Obituary of Mervin Bronie Renkas

Mervin (Merv) Bronie Renkas, third oldest son in a family of six sons, was born on the family farm on May 23, 1939. Merv attended school at Drumage School until grade eight. Merv was never afraid of hard work, and after his school years he developed a diverse career as a carpenter starting in Regina. He later found work at Thompson Lake, Manitoba in the mines for a while. He returned home and worked for Mason Bothers for a time. On January 11, 1963, he met the love of his life, Gloria Kozey at a local wedding at the Rose Garden Hall in Ituna. As we all know, Merv loved to dance so he took the chance to ask her and they danced all night. Later that same evening - he was telling her his life story and asked her to marry him!!! Yes, on the first date, and they danced through life together for 54 wonderful years! And…as they say…the rest his history! Merv and Gloria were married on October 19, 1963. In 1965, they moved to Calgary with their new daughter, Catherine (Cate) Renkas, where Merv continued his career as a carpenter! He worked on many challenging projects including the Calgary Tower, 9th Avenue overpass, and many, high rise office buildings that make up the current skyline in Calgary! Not wanting to follow the pack, Merv started his own business in 1969, and in 1970, landed many contracts to build Western Canada Dairy Queens! Along with the Dairy Queens he built community association buildings, and many other large and small retail and commercial buildings. In 1974, he relocated his family, Cate 10 years old, and son Charles (Chuck) 7 to Kelowna B.C., where he built a beautiful home for his family there and continued his career as a carpenter and general contractor building various homes and commercial buildings. In 1977, he and his family moved back to Ituna where he continued to build homes - for others and for his family. In 1983, he built a building centre on the East side of Ituna, where they sold everything from lumber to paint to appliances. In 1985, they moved to Calgary again, and again he started up another construction business until 1995, when he and Gloria moved to Missouri. They lived in an area known as the Ozarks near Springfield, Missouri and twenty minutes from Branson, Missouri. Along with the many homes he built, he also built many wonderful friendships while in the states including some notable celebrities such as Mo Bandy, Glen Campbell, Mel Tillis and others. In 2006, he and Gloria moved back to Calgary, and in 2009 moved to Ituna, where he resided until his passing. Service Information Saturday, May 6th, 2017 1:00pm, St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church Details: Service Extra Info The Holy Rosary led by the members of the Knights of Columbus will precede at 12:30p.m.