'Completely shocked': Winkler Mayor reflects on sudden passing of long-serving councillor

Winkler City Councillor Don Fehr is shown in an undated photo. (City of Winkler)

Winkler has lost a ten-year veteran of its city council and a lifelong community champion.

Coun. Don Fehr died Saturday of an apparent heart attack, Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens confirmed to CTV News Winnipeg.

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He was 62 years old.

Siemens last saw Fehr the night before he died at a rehearsal for a charity fashion show.

“I’m just completely shocked. It’s difficult to wrap your head around.”

Fehr served as a city councillor since 2014, though Siemens said they were acquaintances far before that. In their years working together, they grew a deep friendship.

The late councillor was the current board chair of the MSTW Planning District, sat on the city’s internal planning and transportation and infrastructure committees, and chaired the fire committee.

Siemens said Fehr will be remembered as a man of endless optimism, with a passion for the planning side of municipal politics, and the belief that every problem could be solved.

“He really just had a deep passion for making sure that what we were doing was right, that it made sense, and that it was something that would be good planning practices,” the mayor said.

Away from city hall, Fehr owned a sanitation and cleaning supplies company.

He was married and had three adult children.

A book of condolences is available for the public to sign at Winkler City Hall.

Mayor Siemens said he attended a meeting with senior administration Tuesday to talk about how best to honour the late city councillor, and plans are still in the works. The main focus right now is supporting Fehr’s family, the mayor said.

“He loved the community. He was a lifelong resident, and his desire was always that all the good about the community would be made better, would be enhanced, would be improved.”