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Leslie Charles Green
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Insurance underwriter, historian.
Born at Portage la Prairie on 24 March 1926, second son of Charles Scott “Charlie” Green (1895-1973) and Grace Helena Wright (1901-1986), he contracted polio as a teenager but remained resilient and active throughout his life. After the Second World War, he worked for a time as a desk clerk at the Mayfair Hotel. Subsequently, he worked for 44 years at Portage Mutual Insurance, rising from stock boy to senior underwriter, until retirement in 1990.
A keen amateur historian, he wrote numerous columns on Portage history for the Portage Daily Graphic (1996-2023). He contributed significantly to A Century of Service, 1984 – 1984: The Portage Mutual Insurance Company (1984) and Historic Photographs of Portage la Prairie (2020). He published Our Story of Historic Portage la Prairie (2005) and a history of St. Mary's Church. He served on the Portage Heritage Advisory Committee, helped to preserve the historic Canadian Pacific Railway station in Portage, and contributed extensively to Fort la Reine Museum. In recognition of his community service, he received a Lieutenant Governor's Award for Historical Preservation and Promotion (2011).
He was married twice, first on 10 October 1949 to teacher and nurse Shirley Fannie Lewis (1924-1995) at Sperling United Church and they had a daughter and two sons. He later married his widowed sister-in-law, Gwen Edith Burtonshaw Green (1922-2002). He was active member of First Baptist Church and served as its Clerk and Treasurer for many years. His lifelong involvement in Scouting included service as a Cub leader, organizer and trainer, and in retirement he tended the Boy Scout Camp at Delta Beach.
He died at Portage la Prairie on 29 November 2024.
Marriage registration [Charles Scott Green, Grace Helena Wright], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Green-Lewis vows made at Sperling,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 October 1949, page 14.
Obituary, Ronald Moffit Memorial Services.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank James Kostuchuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 December 2024
