Obituary of Patrick George Stephen Toderian

Patrick George Stephen Toderian was born on July 27, 1954 to George and Elizabeth (nee Pitz) Toderian in Yorkton, Sask. He was born with a club foot but that didn't hold him back from doing anything that he put his mind to do. He attended school in MacNutt from grade one to grade 12, graduating in 1972. He attended university for one year but the call of the land brought him back home and actively started farming in 1973. He bought land from the neighbors, Mike & Mary Dwernichuk which is where his home was till his passing. In 1977 he married Laurie Kendel and the union was blessed with 3 sons, Jonathan Drew in 1980, Joshua Paul in 1983 and Joseph Michael in 1986. Rick enjoyed sports and played hockey with the MacNutt Kings for many seasons and excelled as a first baseman for the Calder Comets fastball club. He loved farming but as the times got tougher he decided to quit farming in 1997. He never regretted that decision but continued to be involved with the land when he ran a high clearance spraying business for a number of years. When he quit the spraying business he obtained his class 1A license and began driving the big rigs all over Canada and the USA. He enjoyed driving and the challenges that it gave him. He couldn't understand why his wife didn't enjoy driving that much and could get lost at the drop of a hat without a detailed map. Laurie did become a professional passenger and went with him for her holidays for a number of years. Rick enjoyed the friends he made with the other truck drivers, Bob and Sailor Mike being two of the many that he would talk about. Rick was also very involved with the Lions Club in MacNutt of which he was a charter member. The club was chartered in 1987 and Rick became the district governor for the year of 1990-1991. He was honored with a Melvin Jones Fellowship by the MacNutt Lions club at the District Convention in March of 1991. It was a year of much travelling and many people but it was an experience that he and Laurie treasured. He enjoyed working in his yard and garden and made rows to plant with the precision of an engineer. Rick had been off work for the last year due to an accident the beginning of October of 2006. During this enforced time off, he was able to do a lot of fishing with his buddies Delmer and Mark which he couldn't do while he was on the road. He loved working around the yard and built the first half of a planter on two sides of the house. Rick also loved to cook and his ability to produce too much to eat at New Years is known to a lot of people. It's not often you see a tough trucker reading a cooking magazine instead of watching racing or sports at a truck stop. His dream while driving was to own his own truck and when he was cleared to go back to work in November, his dream came true and he purchased a truck. True to Rick's form, it was decked out with what his wife thought were too many bells and whistles but with the excitement in his face she couldn't say no. Rick passed away suddenly on December 10, 2007 in Calgary while waiting for his trailer to be loaded. He leaves to cherish his memory and celebrate his life, his wife Laurie, sons Jon, Josh and Joe, his brother Perry (Bev), his mother-in-law Sylvia; brother-in-law Bob (Deb), sister-in-law Shelley (Mike) and their families, and a large extended family. He was predeceased by his father-in- law Norman in 1985, his father George in 2002 and his mother Elizabeth in 2005.