‘Kind and loving:’ Uncle remembers man found dead in Saskatoon dumpster

The uncle of a man whose body was found in a dumpster last week remembers him as a good man.

“He was kind and loving,” Elwin Cameron said of his nephew, Aaron Gamble. “Every time he (saw) you, he’d always ask how you’re doing.”

Despite their uncle-nephew relationship, Cameron said he and Gamble were always close and were only two years apart in age. Gamble would have been 55 in October.

Gamble’s body was found in a dumpster in an alley behind 17th Street West on March 24. Officers believe foul play was involved in Gamble’s death, which is considered suspicious.

On Wednesday, police released a video publicly that showed three people of interest depositing a large container in the dumpster where Gamble’s body was later found.

Cameron said Gamble dealt with problems his whole life, in spite of the loving two-parent home he came from, which included health concerns — diabetes, mostly. Cameron said Gamble was limited in what he could do and wasn’t able to join in and play ball or hockey as a kid.

“He’d be able to play for a little while and then he’d get called back in,” Cameron shared.

Instead, Gamble found solace in music. His favourite artists included Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osborne and Cameron said Gamble loved to talk about them with “music freaks” like himself.

After graduating from Stobart Community School in Duck Lake, Gamble went to the University of Saskatchewan and earned his education degree.

He spent about seven or eight years teaching, Cameron estimated, before addiction took hold in Gamble’s life.

“It was pretty sad to see him go through that, along with his health issues,” Cameron said.

Cameron believes drugs became present in his nephew’s life after his divorce, when his ex-wife moved with the couple’s two daughters to Calgary.

“What really tore him apart, I think, was not being able to see his two children that he loved so dearly,” Cameron reflected.

Gamble married young, around 16 or 17, and Cameron said his nephew never really recovered after losing his kids. Gamble only really saw them at family funerals after that.

“When they showed up, you could see … his face just lit up and he really enjoyed whatever time he had to spend with them,” Cameron said.

Struggling with finances, work obligations, being single and managing his health was a lot for Gamble to handle.

Cameron said Gamble “made the best of it, tried, but he just couldn’t get back on his feet.

“He never did find his way out and he stayed on that path of addiction,” Cameron said.

After Gamble began his battle with drugs, Cameron said his nephew struggled to get and keep work and lived day to day while being in an on-again, off-again relationship. Cameron called it “pitiful” and “hard to see.”

He said having also received an education degree from the U of S, he always wondered why his smart and capable nephew couldn’t keep a job. He said he knows now that Gamble’s circumstances played a role.

“(It’s) very, very hard because as an uncle, you want to see … your family succeed and become non-welfare recipients,” Cameron said.

It still bothers him that his nephew was never able to escape the clutches of addiction before he passed.

Cameron said the last time he saw Gamble was about a month before his death, when Gamble sold him some golf clubs. Knowing Gamble was not in a good place, Cameron gave his nephew $100 to help him out.

Cameron worries that Gamble’s kind nature was something that contributed to his demise.

“Maybe his untimely and horrific death was something that he couldn’t prevent or he trusted too many (people) or got involved in too many things he shouldn’t have,” Cameron said.

He said it’s possible Gamble’s health issues were why his body was found near St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, but gathers it could have also been there because it was a place away from Gamble’s friends and family.

“He was so kind. Maybe he was too kind and vulnerable and maybe that’s what led to his death,” Cameron said.

Gamble was never able to establish a solid connection with his children, who are now adults with spouses and children of their own. It was a hurt that Cameron said Gamble lived with until his death.

Gamble is survived by a sister, with whom Cameron expected to connect over the weekend. Gamble’s body was brought to Beardy’s and Okemasis — his home community — for a viewing at the veterans’ hall on Saturday in the late afternoon.

Cameron said that time was to be one of reconnecting, remembering and saying goodbye.