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Obituary for Dr. Albert Benjamin Ostrander
Albert was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on April 5, 1918. He was the second child born to Tina and Ben Ostrander. Albert’s father Ben passed away in 1923 when he was just 5 years of age, so as the eldest son he took on much of the role as the head of the family. The family enjoyed summers at his uncle Harry Servais’ “camp” on Loon Lake near Thunder Bay.
Throughout his childhood, Albert thrived on sports of all sorts, especially swimming, boating, fishing and golf in the summer along with hockey in the winter and skiing with his sister Betty. After graduating from St. Paul’s High School, Albert worked at a bank in Winnipeg for 2 years before entering the University of Manitoba to study Medicine. As an army reservist during World War II, Albert studied medicine and graduated in 1944 whereupon he began active military service. Albert was then sent by the army to study tropical medicine in Panama. Following this and while on leave prior to shipping overseas, the war ended.
Albert met Lorene Hewitt, a pretty young CWAC nursing sister at Camp Borden prior to going to Panama. They were married in 1946 and moved to Calgary to begin their family and start a medical practice. The next 9 years were spent in Alberta and Ontario raising kids (Michael 1947, Sally 1948, Ben 1949, Stephen 1953 and Peter 1954). During this period, he also qualified as a general surgeon at Toronto’s East General Hospital in1953 and undertook short term medical positions primarily in Thunder Bay and Kirkland Lake.
In 1955 Al and Lori returned to Calgary with their young family where Al began a family practice. While in Calgary they added once more to their flock (John 1959) and started skiing as a family. Al found a nice sailboat (the “Green Witch”). In 1959 the family fell in love with the Columbia Valley when they spent two weeks at Dean’s Beach on Lake Windermere. Over Christmas of 1964 Albert and family relocated to Invermere which was home for the rest of his life (despite commuting to Calgary to work with WCB from 1977 until his retirement in 1983).
Invermere was the small town dad had always been looking for and where he maintained his closest ties until his passing. He was very active. He skied, fished, golfed, curled, sailed, built 2 cabins, 2 garages, 2 decks, and a boat and was a member of the Lake Windermere District Lion’s Club. He took daily walks downtown for coffee at the Invermere Inn with his longstanding and dear friends Jaques, Paul, Gunnar, George, Bobby and many others.
When mom passed away in 2008 Allie lost his soul mate and life partner, but he had a strong life force and remained healthy. Last Sunday, dad had dinner, talked with his children on the phone, lay down for a nap and gently passed away. He was 98 years old.
Along with Al’s deepest friend (and son) Steve, his family and friends will miss him dearly. He is survived by his children Michael (Marian), Sally (Ross), Ben, Steve, Peter (Gayle) and John (Nancy). He was predeceased by his parents Ben and Tina (nee Servais) Ostrander, his wife Lorene, siblings Betty, John and Paul and grandchildren Ian, Larry, Peter and Jane.
Prayers/visitation will be held on Monday, July 4 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church in Invermere. His funeral service will be held on Tuesday, July 5 at 11:00 am at the Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church. A reception will follow at 2:00 pm at Columbia Gardens Village. There will be a private family gathering for the interment at a later date. Donations in honour of Al may be made to your charity of choice.
