Obituary of Peter John Springstein

Peter Springstein died peacefully on January 5, 2020 at the age of 69. While we are saddened by the passing of our much loved brother, brother in law, uncle, great uncle and big hearted friend, we are glad he is finally free from his health issues of recent years. His heart was not the only thing big about Pete as he was known to his friends. Peter was an avid sports fan and athlete. In his younger years he participated in football, basketball, racquetball, badminton and numerous other sports. But, his real love was Team Handball. He was a player, mainly a goalie; a referee, not a very good one and a top level excellent coach. He was one of the Founding Fathers and pioneers of the Saskatchewan Team Handball Federation (STHF). He sat on the STHF board and held numerous positions. He represented Saskatchewan at the Canadian Team Handball Federation's Annual General Meetings on numerous occasions. With all of his involvement in Team Handball, coaching was his real love and he dedicated numerous hours bettering himself, as well as the athletes he coached in the sport he loved. Through his involvement with Team Handball he was able to travel all across Canada and even did a couple of tournaments in the USA. Peter began his career with the Government of Saskatchewan as a youth worker at the Saskatchewan Boys Centre now known as the Paul Dojack Youth Center. He worked with the youth in many different capacities. It did not take long before Pete got involved with the union that represented staff, the Saskatchewn Government Employees Union (SGEU). It sparked his passion to represent staff with energy and compassion. Over the next 24 years at Dojack Pete took positions as a steward and as the chief steward. Pete chaired numerous different committees and helped to create many procedures and policies which created a safer work environment that still exist today. He always took a solution based approach when dealing with problems and people. This approach garnered the respect of staff, the director, all the way up to the ministers of the different departments he dealt with. After 24 years at the Center Peter took a position with SGEU as a plaintiff advocate for the Long Term Disability program. Again he took the task on with high energy and passion. This position required dealing with people at their most vulnerable and at a time when their futures were at stake. His personality would not allow him to accept anything but success for each person he represented. Not all cases were successful and this took a heavy toll on Pete. After ten years with the LTD Pete retired from the union and started to enjoy the retirement he so deserved. Peter was predeceased by his mother Evelyn and father Toar Springstein and his nephew Mark Hanson. He is survived by his sister Pat and brother in law Gerald Hanson, his niece Lee Hanson, grand nephew and niece Brayden and Tenley Hanson and their mother Jocelyn Hanson and many friends. His family would like to thank Don Gray, Cory Hendriks, Shirley Miller, Michael Wolfond, Mike Clarke, the Livingstone family and many others for their love and support of Pete over the years. We would also like to thank the staff of the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region and the staff and residents of the Wascana Rehab Center for being there for him. We will miss his sense of humour and his unwavering support though not always his love of a good argument. In lieu of flowers, donations in Pete’s memory may be made to a charity of your choice. A Celebration of Life will be held for Peter in Regina in the summer. We will publish details in advance.