Riverboat operator.
Born at Malartic, Quebec on 9 May 1938, he moved with his family as an infant and settled on a farm at St. Peters. In 1969, he and his half-brother Joe Slogan bought the Red River cruise ships Paddlewheel Queen and Paddlewheel Princess and he operated them until retirement in 2013. He also later operated the River Rouge cruise ship. In 2022, a memoir entitled Welcome Aboard: My 44 Year Journey on the Red was ghostwritten by Bill Redekop. He was married twice, first in 1975 to Helga Harder (1950-2011) with whom he had a daughter and a son. In 2012, he married Esther Nagtegaal and adopted her two children. He died at Winnipeg on 4 July 2025.
Obituary [Helga Hawchuk], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 March 2011.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 July 2025.
“Steered by rich river of a life” by Aaron Epp, Winnipeg Free Press, 27 December 2025, page C1.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 December 2025
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