lit a candle 1h agonever met him, never even knew who he was until my grandma sent me the SaskToday link this morning. she grew up near Gravelbourg and said his name like it still meant something. 93 years old. rest well, sir
Their story
Allen Willard Engel was a Saskatchewan farmer, teacher and New Democratic Party MLA who spent much of his public life arguing for family farms, grassland conservation and practical international development. He represented Notukeu-Willow Bunch from 1971 to 1975 and Assiniboia-Gravelbourg from 1978 to 1986 in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan,…
Allen Willard Engel was a Saskatchewan farmer, teacher and New Democratic Party MLA who spent much of his public life arguing for family farms, grassland conservation and practical international development. He represented Notukeu-Willow Bunch from 1971 to 1975 and Assiniboia-Gravelbourg from 1978 to 1986 in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, serving under Premier Allan Blakeney and later as agriculture critic in opposition.
Born in Gravelbourg on 20 October 1932, the son of Emil and Charlotte Engel, he trained at the Saskatchewan Teacher's College and taught for several years before marrying Joyce Beverly Baumbach of Lodi, California, in 1955. With Joyce he co-owned Engel Bros. Construction, installing sewer and water systems in dozens of towns across the province, then bought a farm southwest of Gravelbourg in 1963. Local church work, municipal politics, the hospital board and co-operative boards prepared him for provincial office.
In the legislature he served as legislative secretary to the minister of agriculture and to the minister of intergovernmental affairs, overseeing Saskatchewan matching grants for agricultural growth in Africa and other parts of the global south. He pressed for the preservation of what became Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan. One of the few NDP members to survive the Progressive Conservative landslide of 1982 in a three-way contest that also featured Liberal leader Ralph Goodale, he spent his final term as an outspoken advocate for drought-stricken farmers and against the concentration of rural land in corporate hands. Goodale defeated him in 1986; Engel lost a 1988 by-election to John Thomas Wolfe after Goodale moved to federal politics. In 2002 a Regina street was named in his honour.
Allen and Joyce retired from farming and moved to Regina in 2005. He died on 6 September 2026 at the age of 93 after a decade with Parkinson's disease. He was predeceased by their son Randy in 1972 and is survived by Joyce's memory of 71 years of marriage, three children, a brother, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held on 12 September 2026 at Parliament Community Church in Regina. Colleagues and neighbours remembered a practical legislator who never left southern Saskatchewan far behind: the construction seasons of the 1950s and 1960s, the farm near Gravelbourg, and the co-operative boards that shaped his sense of public duty. Even in retirement in Regina he kept making things with his hands, especially intricate woodwork shared with friends at Broadway Terrace. The family obituary asked that flowers be declined in favour of gifts to Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan, reflecting the international and faith commitments that had long run alongside his farm politics.
Biography adapted from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); SaskToday / Speers Funeral Chapel family obituary (Allen Engel).
Photos
1Allen Engel, Saskatchewan NDP MLA and farmer
by People Forever
That's a sweet thing for your grandma to share with you.