Memorable Manitobans: Richard Craig Sommerville (1925-2021)

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Richard Craig Sommerville
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Civil engineer.

Born at Winnipeg on 6 March 1925, son of Richard Sommerville and Mary Allan, he served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War, and met his first wife, Joan Eleanor deBeer (1927-2008). On 17 September 1949, after he graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in Civil Engineering, they were married.

The couple lived at Hornepayne and Toronto, Ontario before returning to Winnipeg in 1952. He received a graduate degree from the University of Toronto (1954) then worked for the Greater Winnipeg Water District and its successors, the Metropolitan Corporation of Winnipeg and the City of Winnipeg, eventually becoming General Manager of Works and Operation.

During this period, he served as President of the Association of Professional Engineers of Manitoba (1967) and, in recognition of his community service, received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977). In 1981, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he worked for the Capital Regional District, retiring in 1986 as Chief Engineer.

He died at Sidney, British Columbia on 22 September 2021.

Sources:

Obituary [Joan Eleanor Sommerville], Winnipeg Free Press, 20 April 2008.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 25 September 2021.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 20 December 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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