Bernard Denis Boucher was born on December 18, 1947 in Arthabasca, Quebec to Renaud and Angeline (Leblanc) Boucher. They resided in Princeville, Quebec. His father passed away in 1957. His mother later married Richard Beaudet. There were 18 children in the combined families.

In 1973 Bernie left Quebec to follow his dreams of learning English and becoming a cowboy. In 1975 he met a beautiful young waitress, Jessie McGinnis, who was working at Berk’s in Meadow Lake. She stole his heart. On February 6, 1976 the young couple had a fateful accident and Jessie was thrown from the vehicle which resulted in her leg being amputated. They got married on July 2, 1976. Jessie registered in high school to finish her grade 12 after missing school from the accident. Bernie headed off to work in Lloydminster on the pipeline.

They started their family right away. Bernie worked away while Jessie stayed home with the children for their whole married life. When the children were young, Bernie, who was searching, found the Compass Church out in the country where they lived. He was made to feel welcome from the first handshake and made that church their home. He gave his life to the Lord and together, Bernie and Jessie did the best they could to raise their children knowing a personal relationship with God was very important.

Bernie worked in Lloydminster till 1984. He worked at the Key Lake mine from 1984 to 2003 when he retired after 20 years of service there. He worked at Groot’s Honey farm for the 2003-2005 seasons. He then went back to Lloydminster to work on the oil patch for a few more years.

In 2010 Bernie suffered a major heart attack. He started working at NorSask mill later in 2010. He worked there till 2016.

In the fall of 2015, Bernie and Jessie sold the family farm and moved closer to town. In 2017 they moved right into town. Bernie’s health started to fail quite severely, and they chose to move into the Pioneer Lodge in June of 2018, so they could get the help they needed.

• Date : 2018-12-10