condolences. I am Richard Perkins, I married Uncle Randy’s niece Angie. Uncle Randy and I hit it off when I first entered the Pike family because we spoke the same language….sports. We curled a number of years in the Lashburn bonspiel together on a family team. In one particular A final game we made it to, the game was tight and Uncle Randy had a difficult shot. After many minutes of deliberation, Uncle Randy had called his shot. He headed to the hack and got ready to shoot, then stood back up and I knew we were in trouble as he came all the way back down the ice. After more minutes of deliberation, he decided on the same shot. Unfortunately, he ended up missing the shot and me not having the patience that uncle Randy possessed, I threw my slider across the rink.  Funny thing though we ended up winning the game and Uncle Randy made the final shot to win. It was like he had his strategy. It was supposed to be. Not only did he possess strategy, he had the skills to back it up. Uncle Randy was humble in victory. He would always find a way to keep the game close, interesting and fun. Randy Gerald Pike was born in Maidstone, Saskatchewan on September 7th, 1951. He was the first child of four, born to Gerald and Lois Pike.  Keith, Kevin and Melanie followed. Gran often spoke highly of how helpful Uncle Randy was with chores and as a big brother. One time while helping with the laundry, putting the clothes through the ringer, Uncle Randy must not have let go of the clothes he was putting through because the next thing Gran knew Uncle’s arm was stuck in the ringer.  He was dedicated to his baby sister as when his other two brothers were off causing trouble, Randy would be pulling Melanie in the sleigh or just playing with her outside, keeping her out of Gran’s hair. He attended school at Forest Bank and transferred to Maidstone when the school closed in grade 6.  During his high school years, Randy was involved in all sports….curling, baseball and soccer.  He played hockey for a short while. He possessed skill in all of the sports he played, but above all Uncle always was a courteous team member and his sportsmanship was impeccable. Uncle Randy graduated from Maidstone High School and from there he worked at Nelson Lumber, building modular homes. He found this job very boring and his next adventure led him to the Waseca Credit Union where his heart was….with numbers.  At this time, Randy’s family grew by 3, his sisters-in-law and brother-in-law, Debbie, Yvonne and Morris, which he considered his own sisters and brother. Uncle Randy worked there for some 12 years and then decided to head back to the family farm.  As the farm began to grow, Grandad and Uncle Randy found the need for extra hands. Uncle Keith joined the team on the farm in 1986. I know that Uncle Randy loved working with his Dad and his brothers. Although Kevin was not full time on the farm, he spent many nights after work helping with harvest. It was always a family event. Randy had so many jobs on the farm. He was the chief trucker and did many hours of swathing. As the farm grew and technology advanced, Randy’s jobs on the farm grew as well. He was the weatherman, grain tester and the commodities “manager to the extreme - maybe even to the point of pushing Uncle Keith’s last button.”  His honesty was a trait that shone through. When doing the books and balancing accounts for the farm, he was the first to write a cheque to pay back if the farm was overpaid. The books had to be balanced. Uncle Randy worked hard, but never lost sight of his love of sports. His favorite summer sport was baseball. His first ball team was with the Waseca Legion, which his Dad coached. After his minor ball years, he joined the Standard Hill Lakers team where he played for a number of years, until he and Keith left and played with the Lloydminster Travel Lodge Bears. The Travel Lodge Bears was a fastball team that he played with for 10 years.  He enjoyed playing third base with this team and was known for his quick hands and never rushing a play. After this they played with Endiem. At the age of 35, he found himself back with the Standard Hill Lakers Old-timers team, where he continued to play for another 25 plus years. On this team he had the opportunity to play again with his brothers, many cousins, nephews and two nephews-in-law. I had the pleasure of sharing a year of old-timers ball with Uncle Randy. I had played against him in years previous playing young lakers against old-timers at the Standard Hill Lakers tournament. One game at an old-timers ball tournament in Melfort, Uncle Randy was up to bat with two out and runners on base. Wouldn’t you know it, Uncle cracked the ball over the left field fence to win the game. I was not at this particular game and don’t know the specifics, but have heard about it many times as he was the hero that day, not that you would ever have heard that from him. Winter found Uncle Randy on the curling ice. Believe it or not his love of curling began in the Waseca curling rink. He was a natural from the first rock he threw. He did various bonspiels and even had a shot at provincials one year for sure. He enjoyed curling with his brothers on a family team and took part in the Farmers Bonspiel in Lloydminster every year. He represented Saskatchewan when he curled with the Foresters Dominion curling in Oshawa and another year, played for Quebec when they ended up short a player. He curled in Waseca, Maidstone, the Super League in Lloydminster, and found himself at home with the Lashburn curling club. Uncle Randy loved the game and when he wasn’t on the ice himself he was watching the game on TV or traveling to the Brier to enjoy the action. Aside from good curling, he also would take the time to come to the rink and support his own nieces and nephews’ attempt the game. He would find his way to the rink any time there was a bonspiel on in town to support. Later Uncle Randy found another sport to excel in - bowling.  He had a quiet, soft delivery that worked perfectly for him and you would always find his scores on the board. I remember bragging to Uncle Randy about the score I had accomplished in one game and then having him trump me with his 401 single and 919 triple…..not that he told me that, but he did wave the score sheet in my face just to shut me up. That was his and my relationship. One story that was shared with the family was that Randy was fought over at Keranda Christmas parties when they bowled. Any team that Randy was on was sure to win. Uncle Randy was community minded and he volunteered many hours of his time. He was a member and treasurer for the Maidstone Museum, Secretary of the Waseca wheat pool for a number of years, and Waseca hall board member and treasurer for years. Uncle Randy was a family person and although he was quiet and never said much, he believed in keeping the family together. You could guarantee that he would be at every function….birthdays, Christmas, Easter. It didn’t matter, he would be there. When my kids found out about Uncle’s passing they were distressed by the thought of him not being at their birthday parties and who would give them their birthday card with the money taped in it. And who would be Santa and pass the Christmas presents at our yearly Christmas party, as that was Uncle’s job. Although Uncle didn’t have his own children, he involved himself by following his nieces and nephew in their sports and activities and in these past years watching the “great” nieces and nephews enjoy sports and activities.  He loved watching and the kids loved that he came and took the time to be a part of their lives. Aside from his immediate family, he found the time to go and watch his cousin’s kid’s activities as well.  After his father passed away in 2012, Randy, being the oldest, took on the responsibility to support and care for his mother. With a loving hand, Uncle Randy took a lot of pride and honor with this responsibility.  He truly loved family….all of his family. We will always remember his quiet presence, his quick wit and that smug little smile we all know as he looked at us over his glasses. Not many of the family doesn’t have a memory of Uncle losing his keys, or his wallet, locking his keys in his vehicle or misplacing his gloves or phone. He was honest and trustworthy. If you told him anything you would be guaranteed it would go no further. His memory was impeccable and he knew every family member’s birthday and many of the extended family’s birthdays as well. If you needed any sports stats or numbers of any kind Uncle was your guy, he was math minded.  Uncle never had a bad word to say about anyone and always was a peacemaker. You would always find Uncle with his rubber boots with his Keranda hat on.  He was a gentle soul and he will be missed more then he would ever imagine. We had some fun together. One time uncle and I attended an Eskimo game together. When we got there, I headed to the washroom and Uncle headed to get beer. When I came back I found him in the longest line with a short line just next to him. I asked him why don’t we go the other line, its shorter? He smiled at me and said, “Look who’s serving the beer in this line!!” Life is going to be different around our house now….for us and my kids. We will forever miss our visits through the fence, the kids running over for a short visit only to have me go over 2 hours later and find Uncle Randy and the kids playing ring toss. It started off as a normal harvest this year, but after the unfortunate bad weather, we came together as a family doing whatever we could to get the harvest done and to lose Randy in the middle of it has been devastating to our family.  Uncle Randy was taken from us too soon, but he left us doing exactly what he loved….farming with his family. The family would like to thank you for coming to this celebration of Uncle Randy’s life.  I would like to read you a poem that I feel sums up our family’s loss. Randy….. You showed us a lot of things, we learned a lot we didn’t know.  But you forgot to teach us one last thing….how to let you go.  We know you didn’t mean to leave us, sometimes we have no choice.  We will miss being your family, hearing our names called by your voice. If God could grant us one last wish, we’d ask to say goodbye.  You always meant a lot to us, we could never love you less. We know it’s true when they say, he only takes the best. The interment for Randy was held in the Forest Bank Cemetery. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd. of Lloydminster, Alberta administered the funeral arrangements.
 Card of Thanks
The family has been completely overwhelmed by the tremendous support from our friends, family and the community.  Special thanks to those who visited, for the phone calls, those who brought food, gave flowers and donations in Randy’s memory. Thank you to the emergency personnel for your support and professionalism in such a distressing time. Thank you to Reverend Jessie Pei, pianist Eileen Evans and to Richard Perkins for the special eulogy. Also thank you to the nephew and nieces for being pallbearers, and to the Lashburn Curling Club for setting out the lunch. To the caring people of McCaw’s Funeral home – Thank you.
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Lois
Keith and Debbie
Kevin and Yvonne
Melanie and Morris
