Farmer, sportsman.
Born at Oakville on 14 December 1933 to Florence Alice Bell (1904-1990) and Leslie Arnold Blight (1904-1971), he was a farmer and a sportsman. His love of baseball led to a 17-year career as left-handed pitcher playing for three years with Oakville in a junior league during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He also participated in tournament baseball, notably a stint pitching for the Neepawa Cubs, where he was instrumental in securing a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Buffaloes.
In the realm of hockey, he played for teams such as the Poplar Point Memorials (1956-1957), and eventually served as a coach and mentor in the communities of Oakville and Portage la Prairie. His skills coaching with the Oakville Seals from 1968 to 1974 resulted in league championships every year. He then moved on to coaching the Portage Terriers Junior A team (1977-1979), and then the Portage Hawks A Intermediate team (1981-1986). His contributions to the sports resulted in him being included in the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 as a member of the 1956-1957 Poplar Point Memorials hockey team. In 2003, he was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame.
While at the Poplar Point hockey rink in the late 1950s, he met Shirley, a young teacher. They married in 1958 and went on to have three children, for a time sharing the farm business with his brother, Donald Blight. Eventually the couple started the Little Red Barn, a roadside vegetable and fruit stand on Highway 1 just east of Portage la Prairie, where locals and travellers could pick up home-grown corn on the cob, vegetables, and fresh fruit. As their sons grew, they became partners in the farming operation.
He and his wife enjoyed many trips together, but his greatest pleasure was spending time at the summer cottage with his family.
He died at Portage la Prairie on 7 May 2013 and was buried in the Oakville Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 2013.
Hansard, Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, 27 May 2013.
“Ken Blight,” Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Kenneth Rae ‘Ken’ Blight,” An Ontario Family Tree, Ancestry.
Kenneth Rae Blight, FindAGrave.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 15 October 2026
Memorable Manitobans
This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.
Search the collection by word or phrase, name, place, occupation or other text:
Custom SearchBrowse surnames beginning with:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | ZBrowse deaths occurring in:
1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the Memorable Manitobans Administrator at biographies@mhs.mb.caCriteria for Memorable Manitobans | Suggest a Memorable Manitoban | Firsts | Acknowledgements
Help us keep
history alive!
