January 20, 1957 January 15, 2018

With family at his side, Neil gave up his courageous battle against cancer at 10:35 p.m. on Monday, January 15, 2018 at the Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg.

Neil attended Warren Elementary School and Warren Collegiate and he loved Little League Ball when he was growing up. While still in high school he drove a tanker truck on weekends, picking up fresh milk at farms in the Interlake and delivering it to dairies in Winnipeg. His first full time job was with Standard Aero in Winnipeg, and he worked for Manitoba Hydro at Rosser Station for a few years, but his real passion in life was long-haul truck driving. Throughout his life, he hauled semi loads of groceries for Western Grocers to Thunder Bay, Thompson and Estevan, Kitchen Craft products to Texas and Florida and FedEx packages to Toronto and most recently Edmonton. He completed his last FedEx run to Edmonton just a month ago.

Neil married Gaylene Johnson of Ste. Rose du Lac in 1990. This marriage produced two wonderful children, a son Ian (Robyn) and a daughter Chenoa. Besides his children, Neil is survived by his partner, Elaine Bowman (Ruby, Melissa, Christine, four great-grandchildren, Daryl, Corinne, Blair and Brandy), his parents Bill and Pat Kotelko, his brother Perry, his sister Yvonne (Ron) as well as nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, cousins and many friends.

Cremation has taken place as per Neil’s wishes and a private family celebration of his life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to CancerCare Manitoba in Neil’s honour.

Care entrusted to Interlake Cremation and Memorial Services.