Reg Alcock

Dear Karen, Sarah, Matthew, Christina and extended family,

Today at Reg’s “Celebration of Life” the ecclectic mix of people attending spoke volumes to the character of Reg as a father, husband, politician, educator and friend. The comments made at the service spoke volumes to his grace,intelligence, wit and humour.
Our memories of Reg at the lake speak volumes to a man – who enjoyed his family (the countless hours of driving the boat so that family & friends could waterski or tube around the lake). He enjoyed his cottage (the countless hours of tinkering, renovating and talking around the late night bonfires). We will miss him at the Thanksgiving table, where we all enjoyed the meal, the company and the conversation. We hope the Alcock/Bowie tradition at the lake will continue for years to come.

Sorry for your loss, but stay strong.

Reg you will be missed. You were such a kind man with a heart of gold. My dad (Ernie Keller)will be there to great you.

Will miss you
Susan Keller

We are very lucky to have had such a good man and politician in our time. He was a trustworthy and honest man in all things. He will be missed.

Thank you Reg for the tremendous and selfless work you accomplished helping others.

You will be missed and remembered dearly.

I returned from Reg’s funeral only a couple of hours ago. What a thrill it was to witness such a large turnout-out of friends, numbering in the hundreds, to pay their last respects to a former colleague who had given many years of his life to public service. Reg and I served together in the House of Commons from 1993 to 2004, the year I was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and he lived at my Ottawa condo for about a year before my retirement from Parliament. Reg was a giant of a man, both physically and mentally. It was his intellect, though, that really stood out and he used used it to better the lives of Canadians. He really cared about people and it was his compassion for people that drew him into public life. What I didn’t know about Reg until hearing eulogies to him at today’s funeral was his love of animals and cars. That, however, was not a surprise. He was, after all, multidimensional and getting to know that side of him fitted in. My condolences to Karen and the children. Reg will be long remembered. May he rest in peace.

You were a great politician.I enjoyed working on your campaign. RIP

I remember the first time I went over to Reg and Karen’s house a few years back, I came in through the front door and as I was taking my shoes off, I looked down and saw Reg’s slippers. They were huge. Nobody was looking, so I took my shoes and put them inside his slippers, and pushed them to the tip. You could just see the heals of my shoes poking out. I was there a few hours and Reg would poke his head in and out of the room once in a while say a few words, and back into his office, but unfortunately didn’t need his slippers.
As we were leaving we all had a good chuckle as I pulled my shoes out to leave. A giant Teddy Bear of a man.

Our envolvement spanned over 30 years, from the Royal Albert Arms to Treasury Board President, quite a ride

Reg, dealing with you was never boring, enjoy your rest my friend, you deserve it

Jim

In my days as a TV journalist I always looked forward to interview Reg Alcock. There are few politicians who speak their minds freely regardless of the potential fallout, but Reg always did. No canned sound-bites just the straight goods. Very refreshing. Reg seemed to touch all those he came in contact with because he was so genuine.

Reg was a remarkable parliamentary colleague with an intense interest in working to make the government of Canada more efficient by utilizing modern communications technology. He was an inspiration to us all with his unrivalled knowledge of communications methods, which he used to advance liberal ideas and the public good. He will be missed by his friends and by all who believe in public service for our country.

Karen, Sarah, Matthew, and Christina,

My thoughts go out to you all. I would have liked to have been there this afternoon to celebrate Reg’s life with you. Though I didn’t have the opportunity to spend much time with him, I enjoyed conversations while driving him from the airport to Joan’s during a few visits and his ribbing of me at our wedding!

He was always interested in what I was up to and how Lynn and I were doing. He would then speak about all of you and the numerous activities you were involved in. He was very proud!

He will certainly be missed, he was a wonderful person!

Take care of each other,

Glen Henderson

Our family would like to extend our sympathies and condolences to the Alcock family. Our son Gregory Cantafio attends St. Paul’s alongside your son ‘Matty’. Our most recent memory of meeting Mr. Reg Alcock was last fall when we dropped off Greg who was going to meet Matt and then go out with other friends. As a parent, I wanted to meet Matt and his family, face to face, and talk curfews, responsible teens, etc. Although, both Greg (my son) and Matt rolled their eyes, Matt called to his Dad to come and meet me (Vivian Cantafio). Matt’s Mom was absent that evening. We introduced ourselves and laughed about how kids don’t understand the concerns of parents and teens in today’s world. He was very humble, nice, sincere and very easy to chat with.
We are very sorry for your loss. Sincerely, the Cantafio family

Reg was a wonderful colleague in every sense. He had the respect of all, in every part of the House. He was great at challenging the status quo, yet at the same time when decisions had been made and policies decided on, he would be a tower of strenth and support.

Reg was a major reason that our western caucus meetings were the most interesting and useful of the many meetings we attended every week. He was a constant source of new ideas, or at the very least, new ways of looking at old issues.

Our deepest sympathy goes to the family.

David and Sandra

I first met Reg over 30 years ago, shortly after I was elected to Parliament. One of our first encounters came at a Parliamentary committee session looking into some silly posturing regarding a planned visit by Timothy Leary to the Royal Albert Arms pub. While a number of my colleagues considered this a great threat to our country and carried on in high dudgeon, I could not take it seriously at all and had quite a bit of fun with Reg in my questions and his responses.

Over the ensuing years, our paths crossed many times – in life, in politics and, more recently at the University of Manitoba. I always enjoyed our encounters – with good discussions, lots of humour and the right amount of irreverence.

My favourite memories of Reg date to the late summer of 1989 when four of us – Reg, Colin Jackson, Eugene Kostyra and I went on a fishing trip on Lake of the Woods on a big, old cabin cruiser that Colin had access to. There was great comaraderie, lots of political b.s.ing, too much scotch and very little fishing. If memory serves me correctly, Reg was the only one to cast a line in the water and to no avail. Our rowdiness had scared any fish away. Twenty years later, Reg would still talk about that trip – albeit with slightly different memories than mine.

He was a great guy. I will miss our encounters.

My condolences to his family.