Alvin Stanley (Bennie) Dugan, age 82, of Gull Lake, SK passed away on August 16, 2008 at the GullLakeSpecialCareCenter. Bennie was born on July 15, 1926 to William & Jane Dugan and was raised on the Dugan farm NE of Carievale, SK. Bennie took his school at the EmpireSchool that was located near to the Dugan Farm. He started to play the organ at school, and when the school purchased a new piano, his piano playing ability took off from there. One teacher agreed to teach Bennie how to play the piano by notes from sheets, but after a few lessons she gave up and said it was hopeless as he did not know one note from another and she decided that the lessons may spoil his ability to play by ear. The rest is history as anybody that knew him, knows he could play the piano like no other. Bennie would often talk about his days growing up on the farm, his time attending class at the EmpireSchool as well as the times he spent working at various jobs, Study Supervising at rural school near Redvers, Wheat Pool, carpentry, ranches and farming. It was interesting to listen to him as he always had the humor side of most stories. Growing up on the farm through the depression years was tough and there was lots of stories to tell, drought, grasshoppers, dust storms, and whatever was left, the gophers were there to clean up. Bennie spent some time as a Reservist in the South SK Regiment and was discharged at the end of the WWII. There were many things that Bennie enjoyed very much, but his love was playing the piano. He played the piano to accompany many young singers who sang in various competitions around the province and also accompanied singer Betty Birch when it was aired over the radio station CKRM in Regina. He received many standing ovations through out his life for his piano music. When he was working on a farm in the Ogema, SK area, Bennie started playing with a local family band. Thefamily had composed some music and had never gave one of the tunes an official title, so after Bennie had joined them, they named the music as the “Dugan Waltz”in honor of Bennie.It was a very nice piece of music to listen to, as well as all the other tunes that he played on his piano. A few years back, he had a request from Mary Jean & Glen to record some of his piano tunes onto a cassette recorder that he located on the top of his piano. The cassette music was then transferred to CD’s for better quality. Bennie would receive many standing ovations after playing, and he also received a “Certificate of Merit” from the Tompkins Legion for his wonderful entertainment over the years. Bennie was also involved with Tom Andreas and Fred Reinhart, bothfrom GullLake and named their small band, “Fat Chance”. Together they made a CD with 19 tunes, a very nice music album to listen to. Bennie also played a mean game of cribbage. In 1994, Bennie participated with others from the village of Tompkins Legion represented at the Provincial Cribbage Playoffs held in Nipawin, SK and they won that event. This qualified them to enter the “The Dominion Command Cribbage Championship” held in Saskatoon with 10 provinces in attendance. The Tompkins Team came in 4th in all three events. By that time, Bennie had been playing the cribbage game for 40 years and said that “It was the game of the day back then”. Bennie was very proud of his accomplishments. Bennie was very proud to have lots of nephew and nieces which in total is 29 and liked it very much when they would stop by and visit with him. Now we all have the privilege to remember Bennie as a good friend, person and a very good entertainer. Bennie leaves us all with memories to cherish, most of them are on the humor side and some of those we will never forget, so in the future we will all of a sudden break out with a big smile and a giggle by remembering his past and to those that did not know Bennie, they would not be able to appreciate and understand the same as those of us that did, so that makes all of us unique. The Funeral Service was held on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 2:00 pm from the Tompkins Community Hall, Tompkins, SK with Rev. Bev Diduck officiating. The pianist for the service was Millie Spagrud. The tribute of memories was shared by Paul Coon (nephew). The Legion performed the Memorial and the Honor Guard. The ushers were Peggy Willman and Rhonda Martin. The Interment Service was held at the Tompkins Cemetery with the following serving as pallbearers, Perry Atwood, Howard Harder, Gord Young, Jim Craig, Gord Kozroski, and Dennis Kozroski. Donations made to the GullLakeSpecialCareCenter would be appreciated by the family. Funeral arrangements were in care of Swift Current Funeral Home, Swift Current, SK. |
