Obituary of Randy McCumsey
The family of Randy McCumsey of Fort St. John, BC wish to belatedly announce his passing on November 28, 2022. Unfortunately, this was followed up just over a year later by the death of his wife Christine. Christine missed Randy greatly, calling him the love of her life and she passed away January 11, 2024.
Randy was born February 22, 1953 to Donald and Dorothy (Petrovich) McCumsey in Smith, Alberta. The family moved to Dawson Creek (1957), then Grande Prairie (1958), and eventually settled in Peace River in 1960. Peace River was home for Randy and his two brothers Larry and Myron, but the Smith farm life continued to be a part of their upbringing. Randy graduated from Peace River High School in 1971.
He worked as a meteorological technician for Environment and Natural Resources Canada from 1972 to 1996. After initial training in Ottawa he was assigned, as many rookies were, to northern Canadian postings such as Hall Beach (Sanirajak) Nunavut, and Nitchequon in northern Quebec. The beauty of the North reinforced his love of photography during this period. He finally got posted to Jasper, Alberta, where he met and married Christine Kozuska in 1976. He and Christine lived in Yellowknife for a period before settling down in Fort St. John in 1979. Randy became the Officer-in-Charge of that location in 1984. When he retired from the weather service Randy worked at Co-op Fuels in the fuel depot and driving fuel delivery trucks.
Randy was a good cook, always whipping up some specialty. His sister-in-law Sheryl uses his pastry recipe to this day and noted that his homemade apple wine was one of the best she has ever tasted. His brother Myron stated "his passion for cooking and trying new things was infectious, he has shared a lot of his recipes. My favourite one he turned me on to was Carrot Soup...I always think of Randy when I make this soup and add extra ginger and black pepper just for him".
He loved gardening, a passion that he shared with Christine. Everyone who knew Randy will no doubt remember him as a joker and a talker - phone calls always seemed to last longer than expected. He was a pretty good mechanic - the "ratmobile" (a black 1980 Toyota Corolla) is still running to this day.
Randy is survived by brothers Myron and Larry (Sheryl) McCumsey, sister-in-law Cindy (Nestor) Dutchak, and nieces Riesa McCumsey and Kendra Dutchak.
