Lawyer remembered as mentor, ‘great storyteller’
From serving as the police union’s lawyer during the first and only police strike in Regina’s history, to sharing a hotel suite with prosecutor Serge Kujawa during the 1984 murder trial of Colin Thatcher, lawyer and historian Garrett Wilson led — to say the least — an interesting life.
Wilson died Tuesday at the age of 85.
Remembering her friend, Merrilee Rasmussen described Wilson as someone who had a significant influence on her.
“I considered him a mentor. He knew a lot and he passed that on. I benefited from that experience,” Rasmussen said. “Anything that came up, he always had an experience and experience is a wonderful teacher. Whenever anything different came up in the practice, he always had an example and an answer.”
Rasmussen articled with Wilson in 1975-76 and was a law partner with him from the early-1990s to 2004.
“We had our difficulties but I remember he told me one time that the decade we spent together practising law was the time in his legal career he enjoyed the most.”
Wilson was born on May 19, 1932, in Limerick and attended Luther College in Regina.
He would earn bachelor of arts and bachelor of laws degrees from the University of Saskatchewan in 1954. In 1955, he was called to the bar and admitted into the Law Society of Saskatchewan. Exactly 50 years later, he was made an honorary life member of the society.
A partner in several law firms, he was appointed to Queen’s counsel in 1968 and served as the chair of the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission and the Regina Rail Relocation Commission.
“Gary was an excellent lawyer and a great storyteller,” Rasmussen said. “He had great stories about things that happened in the courtroom.”
Highly active in provincial and federal politics, Wilson was involved in provincial Liberal leader Ross Thatcher’s campaign in 1964, and he served as the campaign manager of the Liberal party in 1967. Wilson was also the president of the Saskatchewan Liberal Association from 1971 to 1975, and vice-president of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1978 to 1980.