STEPHEN de ROSENROLL’s Legacy to Outaouais

First, I’d like to provide you with some background information explaining the meaning of tonight’s Summer Solstice Memorial. My late husband, Stephen de Rosenroll, who was a lifetime member of the Outaouais FHC (OFHC), prematurely passed away in October 2014, at the age of 59 from pancreatic cancer. The following June, Brian Lee and Jeff Dornan came up with the wonderful idea that a Summer Solstice hockey night would be a way to commemorate Stephen’s many contributions to the club. I would like to thank our executive members, Jeff Dornan, Brian Lee, Julie Nelson, and Paul de Souza for organizing tonight’s special event.

Stephen de Rosenroll was born in 1955 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  At the age of six, his family moved to Kanata. The late Walter Kooiman, a neighbour originally from the Netherlands plus a member of Outaouais, noticed that there was not much in the way of organized activities for kids in the neighbourhood. Therefore, he volunteered to teach field hockey to local youth including Stephen and brothers, John and Peter; as well his Stephen’s newfound group of friends, namely: Tobias and Luke fisher, Malcolm and Doug Rimmer, Mark Sullivan, Patrick Burrows, Vikas Desai, Geoff Ware, and especially our own special Reg Plummer!!!!!

This group stayed together to become junior members of the Outaouais FHC, then coached by Keith Newton and Horst Klette. The late John Clegg, and Denys Cooper provided the umpiring. The boys all had a marvelous time travelling with the more experienced male senior members to many out-of-town competitions such as the: Montreal Men’s League, North Jersey Cup, Pennsylvania Leigh Valley Cup, Maple Leaf in Toronto, JFK tournaments in Washington, DC and many other fun filled competitions. Imagine all those teen-age boys going to a sports event where half the participants were women!! What better reason could anyone offer to play this game?!

After graduating from Carleton in 1977, Stephen pursued an MBA program at the University of British Columbia. UBC ran a men’s field hockey club called The Lumberjacks which played in a Vancouver league. He was joined by many of his Kanata boyhood friends who had also shared his interest in pursuing field hockey as a second major.

During his university years, Stephen represented Ontario in many national tournaments, and was selected to the Canadian Team for some international tours. After graduating from UBC, Stephen returned to Ottawa; and resumed his membership with the Outaouais FHC which was to become a lifelong journey.

In 1981, Stephen met his future wife (me), Carolyn Broadhurst; a newly hired teacher for the OCDSB, plus a new OFHC member. In 1985 they married and shortly after, travelled to New South Wales, Australia, where Carolyn worked as an exchange teacher. After returning to Canada, their daughter, Caitlin was born in 1989: and later in 1992, their son Roy.  Caitlin, who is currently a teacher with the OCDSB, joined the club as a junior, played for Ontario East in the 2006 Ontario Summer Games, and has also coached various high school teams in recent years. She has also just given birth in 2022 to our potentially youngest club member, two month old Nori de Rosenroll - Cheung ! 

Both Stephen and I continued to play field hockey into our fifties, enjoying Thursday night pick up games, and representing Outaouais in many open and master’s tournaments. Despite, his cancer, Stephen played in the Thursday evening pick-up games right up until four months before his passing.

Stephen was a distinguished pillar in the Ottawa field hockey community serving as an excellent club player, and an occasional player coach for the men’s team. (Brian Lee once referred to him as “the Fuhrer”). Besides playing and coaching, Stephen assumed many OFHC executive positions, including 4 periods as Club treasurer in the 1980s, was a field manager at the 1976 Olympics and was a respected umpire in the NCSSAA high school league.

Thank you again to the organizers of the Summer Solstice remembrance of Stephen’s long legacy to our club. Also, a huge thank you to everyone for coming out yet again to celebrate and share Stephen’s passion for the game of field hockey and the pride of being a member of this club.

Carolyn Broadhurst  

June 2022