Hugh Delaney

Hugh Phillip Delaney was born on November 25, 1930 in Vermillion, Alberta to Phillip and Sybil Delaney.

He spent his early years in St. Paul, AB before moving to Whitehorse, Yukon at the age of 3.

He loved sports and played all of them, excelling in hockey while playing goalie in the Whitehorse men’s leagues where he was a standout who made the protected list for the Detroit Red Wings.

He left Whitehorse to attend Campion College in Regina where he took up football, eventually trying out for the Saskatchewan Roughriders where he made the taxi squad.

While thinking about his future career, he joined the junior Rotarians at Campion.  The local radio station wanted someone to do a “high school report”. Hugh was chosen for this role and later recognized by CKCK president, Harold Crittenden, for his booming voice and hired as a radio announcer in 1952.

He became a local radio personality, eventually branching out into news reporting where he covered the first campaign of Tommy Douglas to become premier of Saskatchewan. 

Hugh quickly realized where the money was in radio and decided to use his great skill as an orator to start a career in sales. But he also loved the spotlight and eventually entered television to become the first weatherman in Regina, and one of the first in Canada. They called him Hugh the Happy Weatherman because he smiled all the time, loved to dress up in costumes to liven up the newscast and ended each segment with the phrase “keep smiling”.

Ralph Meisner in Winnipeg took note of Hugh’s work and offered him the position as the first weatherman on CJAY TV - Winnipeg’s second TV station (later CKY - then CTV) as well as a job in sales. So he and his wife Marina packed up their young family and moved to Winnipeg in 1960.

As Hugh’s family grew his need to support them grew as well and his hard work and success were recognized by the competition, and he was hired by CKRC Radio as the General Sales Manager. He remained there for nearly 20 years.

Hugh loved people and saw no higher calling than serving his fellow man, becoming a member of numerous philanthropic societies and groups - including a lifelong member of Rotary International where he received a special award from Queen Elizabeth for his 75th anniversary there, presented to him by his daughter Marlies, a sergeant in the RCMP.

He was President of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, President of the Serra Club (a group supporting vocations to the priesthood), Grand Knight of the Winnipeg Knights of Columbus, President of Villa Rosa (home for single mothers with crisis pregnancies) and the founder and first president of The Assiniboine Christian Centre, Canada’s first ecumenical church shared by both Catholics and Protestants.

Hugh also found time amid all his other commitments to coach kids sports, including little league baseball, and to play golf where he actually scored a hole-in-one in a long, amateur golf career.

Hugh was a patriotic Canadian and ran twice for political office, the first time to win a nomination in the federal Liberal Party in 1968. At the time no one except Hugh wanted the nomination until Pierre Trudeau began to build huge momentum. Suddenly he had a challenger named E.B. Osler, who showed up to the nomination meeting along with bus loads of several hundred party members sent to swamp the vote and take Hugh out. With his big voice and powerful conviction he gave the speech of his life and despite Osler’s 5-1 membership advantage, Hugh converted so many of his opponent’s voters he lost the nomination by only 12 ballots!

Hugh went back to TV as the weatherman on CKND before returning once more to sales at CFAC TV in Calgary.  

He was an investor and business consultant in his sons’, Chris and John’s, animation company, and was Executive Producer on the animated TV Special, Christopher the Christmas Tree. He finished his career as General Sales Manager and Vice President of CFAC TV in 1995.

After retirement Hugh fought for all of his cohorts when he learned that in a proposed merger of CFAC with Global TV they were planning to extinguish their pensions. Hugh took his fight to the CRTC in a public hearing, winning a commitment that Global would have to honor all the pensions as a condition of the merger.

Hugh remained a member of ACTRA and continued to act even into his old age, performing in movies and TV series like Resurrecting The Champ, Heartland, and Hell on Wheels. He also starred in a series of TV commercials for Home Instead that aired worldwide, at the ripe old age of 88.

He was a lifelong stamp collector, specializing in rare stamps of Canada and was president of the Calgary Philatelic Society for years, hosting meetings of other collectors and promoting stamp collecting.

Hugh was a man of deep convictions, devout faith and unlimited generosity. He loved God, his family, his friends, his community and every sport imaginable, in that order.

He passed away on December 19, 2025 in Calgary with his daughter Sharon holding his hand, Dale, Warren and Emily at his side.

He was predeceased by his loving wife of 28 years, Louanne Kramer, his parents Phillip and Sybil Delaney, his brother’s Terry and Patrick, and his sister Georgina.

He is survived by his brother Kevin and his wife Denise (White Rock), daughter Sharon and son in law Dale Knutson (Calgary), son Philip (Winnipeg), son Christopher and daughter in law Rosalyn (Daytona Beach), son Timothy and daughter in law Vanessa (Port Moody), son John and partner Amber (Kelowna), and daughter Marlies Dick (nee Delaney) and son in law Brendan Dick (Coquitlam), step children from Calgary - Nancy Larsen (nee Morrow) (husband Gregg – deceased ) Susan Morrow (Warren Fick), Mike Morrow (Ellen Brodlyo), Margo Morrow, Marianne Morrow-Olsen (Bill Foose), as well as many nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Campion College/University of Regina in Hugh’s name www.campioncollege.ca/support-campion

A Celebration of Hugh’s life will be held at St Anthony’s Church (5340 4 Street SW, Calgary) on Friday, May 15, 2026 at 11:00 am with reception to follow. Graveside Service will take place at Queens Park Cemetery at 3:00 pm.

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