David George Chris Ramsay was the first of five children born August 5, 1955 in Neilburg, Saskatchewan, to Alice and Harvey Ramsay. He passed away much too early on October 28, 2024.

He is survived by his two daughters, Layne and Jayleen Ramsay; his son-in-law, Scott Wowk; and his soon-to-be first grandchild arriving in February 2025. He is also survived by his mother, Alice Ramsay; brothers, Randy (Tammy) Ramsay and Kevin (Val) Ramsay; his sisters Diane (Sid) Graham and Tina (Darren) Tyler; and their families. He is predeceased by his dad, Harvey Ramsay.

Growing up on the farm instilled a strong work ethic in David and taught him many skills in construction, landscaping, and agriculture. David’s daughters recall helping their dad in their massive garden during the summer months. He took great pride cutting the grass, maintaining the acreage trails, and spending time outside. “Dad always smelled distinctly of cut grass and gasoline from the weed-whip”.  David would build many things in the winter as well, including a full-sized skating rink with lights and boards that the kids would skate on for hours throughout the winter, snow forts and tunnels, and even luge-like toboggan runs. When work and play was done, the girls remember Dad popping a giant cauldron of popcorn, topped with a full brick of salty butter and sometimes he would mix in salt and vinegar chips.

Starting from a simple piece of land full of trees near Millet, Alberta, he cleared and placed a modular home where the girls spent their first 10 years of life. He then worked extraordinarily hard to upgrade to a beautiful 2 storey, 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom house, which he mostly built by his own hand. He continued to maintain the acreage for over 20 years.

David was an avid athlete and participated in a multitude of sports such as track and field, cross-country running, broomball, and boxing. In addition to participating, he was a coach of both soccer, and broomball. He was also the head of the Millet soccer association for a few years in the early 2000s.

When he was 22 years old, David competed with two others from Neilburg Saskatchewan in a running competition known as a dogsled relay race in Saskatoon. The three men finished with the best combined time, with David having the fifth-best time overall. His love of long-distance running continued and in February 1988, he ran 270 km over 4.5 days raising money for volunteers of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. He ran from Leduc to Calgary, where he presented an oil derrick to the mayor of Calgary from the town of Leduc.

In 2003, he competed at the National Broomball Championships for Alberta, winning gold. From 2007 – 2010, he coached the Italian national broomball team during World Broomball Championships and was named best coach in 2008.

He enjoyed traveling and visited many countries during his life. One of his favourite parts of travelling was reuniting with family and friends in Europe. He and the Eisner family would host family reunions every few years trading back and forth between Canada and Europe. Layne remembers traveling through the black forest in 2016 with her dad on one of these trips together. Jayleen and Scott traveled to Dresden and Radebeul with him in 2018 to meet family and see Dad’s other persona, “the Last Saskatchewan Pirate” complete with costume and makeup, come to life.

He enjoyed learning and studying history, including the knights’ templar, family history, Native American history, and Islamic traditions. A bit of a romantic adventurer, David was eager to discuss the wildest possibilities, buried treasures, and the like. Throughout his life, he was very curious and spiritual, learning many traditions and practicing new faiths along the way. These included catholic missions to Mexico, indigenous ceremonies and celebrations, as well as practicing Islamic tradition at the mosque in Lacombe.

David’s manager at work referred to him as a public service legend, noting David’s eagerness to learn and coach others. He was widely respected by his peers as a coach, mentor, and master of the white board. Dad would go above and beyond in everything he did. He became passionate about learning about First Nations culture and history. He would go on to teach many classes to others in the government on how to work with our First Nation brothers and sisters.

Dad truly enjoyed his work. He had many jobs over the years, some of which included farming, plumbing, electrical, firefighting, research, and safety officer. He often had stories about the various research projects he was involved in, including the development of the Cold Buster Bar, a meal replacement designed to combat hypothermia. His girls fondly recall visiting their dad when they were little at the research park and snacking on saltine crackers at the plant. For the majority of his life David worked with the Alberta government as a senior safety codes officer. He was recently honored for 40 years of service in July 2024 by the department of municipal affairs, a milestone he was very proud of. He began his career with the department in 1984!

Dad always knew how to bring the fun. This included dressing up at the reunions, winning best dressed for his costume in his senior year of high school, doing a spot on impression of Donald Duck for all the littles, and rocking an awesome costume during themed movie nights with his kids towards the end of his life. He always took it way too far in the absolute best ways possible and could light up any room he entered with joy and laughter.

He will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, we believe it would truly honour our father’s memory to donate to Spirit North, a charity that empowers Indigenous youth through sport and play – activities that our dad knew very well. Donations can be made in honour of David Ramsay through this link. https://www.spiritnorthxc.ca/donate2024-1