It is with great sorrow that Deb announces the passing of Murray on Dec. 18, 2019, after his valiant 8 year battle with cancer.
Murray was born Nov. 4, 1951 at Emo Red Cross Hospital and raised on the family farm in Kingsford Township. It was there that the lessons of hard work, love of animals, a sense of adventure and love of the outdoors was instilled in him.
Murray attended Mather Potts School and Fort High School. Immediately following graduation he went to work for Acklands and for the next twenty years he plied his trade throughout NW Ontario and beyond as a partsman, sales rep and manager. During this time other side ventures kept him busy with log hauling, raising quarter horses and hobby farming. In 1990 Murray married his best friend, soul-mate and love of his life, Debbie (Palichuk). For the next 29 years they lived, loved, laughed and played at home and at their beloved cabin on Footprint Lake. During this period Murray changed careers and joined Correctional Services as a Corrections Officer and later as a Classification & Rehabilitation Officer. This new career was one he truly enjoyed as he loved to help people. In 2001 he joined the OPP Auxiliary Program and with hard work and perseverance quickly rose through the ranks to the position of Auxiliary Inspector, Regional Director of NW Region. The Auxiliary was a program Murray embraced and loved and was well respected by its members and his peers in the OPP family. Always community minded, Murray was a past member & chair of Crime Stoppers, past Master of Manitou Lodge # 631 , Past Z of Alberton Chapter, RAM and past DDGM of Western District.
Besides building things, Murray loved to fish and even though he was allergic to the ‘lil critters that didn’t slow him up. He was most at peace in a boat with Deb or Brian or Ken looking for the illusive bass or walleye. He always looked forward to his yearly sojourn into the “North Woods”, as he called it with Ricky, Glen, Florida Guy and the Indiana Gang where a week of sledding into remote lakes, Deb’s lasagna and a splash of Wiser’s was the order of the day.
He was predeceased by his parents Russell Alexander (1989); his mother Marion (2002); his brother Jim (1961); and brother-in-law Peter Palichuk as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
He will be sadly missed by his wife, best friend and soul mate, Debbie; his adopted brother Brian Dent and his wife Carole, their children Christopher and wife Amanda (Connor, Liam and Madelyn), Jennifer Dent; sister Lois Hadfield (Wayne); bothers-in-law Don Palichuk (Kim), John Palichuk (Jan), Tom Palichuk (Pauline); nieces Rachel & Jocelyn; nieces Patricia Palichuk and Robert Palichuk; special cousins Pat Moffitt and Dennis Witherspoon; awesome friends Al and Dawn MacDonald and numerous relatives across Canada and the U.S.
Honorary Pallbearers are Ken Noble Sr., Dawn MacDonald, Dennis Witherspoon, Al MacDonald, Jennifer Roukkula, and Margie Derendorf-Caul.
Funeral Services will be held Jan. 4, 2020, at the Knox United Church at 2:00 with Rev. Francis Flook officiating. Donations may be made to The TBRHS Cancer Centre, the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre or a charity of your choice.
(WILLIAM) MURRAY ALEXANDER
