Rob Rainville grew up at the motorcycle track
Massive stroke claims longtime Welland County Motorcycle Club member at age 49
Rob Rainville, a lifetime member of Welland County Motorcycle Club, is being remembered as a jack of all trades who was always willing to roll up his sleeves when work needed to be done at the club’s race track on the outskirts of Welland.
“Whatever needed to be done, Rob would be right there, like cutting grass. Whatever had to be done, Rob did it,” said club president Joe Montovani.
Rainville, who died of a massive stroke at Hamilton General Hospital on May 12, at age 49, worked for Niagara Health for more than 30 years. Though he only joined the club in 1993, the Welland native grew up around motorcycles and motorcycle racing.
“The club was like his second family. I was talking to his wife, Sandra, a couple of days ago and she said, ‘Rob always looked at the club as being his second family,’ ” Montovani said.
“We were very blessed to have him all the years that we had.”
As the second generation of a racing family, Rainville and his brother Ryan practically grew up at the track.
Montovani remembered the boys accompanying their father, Ritz, to the club.
“They were out there on their tricycles then they switched over to two wheels,” he said.
The brothers both raced flat track, while their father used to do hill climbs.
Ritz Rainville, the patriarch of the motorcycle family, has become a “permanent fixture” at a club he joined in 1962.
“On race nights, he’s collecting tickets,” Montovani said. “There hasn’t been an article at the club that the Rainville family hasn’t touched over the years.”
Rob Rainville, a graduate of both Brock University and Niagara College, is survived by his wife, Sandra, daughters Jaimie and Jordan, parents Ritz and Alma, as well as brother Ryan.
A celebration of life will take place at a later date.
Donations to Niagara Health or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated by the family.