Businessman.
Born at Boissevain on 8 October 1928, son of Joseph Benjamin “Ben” Whitfield (1903-1974) and Mabel Florence Wyman (1907-?), he attended Desford School until grade 4 when the family farm was lost in the Great Depression. They moved to Boissevain where he attended Boissevain School and helped to support his family by carrying water and delivering newspapers, and working as a custodian, stock boy, clerk, and assistant at the local pharmacy.
In 1948, he enrolled in the Pharmacy program at the University of Manitoba while working at the Boissevain pharmacy during the summer and at Ringer's Drugs and The Bay drugstore in Winnipeg during the school year. He graduated with a Pharmacy degree in 1952 then worked at Boissevain for a time then as a travelling salesman with CIBA Pharmaceuticals. While visiting a pharmacy at Souris, he asked pharmacist J. G. Hatch if he would sell the business and was pleasantly surprised to receive a favourable response. In 1956, he bought the business and renamed it Whitfield Drugs.
In 1963, he established Crescent Enterprises in partnership with Drs. A. M. Grant and Leslie Wilfred Knight to build the Souris Medical Centre and a new pharmacy that brought physicians, dentists, and optometrists under one roof. He also helped in the formation of the South West Drug Grup that helped 15 independent rural pharmacists to get better pricing through volume discounts. He served on the boards of the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association and Manitoba Society of Pharmacists. He sold the pharmacy business to his son Chris Whitfield (?-2008) in 2005.
He purchase farmland near Souris in 1969 and established Woodsong Farms Limited and, over a period of decades, built it into one of Canada's largest producers of Simmental cattle. He judged cattle in Canada, Colombia, and Brazil, and exported animals to several countries. He served as President of the Canadian Simmental Association and was inducted into the Simmental Hall of Fame (2020). He sold his herd in 2006 and the machinery and land in 2007.
He was involved in the development of Victoria Park, the construction of Victoria Park Lodge, a lobby for a new hospital, and a housing development south of the Souris fairgrounds. He was involved actively with the Souris Chamber of Commerce and chaired the Souris Downtown Restoration project. He was one of five investors in the Souris Community Builders Limited to offer non-governmental financial assistance to new businesses.
In 1959, he met schoolteacher Averill May Iliffe and they were married the following year. They had two daughters and two sons. He was a member of the Masons (Doric Lodge, Glenwood Lodge) and Khartum Shriners. In retirement, he helped his wife in operating the Souris and District Heritage Club and The Plum Heritage Church Museum.
He died at Souris on 4 March 2026 and was buried in the Souris-Glenwood Cemetery.
Birth registration [Mabel Florence Wyman], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [Joseph Benjamin Whitfield, Mabel Florence Wyman], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 March 2026.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 March 2026
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