Lucky Rocha passed away at the age of 86 in the early morning hours of January 5, 2016 after a long and interesting life.  The son of Elias and Amelia Rocha, Lucky was the second eldest of six siblings (Manuel, 1927; Maria Mattos, 1931; Jorge, 1935; Olivia, 1938 and Maria de Lourdes Verissimo, 1942).  Lucky was born in the village of Sanguinhal on the island of S. Jorge in the Azores, a collection of nine Portuguese islands approximately 700 miles off the coast of Portugal.   Lucky told many stories about growing up in the Azores and how the family lived on fish and octopus.  As a child Lucky received no formal education, rather he learned to read and write when he served in the Portuguese Army for seven years.  He also began working in a machine shop when he was ten years old.  This is where he began to learn how to weld and be a machinist.  After leaving the army, Lucky immigrated to Canada in 1957 at the age of 27 where he worked as a welder and machinist.  Lucky loved working with steel. After working all day in the shop, Lucky would work on his own projects and through the years he built a variety of cars, speed boats and pontoon boats.  Lucky’s work took him all over Western and Northern Canada during which time he lived in Calgary, Saskatoon, Toronto and Hawaii, before finally moving permanently to Prince Albert in 1985.  Throughout his life Lucky was fearless.  In his work life he worked on high steel, constructing high rise buildings. In his personal life he was adventurous – barefoot skiing, scuba diving, flying fixed winged acrobatics, flying helicopters and obtaining his commercial pilots licence.  Lucky was never as happy as when he was working in his shop, which he was able to continue till near the end.  While he no longer could build cars and speed boats, he loved to make small gifts for friends and family.  Lucky also loved travelling south for the winter to Yuma with his partner Doreen.  For someone who loved the heat as much as Lucky, Canada seemed like an odd choice of places to live but he loved Canada, the people, and the fact that he could make a good living doing what he loved.  Lucky leaves behind his wife Doreen Duffield and her children, Jackie (Mike) Relland and Gail (Perry) Cavanaugh and their children Brian and Jeff.  He also leaves behind his sisters Maria, Olivia and Mary-Lou; his brother Jorge; as well as numerous nieces and nephews in California. He was predeceased by his parents Elias and Amelia Rocha and his brother Manuel.  He will be missed and fondly remembered. Funeral Service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2016 at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church, 1505 – 13th Street West, Prince Albert, SK with Reverend Father Travis Myrheim officiating.  Interment will be held at South Hill Cemetery.  Condolences may be sent to the family at www.grays.ca.  Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Gray’s Funeral Chapel, (306-922-4729).

• Date : 2016-01-05