PIERRE ANTOINE LEVEILLE

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PIERRE ANTOINE LEVEILLE
April 10, 1940 - June 8, 2020

On the morning of June 8, in the eye of the storm, the Prairie spirits in the sky were getting ready for another Léveillé brother. You may have seen this mentioned on his favourite TV station, the Weather channel in very small print scrolling at the bottom of the screen at approximately 3:50 a.m.
The eldest and gentlest son of Brunelle and Hélène (née Provost), Pierre Antoine Léveillé passed away peacefully in his bed. You better believe his brothers, Paul and Jean-Guy, were stirring things up like a tornado getting ready for their brother Pete. His youngest brother André and lovely wife Joanne will surely miss their check-ins and family updates from our papa!
Known as: friendly Pierre to most with his initials spelling out P.A.L.; Uncle Pete for over 25 years at the Manitoba Youth Centre; Pierrot reserved for my mom; Père Noël at St. Vital Centre; Papa to Lise "Numéro Uno", Vivianne "Viver" and Chantal "Taaal"; Pierre the welcoming father-in-law to Denis L'Heureux and Shaun Best; Grand-papa to Julianne and Brielle; step G-papa to Leden "Le Grand" and Kaden "Le Beau"; Poppa to his "adopted" daughter Shelly Glover (Strickland) and family; Mononcle Pierre to all his nieces and nephews; "bonus" grandpa to Gari and Taylor; Tito Pierre to all his Filipino friends; and Pi-er-re "the nice French man" to ALL the multicultural people he met and befriended during his daily walks at the mall or the park.
If you ever had the gift of meeting our papa, you would either hear him cheering his girls on with a "GO LEV!" or wish us luck with a "MERDE" or just be inspired by him in some way either personally, professionally, artistically or musically. You would be one of the lucky ones if you got one of his hugs or got to hear the refrain from Little Richard's Tutti Fruitti over and over accompanied by a few dance-like moves! He recently reserved his Canadian Idol moments for his grandkids! Sing your heart out up there papa! Whop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom!
His larger than life presence, uniqueness and his quirkiness could not be ignored! From his lists to his daily routines placing his cookie stack just so, scooping out every presence of pudding and stirring his tea a million times. His constant bad dad joke telling with a side of "stop me if you heard this one". Many people in his lifetime have received his love notes, seen his anecdotes, and favourite quotes on T-shirts or pieces of paper left here, there, and everywhere.
His remarkable willingness to help others and genuine kindness were memorable to strangers, kids at the schools he volunteered at, single moms or families in need, as well as newcomers both to our community and country. Amazingly, he could and would greet everyone in their native tongue, from many indigenous languages, to numerous Asian and African dialects! To friends or family, he was THE chauffeur extraordinaire for anyone, anytime, for any reason, which may have emptied his gas tank but filled his heart with joy. All things were done à la Pierre, methodically, repeatedly, and predictable with a dose of OCD which we all embraced lovingly! To know him is to love him!
We were excited that he was able to fulfill his dreams of travelling to Greece/Turkey where he finally wore his white uniform and sat at the captain's table, as well as experience his epic voyage to Japan with Ai, where he was indeed a BIG deal!
Pierre was lucky enough to win the wife lottery when he met and married Ghislaine (née Parent), his loving and hard-working partner of over 50 years. Our maman dedicated herself to his care since her retirement from Health Canada in 2015. For this and many other reasons, les filles are forever grateful, namely for her kindness, patience and dedication to her Pierrot, our papa and us! We are forever grateful that while he was living with Dementia, papa knew 99.9% of the time who Geeg was. Not only as his primary caregiver, but also the LOVE of his LIFE to the moon and back!
Special thank yous go out to Pascal, and Abu, who were his Respite buddies du jour. We know you will all have a lifetime appreciation for fist pumps, Cops and Law & Order marathons! It comes as no surprise that Spike TV announced that they cancelled the show Cops the very next day, following their number one fan's departure!
A celebration of his 80 years of life will be held at a later date. According to the family's wishes, cremation has taken place. Arrangements by Glen Lawn Funeral Home.
Donations can be made in his name by cheque or e-transfer to Pluri-elles to help support their community services in the heart of St. Boniface where he was born and raised. Mail or drop off cheques: Pluri-elles, c/o Mona Audet, 420 DesMeurons St. Unité 114, Winnipeg, MB R2H 2N9.

Family and friends may sign a
book of condolence at www.glenlawn.ca.

Glen Lawn Funeral Home
204-982-7550

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 13, 2020