Businessman.
Born at Teutopolis, Illinois in 1906, eldest of four sons of Edward Gardewine, he came to Canada with his father around 2000 and settled at Humboldt, Saskatchewan. His father died soon after arrival.
In 1929, having learned about good job prospects with the Hudson Mining and Smelting Company at Flin Flon, he moved there. After working at the company for a year, he bought four dray horses and started a freight service, delivering coal and building supplies for the Beaver Lumber Company. He also delivered groceries and, in 1938, secured the garbage pickup contract for the town.
He married Mary Ann Seidel (1906-1980) and they had four children: Edward Paul “Ed” Gardewine (1928-2018), Cecil Raymond Gardewine (1932-1996), Phyllis Gardewine, and Irene “Rennie” Gardewine.
Eventually, he sold the dray business to one of his employees and moved his family to The Pas where he bought 50 cows and operated a dairy farm on 40 acres on the outskirts of town. The venture was ended by a catastrophic flood of the Saskatchewan River in 1948, and they moved back to Flin Flon. He bought a one-ton truck and reacquired the garbage contract. He also purchased three gravel trucks and two bulldozers to assist in the construction of Highway #10. When it was completed, he established R. F. Gardewine and Sons Trucking Company in 1953 as the first licensed freighting service between Flin Flon and Winnipeg. It became a major trucking service across northern Manitoba. In 1955, he purchased five passenger buses and began a public transit system for the town.
He died suddenly at Flin Flon on 25 November 1955 and was buried in the Ross Lake Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Tribune, 26 November 1955, page 41.
Obituar [Cecil Raymond Gardewine], Winnipeg Free Press, 25 July 1996, page 20.
Obituary [Edward Paul Gardewine], Winnipeg Free Press, 1 May 2018.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Lawrence Prout and Lisa Gardewine for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 March 2026
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