Obituary of HOUBRECHTS – Francois Louis

May 9, 1936 – April 8, 2011 Francois Louis Houbrechts of Calgary passed away at Santauri Hospice on Friday April 8, 2011 at the age of 74 years after a valiant struggle with cancer. Frank was born in Tongeren, Belgium on May 9, 1936. He immigrated to Canada in 1957 after completing his service in the military and joined his parents and siblings in Pierreville, Quebec. While there Frank and his father, August worked at the Pierre Thibault factory building fire trucks. After several years the family decided to move west and arrived in the Vauxhall Taber region of Alberta where they were employed on the Okuma potato farm. In 1961 the family once again relocated this time to Calgary. Here Frank became involved in the construction industry, working for Excel, Borger and finally LaFarge Canada. Frank married the girl next door in 1966. Frank and Heather celebrated 45 years of marriage on the 15th of January 2011 with friends and family. For many years Frank was a member of the Eastport Lions Club, holding several positions on the board of directors. He enjoyed the fraternity of all the members and though he did eventually retire from the Lions he still maintained a very close relationship with some of the members he knew. During his years in Lions Frank was always able to find time to work casinos, sell tickets at the Stampede for great prizes that were provided and also helped to sell programs for the Stampede daily events at the grandstand. Over his lifetime Frank enjoyed travelling with his family. Frank was always happy to strike up a conversation with anyone he met. Whether we stopped at a camp ground, hotel or store he would find someone to talk to and since he was multi lingual he was able to speak to a lot of folks. We would often have to go hunt Dad down so we could get on with our holiday plans. Frank’s greatest passion was 10-pin bowling. He was a very good bowler and enjoyed entering competitions where he was very successful. Unfortunately that perfect 300 eluded him but he did come very close. He enjoyed bowling until his health prevented him; however, he still continued to visit all his friends at the bowling alley until he no longer could. Frank enjoyed sports of all kinds. He would watch all the Flames and Stampeder games on TV and hoot and holler with their wins and losses. In all this noise he was joined by our African grey parrot, Tessa. In order to quiet her he would feed her treats which of course just made things worse for Frank as she expected more. Frank was the consummate movie buff. He enjoyed all movies but most particularly anything to do with WWII. He could watch movies for hours. Frank is survived by his loving wife Heather and children; Kevin, David, Nyree her husband William McLean, Philip and Sonia. He is also survived by his granddaughter Kailyn McLean, sisters Janine and her husband Albert Hulzebos and Marie Kelly, his brother Eddie and his wife Maureen, Roger Rigoni and numerous nieces, nephews and many relatives in Belgium. Missed deeply by his constant companion Lucy the family dog. Frank will be missed by his second loving family in Scotland, Mary, Marshall, David, Evelyn, George and families and other family members who met him on his travels there. Frank was predeceased by his parents August and Irma and brother Robert. Funeral Services will be held at St. Barnabas’ Anglican Church (1407 – 7th Avenue N.W.) on Thursday April 14, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. Graveside Service to follow at Queen’s Park Cemetery. Forward condolences through . If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Canadian Cancer Society, 200 – 325 Manning Rd. N.E., Calgary, AB T2E 2P5 Telephone: (403) 205-3966, email donorservices@cancer.ab.ca. The family wish to extend their deepest gratitude to Dr. S. Hudy, Dr. S. Dawes, Dr. S. Samis and Dr. M. Evans for their care. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the staff of Unit 44 and Santauri Hospice, Peter Lougheed Hospital. In living memory of Frank Houbrechts, a tree will be planted at Fish Creek Provincial Park by McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES, Eastside Memorial Chapel, 5388 MEMORIAL DRIVE N.E. Telephone: (403) 248-8585.