Styles: Leonard Earl, October 5, 1928 – March 1, 2019

Earl was born in Alsask, Saskatchewan October 5, 1928, to Wes and Mary Styles along with six other children. He attended school in Alsask and grew up on the farm south of town and at an early age took a real interest in horses. When he was 2 years old, his mom couldn’t find him; she looked everywhere and found him crawling around under all the horses, playing with them.

He never lost his love of horses and later he rode saddle bronc in the rodeo, was a pickup man, and the president of the Alsask Professional Rodeo Association for 25 years. He loved the farm life and cattle. He took great pride in keeping things organized and all the machinery repaired and in good working order. Making a straight furrow or a swathing windrow was very important – crooked ones were a real pet peeve.

But his greatest love was his wife and family, and he loved to tell stories about them all. One of his favourite stories was how he first met his wife, Tillie, walking down the country road, but only he can tell that story with real passion and you could see the twinkle in his eye when he talked about her. He married his sweetheart July 6, 1954, and they had five children, three boys and two girls.

Earl and Tillie lived on the farm until he retired from farming in 1984. They moved to Medicine Hat, where they bought a couple of semi-trucks and hauled grain for five years, travelling into the southern United States and down to Ontario. After that, he worked for Alberta Hail doing crop adjusting for another 10 years until they moved to New Brigden where they bought a mobile home. Although being retired he still needed to keep busy, so he would work for Hertzes occasionally on their farm and found a new hobby that he really enjoyed – carpentry. He built picnic tables, benches, and many gifts made of wood for family and friends. They lived in New Brigden for 15 years until they moved into the Oyen Lodge, where they lived for seven years until Earl moved into the Oyen Long Term Care Facility in January 2018.

Earl loved reading, especially true stories about the old west and how it was settled. He would read all these stories and then tell Tillie all about them, so she had her own walking and talking storybook and that saved her from reading the stories too. Earl loved playing cards and whenever anyone mentioned playing he was the first one to jump at the chance, especially with his daughter-in-law. They would have many exciting games to see who could win the most games, and he continued that enthusiasm even in the long term care where he played every chance he could with his son Keith.

Earl’s favourite times were when the family would all get together and just enjoy each other’s company. One, in particular, was their 40th Anniversary party at the Jorgenson farm when the grandkids put on a play of Earl and Tillie’s life, and he laughed so much. It was a great memory for everyone and he talked about that for years afterwards.

Earl loved to talk about machinery and cattle and he would watch or read about them whenever he could. He was especially proud of Lloyd and Sandra’s cattle herd. He loved talking about how they have developed their herd over the years and loved going to their bull sale every March. When he could no longer go, he would be excited to look at the catalogue for the bull sale and study it thoroughly. He was so proud of all his children and grandchildren’s accomplishments, no matter what they did.

Earl will be forever missed by his loving wife of 64 years, Tillie and his family and their spouses: Keith (Lorraine), grandson Christopher; Ken (Dianne), granddaughters Jacquie (Terry) {Walker, Lincoln, Lennox}, Jaime (Benjamin); Larry (Janice), granddaughters Stacy (Adam), {Addison, Anna, Jayda}; Sandra (Lloyd), granddaughters Tenelle (Kevin) {Taryn, Koby}; Chasity (Chris) {Hailey, Brayden, Sadie}; Jenna (Kyle) {Linden, Cammi}; grandson Kresten (Ashley) {Sydney}; and Pam, granddaughter Amanda (Shawn) {Christian, Conner, Heileigh} grandsons Joey, Jacob.

He was predeceased by father Wesley and mother Mary; brother and sister-in-law, Ken and Tod Styles; brother and sister-in-law Jack and Rose Styles; brother Cliff; sister and brother-in-law Vivian and Johnny Levick; brother-in-law Ward Eby; and brother-in-law Lloyd Ross.

Funeral Service was held March 7 at the Oyen Evangelical Missionary Church in Oyen.

Officiating Clergy was Pastor Brad Broadhead and Pastor Paul Evans. Bobby Shields was the pianist and special music was Go Rest High On That Mountain, Amazing Grace and Walk Through This World With Me by Jack Shields. A tribute was given by Chris Sawchuk, Joey Styles, Tenelle Brost, Chasity Sawchuk, Kresten Jorgenson, and Jenna Anheliger.

Honorary Pallbearers were all of Earl’s many families and friends who cared for and shared in his life.

Following the funeral service, family and friends were invited to a luncheon hosted by the Oyen Evangelical Missionary Church in the Church basement.

MacLean’s Funeral Home of Oyen in care of arrangements.