December 22, 1933 – January 3, 2024
Days after celebrating her 90th birthday, our mother and Nana passed peacefully after her lengthy struggle with dementia.
She passed in her own way, on her own schedule, after suffering from COVID over the holidays.
She will be joining her parents, her brother Johnny, and her beloved Charlie in heaven. Left to mourn her loss are her daughters Janice (Steve) and Christa (Dave), her grandsons Cooper and Zak, her dear sister Jeanie, and her nieces, nephews, and their families. She made many friends in her travels from Gimli to Europe and many have gone before her.
Mary was born and raised in and around Gimli. She loved school and not only excelled at it, but made many friends because of her quick wit, pranks, and fun spirit. She passed her love of learning on to her daughters who embraced it throughout university and their professional lives.
She met Charlie when she was working for MTS and he was stationed in Gimli with the Air Force. They married on a beautiful November day in 1954. They were transferred to Nova Scotia where they had Janice, then Germany where they had Christa. They transferred back to Gimli and remained until the base closed. Winnipeg became their forever home.
Mary’s joy came from looking after her family: cooking, baking, cleaning, and of course searching for bargains with her grocery shopping. She was lovingly nicknamed “Auntie No-name” by her nieces and nephews. She may have been frugal with her groceries, but she was very generous with her love.
She enjoyed volunteering at Carpathia school, with Janice and Christa’s classes. Her Wednesday afternoon bowling league at Polo Park was her pride and after cleaning out our family home, we found all her cherished awards, paper dollar bills and all.
She loved her word puzzles, game shows, and true crime shows. She loved spending time with her family at the cottage in Gimli and that was always our second home.
Our family was always so quiet, with just the two girls, then Steve and Dave arrived and disrupted that quiet! The additions of Cooper and Zak brought new love to the family and Mary enjoyed watching them grow to be fine young men.
Sadly, she wasn’t able to celebrate them graduating from university or finding love of their own, as the dementia slowly took over. Her personality and love of life deteriorated and it was so hard to see our loving, intelligent mother struggle.
We are grateful she is finally at peace.
We want to thank our late father, Charlie, for all the care and love he gave her through some of her worst times with the dementia. We owe a world of appreciation to 5AB at Action Marguerite St. Boniface who always treated her with such kindness and respect, through any behavioural issues, COVID, and her passing. Charlie passed with comfort knowing that she was in such good hands.
A private family service has already been held, with interment at the Dnister Memorial Cemetery. She is back in her cherished home of Gimli with Charlie and her mom and dad.
In lieu of flowers or donations, please hug your mother and spend time with her.
We take them for granted while they’re here, but sure miss them when they’re gone.
