Oliver passed away peacefully after a miraculous fight with cancer. He was born in Carrot River, Sask to Oliver Alexander “Alex” Green and Evelyn Maude Morgan. He was their second son. Just before Dad turned six, his mom gave birth to twin boys who did not survive, and his mother passed away a month later. His dad remarried Margaret Bowthorpe about 2 years later. They farmed a few miles out of Carrot River. Dad attended grades 1-5 at Cosmos school until the new school was built in Carrot River. Upon graduation, seven out of the ten male classmates set off to university for the next school year. Dad has always loved the University of Saskatchewan and was immensely proud when two of his grandchildren attended his beloved university. Dad received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1962. Then chose to stay and enrolled in the College of Graduate Studies to pursue a master’s degree in Horticulture. Dr. Nelson, Don Dabbs and Lloyd Sonmor who was a researcher with Agriculture Canada, arranged a master’s program for him. Since the Gardiner Dam was under construction at the time and little was known about irrigating vegetables in Saskatchewan that became the subject of his thesis. The College of Engineering came onside to determine the irrigation scheduling, while he dealt with the horticulture aspect. In 1963, he became the first graduate at the University of Saskatchewan to receive this degree. His thesis was “A Preliminary Irrigation Study with Vegetables in Saskatchewan.” His final oral examination was on August 31, 1963, in the morning and then got married that afternoon. He married Velma Skolos and they embarked on their 60-year journey through life. Dad’s first job was in London, Ontario working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Their honeymoon was the drive down to London. A few days after their arrival, they headed to Ottawa for a 6-week orientation. The highlight of his orientation was seeing his first computer. It was in an exceptionally large room in the basement of one of the agriculture buildings. They played blackjack on it for a few minutes at the cost of $21,000 per hour. Cellphones have more computing power than that computer did then. He always marvelled at how far technology had come. His job included inspecting plant material coming into nurseries from Holland and carloads of hybrid tea roses coming in from Texas.

By the spring of 1964 he was offered a position with Asgrow seeds in Brooks, Alberta. The Brooks plant contracted 8 to 10,000 acres of seed peas annually for sale to food operations like Green Giant who grew them out for canning or freezing. He was field rep for about 3 years and then moved to be branch manager becoming the second youngest manager in the company’s history. His daughter, Kimberley was born a couple of months after they arrived in Brooks. They fit right in as three other employees were also expecting. In 1966 a son, Kevin was added to the family. By 1969, Asgrow Seeds was bought by the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co. This afforded Dad several trips across the U.S. Dad left Asgrow in 1975 after 11 years because professionally he wanted to work with more than just peas and because advancement would have been to the USA. He subsequently accepted the position of Supervisor of Irrigated Crop Production at Outlook. He did get to go to Ottawa one year to represent Saskatchewan’s initial participation in the Canadian Hort Council and at the banquet got to sit up front with the Minister of Agriculture, Eugene Whelan. From a professional perspective, however, he soon felt learned in government you could end up existing in a position without much opportunity to contribute and make a difference.

Dad’s passion for all that irrigation could do for a community, saw him leave his government position and venture out on his own. He applied to take over the large green vegetable storage building NE of Outlook with plans to grow and sell vegetables commercially to the wholesale/retail sector. With little extra resources, it was a struggle if there were any kind of crop failures as insurance did not exist.

Mom and Dad had previously set up Vel’s Hobby and Toy Shop upstairs in C& C Foods (later AG Foods). He did take a stab at teaching some university horticulture classes, which he thoroughly enjoyed. As well he was hired by CSIDC for a few winters to help with vegetable projects. In the interim, he began doing landscaping to make ends meet and then a greenhouse for some bedding plant sales. In 1999, Mom retired from the hobby shop and Dad consolidated that business with Broderick Garden Centre in the location it now occupies. In 2004, he built an addition to expand the store. In 2012, Kim took over ownership of the business. Retirement never made sense to Dad. He had always taught me to do what you love. He practiced what he preached so continued to find things he loved. In 2016 Delywn asked him to write articles for the local paper, which now numbers over three hundred articles. He also pursued his writing diploma for the U of S and has two books to his credit as well as a third that is at the publishers.

Dad is survived by his wife, Velma; daughter Kim (Paul); son Kevin (Candace); grandchildren Tori (Chad); Travis (Janell); Scott (Molly); Heidi and Tiffany; great-grandchildren, Charlie, Chace, Millie, and Isabelle. Sister-in-law, Etta-Marie and niece, Janice; Vel’s sister Mavis (Gus); brother Daryl (Leona); nieces and nephew Danielle, Kristen and Ryan. He was predeceased by his parents Alex and Evelyn Green, his stepmother, Margaret Green, his brother, Gordon and his twin brothers, Clarence, and Earl

Donations in Oliver’s memory may be directed to Outlook & District Heritage Museum – Irrigation Exhibit or a charity of the donor’s choice.