Stanley John HOVDEBO

Stanley John Hovdebo
August 20, 1925 – January 14, 2018
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, friend, and most of all, humanitarian, Stanley John Hovdebo. Stan was born in Domremy, Saskatchewan on August 20, 1925 to Karen and Sigurd Hovdebo. Proud of his Norwegian heritage, Stan grew up on the family farm in the Northern Light District, attended the Northern Light School and eventually the University of Saskatchewan. Although, always a farmer at heart, after graduation he was an educator for more than thirty years. His early career as a teacher and school principal took him to Whitehorse, Yukon where he met another lifelong educator, Kathleen (Kay) Langridge, a woman who would become his love and partner for life. Stan and Kathleen were married on August 4, 1951, and together were involved in teaching and education administration in Whitehorse, Huntsville, Ontario, Val d'Or, Quebec, Inuvik, NWT, Bourlamaque, Quebec, Kaitaia, New Zealand, Prince Albert, Kano, Nigeria and Northern Saskatchewan. For more than 30 years Stan had a positive and constructive influence on the lives of thousands of young men and women around the world. During these busy years Stan and Kay raised three children – James, Donald and Brenda, kept an active hand in farming and obtained a second degree in education from the University of Toronto. Stan was elected to Canadian House of Commons for the New Democratic Party in the federal riding of Prince Albert in 1979 in a by-election, re-elected in the general election that followed and again in 1988 in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt, the constituency in which the Hovdebo farm was located. Stan retired from politics in 1993 and went on to serve on the board and later as chair of the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE), an organization little know in Canada but very well known in many developing, especially Commonwealth, countries. Stan and Kay originally retired to Huntsville, Ontario but eventual moved back to the Northern Light farm he loved where he passed away with his loving wife and children by his side. Stan is survived by his wife of more than 66 years, Kay, his sons Jim (Sandi) and Don (Maureen) and daughter Brenda, seven grandchildren, Tyler Hovdebo, Ryan (Chantelle) Hovdebo, Nikki (Nathan) Huculiak, Alex, Brian, Callum and Petra Hovdebo and four great-grandchildren, Arianna, Logan and James Hovdebo and Brooklyn Huculiak. Stan was predeceased by his mother and father, Karen and Sigurd Hovdebo, his mother and father-in-law, Esther and Gordon Langridge, his brother Raymond, and sisters Violet Stalwick and Dorthea Brown. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday January 20, 2018 at 2:00 p.m., at the Lake Park Baptist Church, Birch Hills, Saskatchewan. Donations in memory of Stan may be directed to the Weldon Country Villa in Weldon, SK. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Marc Blondeau of Kushneryk Funeral Service, Wakaw, SK, 306-233-4403.