My father passed away this week. I wrote the following obituary for him.
Beaucoup d’amour, Papa. Toujours!
Hector David Gagné June 29, 1936 – March 11, 2026
Hector David Gagné passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of March 11, 2026, in the palliative care ward of WRHN Chicopee in Kitchener, surrounded by the love of his family. He was 89 years old.
Born on June 29, 1936, in Saint-Bruno, Québec, Hector was one of twelve children raised on a family farm in the Lac-Saint-Jean region during lean and demanding times. Those early years shaped him into a man of quiet resilience; resourceful, warm, and deeply curious about the world beyond the farm.
He met the love of his life, Marie-Anne Laberge, in Jonquière, and they married on July 4, 1959. This July would have marked 67 years together, a partnership that weathered hardship, celebrated joy, and never stopped.
A carpenter by trade, Hector worked wherever work could be found, travelling across Québec to provide for his growing family. Recognizing that opportunity lay beyond familiar borders, he did something remarkable: he taught himself English using 33 rpm language records, one patient lesson at a time. In 1969, with that hard-won confidence and characteristic determination, he moved his entire family to Ontario, settling first in Fingal before putting down roots in St. Thomas.
They returned to Québec (Dorion, and Drummondville) where they spent some 20 years. In 2007, Hector and Marie-Anne left Québec and moved to Guelph. This was chosen deliberately, as it sat roughly between all the places their children had made their homes. It was the kind of thoughtful gesture that defined him. Eventually, they made their home together at a Retirement Community in Waterloo, where Hector claimed a sixth-floor balcony overlooking the city and tended his tomato plants and enjoyed the view.
Hector was a man who loved music and dancing. He played the harmonica, the accordion, and fiddled with the guitar (which he really did want to play). He loved the outdoors, long drives, and above all, people. He was the kind of man who could talk to anyone. That made his later hearing loss particularly hard on him. He was genuinely, endlessly curious, delighting in the lives and adventures of those around him, and in the remarkable world he had worked so hard to be part of.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Marie-Anne; his children Marcel (Sally), Christine (Jody), Guylaine (John), Lynda (Tom), and Michael (Steve); his grandchildren Stephanie, Paul, Matthew, Sebastian, and Tristan; and his great-grandchildren, Xavier, and Ryker. He is also survived by a legacy of courage, music, and an open heart.
Dear brother of Rita, Paul-Amie, Jean-Réal, Rose-Irene, Jean-Emma, Marie-Odile, Richard, Rozaire, Lizette, André, and Michel. Predeceased by his parents; Napoléon and Marie Rose Gagné (née Bédard)
Repose en paix, Papa