Joseph Émile Réal Lahaie

Joseph Émile Réal Lahaie passed away peacefully on the 10^th of February, 2023 at The Redwoods Seniors Residence in Ottawa. He leaves his wife Jeannine (née Émond) of 72 years, sons Michel (Mary) and Daniel (Anna), 4 grandchildren (Lora, Jocelyne,  Émilie, and Madeleine), and 3 great grandchildren (Owen, Emma, and Evelyne) .  He also leaves his sisters Muriel Lahaie-Rawling and Françoise Lessard (Robert). He is pre-deceased by parents Gaudiose and Marguerite (Dupras), and siblings Gaston, Jean-Yves, Thérèse, Claude, Évelyne, Madeleine, Pauline, Marcel, and Gilbert. 

Émile was born into a large family in Blind River, Ontario on the 5^th of May 1930. The family moved to Noëlville and then finally to Mattawa. He entered the lumber trade as a teenager and worked as a lumber jack until he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at 21; joined as a Private and retired as a Major in 1984.  He had a long and fulfilling career serving in Europe (SHAPE) and many locations in Canada (Collège Militaire Royal Saint-Jean, CFS Falconbridge, CFB North Bay, CFB St. Hubert, and Department of National Defense Headquarters in Ottawa). 

His life in the military allowed him to travel extensively.  With Jeannine and the boys, many vacations were spent touring and camping through France and many other European countries. Émile would reminisce about how much he enjoyed those times together as a young military family.  Eventually Émile retired to the Ottawa valley (Wendover, Mattawa, Ottawa) to enjoy his final years helping Jeannine manage her artistic endeavours, working on his diary, keeping his stamp collection up to date, enjoying a fine scotch, and cheering on the Senators.  

Émile will be cremated and buried in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa  this spring.

In his honour please do an act of kindness.