TRUCH, Peter Jr. “Pete”

May 11, 1950 — June 30, 2025

It is with immense love and sadness that we announce the loss of Peter Truch, who passed away surrounded by family on June 30, 2025, in Kelowna, BC, at the age of 75.  An incredible battle with Ameotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) saw him well outlive the prognosis, but of course, the outcome was inevitable, and he finally conceded on a warm but overcast Monday afternoon.

Pete leaves behind a wealth of love, including his beloved wife of over 54 years, Doreen “Tutu”; his children Wanda, Kevin, and Peter III; grandchildren Johnny, Danielle, Kai, Jack, and Sasha; and great-grandchildren Tyden, Tenley, Cedar, and Emmerson. He will also be missed by his brothers Bill (Leah), Steve (Jackie), and David (Wendy), as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. He now goes to join his parents, Pete and Annie, and sisters, Mary Ann and Elizabeth, who passed before him.

Pete was born in Coleman, AB, (Bushtown) in 1950, and raised by his parents and community to become a veritable “Passhole” (yes, this is a term of endearment of anyone coming from the Crowsnest Pass).  A bit of a black sheep, Pete took charge early in life.  His mother spent more time at school during grade 10 than he did, and by 16, he had left home to experience life as expressed to him profoundly on the back of a pack of Eddy’s matches: “It doesn’t matter how long you live, but how.”

Despite the rebellion in grade school, Pete was a lifelong learner, with two Bachelor Degrees in Geography and Archaeology (the latter he took when everyone thought he was the prof because he was so old); a Master’s Degree (Climatology); and countless certifications and courses. He was also a lifelong global traveller, having joined the likes of Captain Cook (and Captain Cook’s goat) in circumnavigating the globe, dipped toes in every ocean, visited every province and territory in Canada, every US state, and a total of 67 countries.  As an aside, Pete was bettered by Cook’s goat, who circumnavigated the globe twice; Pete only went once.

Pete had what can only be described as a career with chapters (not just job titles) and he filled every one of them with curiosity and rigour, and perhaps a healthy disregard for boredom.

He began with surveying, which led him to seismic work in the far reaches of the High Arctic (now Nunavut), Dead Horse Meadows, and down through the wild terrain from Nordic to Ram River Falls. From there, he shifted to construction surveying, including key projects in several Calgary neighbourhoods and the expansion of the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant.

As a Field Engineer and Project Manager, Peter oversaw the construction of subdivisions throughout Calgary; neighbourhoods that quite literally took shape under his guidance.

Teaching came naturally to Peter, who loved learning, and just as much, enjoyed passing that knowledge along. He taught hydrology, microclimatology, air photo interpretation, and both classic and computer cartography; not to mention serving as a Teaching Assistant whilst doing his Master’s.  He taught Applied Mathematics for Practicing Instrumentation and even passed on his hands-on skills in garage construction and basement development (both completion and a trainer).

In the early days of personal computing, Peter became one of Alberta’s go-to instructors. He taught thousands of students across the province of Alberta everything from Introduction to the IBM PC to Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Office. He taught through school boards in Calgary and Edmonton, at Mount Royal College (now University), SAIT, and with several First Nations communities (Montana Band, Louie Bull, and Masquachese). He also ran private training through Microdat Enterprises, the company he co-owned with his wife, Doreen.

His analytical mind found a place with Alberta Transportation as a Contracts Technologist and with Alberta Environment as a Research Scientist. There, he carried out trend analyses of pollutants and conducted emission inventories for Calgary and Edmonton.

He wore many civil-servant hats: Demographer for the Calgary Civic Census; Information Systems Coordinator for the City of Calgary’s Corporate Resources department, Planning and Development; and in Engineering – Solid Waste Services as Project Lead and MSA Titleholder for Beat 2000, a now-little-known but internationally awarded project that saved millions a year in waste collection costs for the residents of Calgary.

Pete was also a published writer. He contributed to Canadian Geographic, Edmonton Magazine, Alberta Magazine, Canadian Workshop, Canada’s History Magazine, Wastage (a trade publication on waste), the Alberta Paleontological Bulletin, and numerous conference proceedings across North America. He was equally proud to have his photography featured alongside his writing, he was an avid photographer.

He wasn’t one to slow down after retirement, either. He reinvented himself as an archaeologist, taking part in digs across Alberta – including Cluny, Vulcan, Wally’s Beach, Fort Macleod, and as a volunteer for several years at Glenbow Ranch. He completed a field school in Antigua, worked in a lab for a dig in Jordan, and, along with Doreen, joined a dig in Romania at the Roman site of Cuma Dava (Peter in the field, Doreen in the lab).

Also an entrepreneur, he remained the president of Microdat Enterprises from its founding in 1986 until his final days; proof that a curious mind never really retires.

Despite a prognosis of only ‘months to short years’  with ALS, Pete persevered post-diagnosis. His near six year project to “go out as a hairball”, took various shapes including look-a-likes to Willie Nelson, Abraham Lincoln, than eventually just a hairy old goat (but definitely not surpassing Captain Cook’s goat).  He continued to take a few more trips with his family; write special books and share Schmengee stories for his live-in grandchildren Kai and Sasha; and to complain about the Flames every time they lost (and often when they won).  Pete was honoured to act as the 2021 Ambassador for the 25th Annual Betty’s Run in 2021 for the ALS Society of Southern Alberta, and duplicated the honour in 2024 by serving as the Kelowna Ambassador for the Move to Cure ALS Walk for the ALS Society of BC.

Overall, his greatest accomplishment in life was managing to keep his angelic wife happy and somehow getting her to stay with him for more than half a century, and his family, especially Peter (III), who wrote this sentence.  Most of all, from start to end, Pete imparted his knowledge, love, guidance, and twisted but wonderful sense of humour (which clearly was inherited by Peter) to all those who surrounded him.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the ALS Society of BC, or the ALS Society of Southern Alberta.

A Celebration of Life party in honour of Pete will be held at a later date in the fall in Kelowna, with a second in Calgary, likely in 2026. Details to be announced.

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