Our dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully at the Steinbach Bethesda Hospital on Friday, June 15, 2012. Dad was born Dec 23, 1923 in Schoental to John D. & Katharina Neufeld. He spoke fondly of the community of Wakopa where he first attended school. His memories of this area included the beginnings of his love and passion for sports, baseball and hockey being his first choices. When dad was about 11 years old they moved to Mitchell, where he would live for the next 62 years. He was baptized upon the confession of his faith in May of 1946 in the Randolph Church. He met the love of his life in 1947 and on Oct 14, 1948 he married Maragretha Hildebrand of New Bothwell. They settled in Mitchell raising a family of six: Deanne (Art), Ed, (Sharon), Emily (Ed), Janet (Edwin), Sandra (Harry), Lorraine (Larry), 14 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. He is survived by 1 brother, Pete and wife Tina, 2 sisters, Mary and Helen, and 1 sister-in-law Jessie. He was predeceased by his wife Margaretha, his parents, 5 brothers, 3 sisters, and 1 great-granddaughter. Dad was very community minded he was a school trustee and sat on the recreation board. His passion to see that Mitchell would have organized activities for the youth in the community helped him to become the driving force behind the construction of the Mitchell Arena and later the senior's center. He spent countless hours over seeing this project with a sincere desire to help Mitchell to be a community that would draw many to live within its boundaries. Dad thought all children should have the opportunity to play some sort of organized sport and this came to fruition in 1979 when the arena was built. Dad also loved music and he played the fiddle and mouth organ as long as we could remember. Jamming with friends and as a young man he played in a band entertaining many people. He & Mom loved to explore the province and always said there is so much to explore in Manitoba you don't need to leave the province to have a good time. He was also very interesting in the lives of his grandchildren & great grandchildren. We will dearly miss our Dad and his wry sense of humor. We thank his siblings and his sisters and brothers-in-law for their visits and care and we thank his nephews & nieces who continued to visit him as . Thank you for enriching his life. A viewing will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel in Steinbach on Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00 p.m. with a devotional at 7:30 p.m. His funeral will be Thursday, June 21 at 2:00 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Silberfeld Chortitizer Mennonite Church Building Fund or to Soup's On Soup Kitchen.