Obituary of Miles McCall

September 9, 1948 - Stettler, Alberta

December 12, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta

Miles was born Miles lan Clyde McCall on September 9, 1948, at Stettler, AB, and he passed gently into the loving arms of God on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Miles was the second child of four children born to Elmer Clyde McCall and Helen Emily Carn McCall. He grew up on the family farm in Rumsey, AB, and was the last and only grade one student to attend Price School in 1954. The teacher taught seven grades in one room. Miles loved his life on the farm and always felt he had been given the great outdoors as his playroom and the animals and birds as his playmates. He moved to Rumsey School after Price School was closed and he attended high school at Morrin High School and spent a year after high school attending Vermilion Agricultural College. He began work for Alberta Gas Trunk Line in 1966 and held many positions with what was to become Nova Corporation. He was most proud of the six months he spent in Chile working on the Gas Andes pipeline project. He then left Nova to work for a small start-up company called Alliance Pipeline in 1997, and he was in charge of the acquisition of Canadian land. He and his best friend and business partner, Dan Hushion, left Alliance once the pipe was in the ground and founded a two-man land company called HMA Land Services in 2001. They worked hard and grew the company into a fruitful land company until it was sold in 2009. The success of HMA was due to the deep respect Dan and Miles shared for each other, a friendship that has endured to this day.

Miles met his future wife, Diana Helen Baker, at one of the many parties his older sister was famous for having and they married on March 21, 1970. They were blessed with three sons, Ryan Stuart (Beverly), Colin Scott (Melinda), and Robert Alexander (Liana). Miles loved being spoiled by the new girls in his life and considered them to be his daughters. Miles and Diana were gifted with four perfect grandchildren, Kaleigh Rae and her partner Nolan Eagle Plume, Owen Scott McCall, Julyan Lark and Maren Diana McCall.

Miles always felt his grandchildren were his best and most amazing accomplishment. He loved them deeply and was proud of their every success. His father taught him to be a good gatekeeper of the earth and Miles passed this torch on to his sons and then to his grandchildren. Each new baby was scooped up into his big hands and put on his chest where Grandpa and baby both fell asleep.

Miles was preceded in death by his parents and by his three siblings, Frances Louise McCall Osokin, Thomas Malcolm McCall, and Susan Mary McCall Laundry and by his beloved brother-in-law Richard Osokin and his sister-in-law Barbara Baker Buysen. The loss of his siblings so early left a deep wound that never healed for Miles. Miles spent many hours in hockey rinks watching his son and grandson play hockey and his hat and cowbell were his trademark. He loved his home and garden. In the later years before he lost his leg to cancer, he and Diana owned a home in beautiful Naples, Florida and spent many happy winter months in the south Florida sunshine.

The cancer may have taken his leg, but his spirit and sense of humour prevailed, and he learned how to manage life in a wheelchair and living in a condo, neither of which he particularly enjoyed. They missed the gardens and the grass and one’s own space. However, life goes on wheelchair or not, and he tried his very best to use his artificial leg named Lucille. It became a challenge as it would lose suction with the stump and at more than one restaurant, Diana would have to pull the leg off to the amazement of the other diners and stand it in a corner. So, Lucille became a liability and was banished to the dressing room to stand in the corner permanently.

Miles had a great sense of humour, loving a good joke and playing practical jokes on someone unsuspecting. He loved his life, his family, his community and his God. And though his passing leaves us with deep grief, we are celebrating the life of a farm boy from Rumsey, AB.

Relatives and friends are invited to Prayers and Tributes at McInnis & Holloway (Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB) on Thursday, January 2, 2025, at 7:00 p.m.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church (5340 – 4th Street S.W., Calgary, AB) on Friday, January 3, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Funeral Mass will be presided over by Rev. Nathan Siray. Please join the family for a reception following the Funeral Mass in the Parish Hall. Miles will be laid to rest at St. Mary’s Cemetery at a later date.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Miles’s family here.

In living memory of Miles McCall, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.