John Edward Dove was born January 6, 1927 to Ada and George Dove of Speers. He was the third of four children, two older brothers Stan and Ben and a younger sister Dorothy. He attended Korbet School for grades 1 to 8 and Keatley School for 9 to 12. After graduation John joined his brothers in running the family farm. His parents moved to North Battleford and his older brother Stan got married and moved into a house just down hill. This left John and brother Ben with a two storey house to themselves. It wasn鈥檛 long before a 5 X 10 slate pool table appeared in the living room. It was a common event for neighbours to come over Saturday night for a game of pool and to huddle around the tube radio listening to a hockey game. Later it even got better when in 1953 the boys got one of the first TV鈥檚 in the area. Sadly Ben passed away in 1958 and 30 years later in 1988 Stan passed away. John continued farming with his nephew Don. The family farm was recognized as a 鈥淐entury Farm鈥� in 2006. John life span of farming took him from the days of horse drawn equipment to four wheel drive tractors with GPS guidance systems. John saw many changes during his life time and encompassed all of them. At the age of 60, John decided to take life a little easier and sold his cattle herd but continued to be out there giving Don a helping hand with his herd. At 85, John was still actively farming seeding, spraying, hauling grain and still hustling up and down bin ladders during harvest. TRULY AMAZING!!!! It was only four years ago , in 2012 that John decided that he would retire from the farming game but not from the farming life. He continued to live on the farm and helping Don out when needed. For all those who knew John, there is one thing we can agree on 鈥淛ohn loved sports鈥�. Sports flowed through his veins. In his younger years, winter was playing hockey with Keatley in the 鈥淏ig Four League鈥� and spring and summer was playing baseball for Mayfair or Hafford. There were tournaments most weekends and John played in everyone he could. He also enjoy fishing and hunting including ducks, deer, moose and antelope. He was a busy young man. John retired from hockey in 1963 when his team 鈥淪peers鈥� won the 540 League championship. John鈥檚 interest switched to curling and snowmobiling in the winter and golf 聽in the summer. One of his highlites from curling was scoring an 8 ender, which is extremely rare. In golf John had a hole in one, again a rare occurance. John continued to play golf and curling until last year. John other passion in life was a good card game, be it with friends or family. He was always up for a game of 31, hearts, blackout, cribbage and his favorite, Kaiser. Just this year he won a silver metal for Kaiser in 鈥淏attlefords 55 Plus Games鈥�. John community activities included 30 years on the Sask Wheat Pool Committees for Keatley and subsequently for Speers. He was the secretary for the New Ottawa Cemetery Committe, until he stepped down just last fall. John did a little travelling. As a teenager in 1941 he went to Toronto with his brother Ben as the North Battleford representative for the 鈥淔arm Boys Camp鈥� competitions. In 1987 he went to Mexico on an agricultural bus tour. Then 1989 he was off to Hawaii with his nephews for a little R & R. Though John was busy with farming, sports and committees, he always had time for the 3 little nephews who live in the same farm yard. He was an excellent baby sitter. He was the 鈥渇un鈥� uncle, playing ball in front of the barn, playing monopoly and crocono. Inviting the boys on Saturday night to watch 鈥淗ockey Night In Canada鈥� on TV and Sunday was 鈥淭he Ed Sullivan Show鈥� and 鈥淏onanza鈥�. 聽As the boys grew, activities expanded to ping pong, shooting pool and cards. 聽When the boys purchased there own snowmobiles, John was there with his own, 聽riding with the young group, doing what ever they did, never one to pass up a challenge. Soon there were great nephews and John was introduced to world of electronic sports game. This quickly became his next venture in sports. He purchase his own games and practice for endless hours so that he could beat these young whipper snappers. John鈥檚 family was his nephew and nieces. He attended every family function and was part of their lives and the lives of their children. He passed away August 29, 2016 leaving behind his sister, Dorothy (Henry) Martens; nephews and nieces: Elmer (Lillian) Dove, Don Dove, Gary (Bonnie) Dove, Ken (Lynn) Martens, Evelyn (Doug) Marjoram, Pat (Ken) Loeppky, Lester (Katy) Martens, Mildred (Ed) Bauer and Bruce Martens; 11 great nephews and nieces and 6 great-great nephews and nieces and many, many friends. He left us all suddenly. He鈥檚 touched all our hearts and we鈥檒l miss you dear uncle and dear friend. Service Of Thanksgiving For John鈥檚 Life was held on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. from the Pioneer Memorial United Church, Speers, Saskatchewan with Minister Rev. Gayle Wensley. Memorials are requested to the Canadian Cancer Society or to Pioneer Memorial United Church, Speers, Saskatchewan 聽S0M 2V0. Interment was at the New Ottawa Cemetery, Speers, Saskatchewan. Arrangements were entrusted to Battlefords Funeral Service.
