Obituary of Russell James

Mrs. Russell Leone James passed away at the Jubilee Home, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan on Monday, April 7, 2014 at the age of 91 years. Russell was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on November 21, 1922 to Ellen and William Rowley. Russell leaves to mourn her passing: daughter, Elaine (Barry) McKenzie; son, Kevin (Rose) James; seven grandchildren: Jim McKenzie, Jason McKenzie (Tracey Carier), Brent McKenzie, Jill McKenzie (Steve Nugent), Brad (Kristen) McKenzie, Becky (Jessie) Gammell and Kara (Jason) Wakefield; eight great-grandchildren: Jared and Morgan McKenzie, Jake and Owen Nugent, Shelby and Cooper Wakefield and Sydney and Meah Gammell. Russell was predeceased by her husband, Vernon James; one grandson, Chad; and two sisters, Jean Broadhead and Doris Burnham. Donations in memory of Russell may be made to Kinsmen Telemiracle or to a Charity of the Donor's Choice. EULOGY Given By: Kara Wakefield Hi Everyone - I'm Kara Wakefield and I was lucky enough to be able to call the lady that we are here to honor today, Grandma. A few of us called her Grandma or Granny, a couple caller her Mom, & lots of people (even some that were not even really related) called her Auntie. Even more called her their friend. No matter what we called her, she seemed happy to see all of us and have a good visit. Russell Leone James was born November 21, 1922 to William and Evelyn Rowley. She was the third born daughter in the family and named after Russell Watson. The Rowley's were close friends of the Watson's and eventually took over the Watson farm in 1916 when the Watson's returned back to England. From an early age, Russell loved farm life and spoke many times of different animals she had - especially one of her favorite childhood pets - a horse called Bill Bailey. She grew up in the Bear Island Community, not far from where the home quarter is now. At age nine, her mother passed away and she spent many of her days working the farm with her Dad, Bill and doing odd jobs for nearby neighbors, like milking cows and babysitting. In her late teens she had an opportunity to go out and spend some time in BC on an orchard that was owned by George Sommerville Taylor, whom she often referred to as Uncle Sonny. Russell really enjoyed her time there in the orchards. It was pretty hard to know when Russell actually met Grandpa Vernon, as they ended up going to Bear Island School together, socializing and going to many dances and other community events. They were eventually married on October 2, 1944. Elaine came into their lives in 1950, followed by the birth of their son, Kevin in 1956. She spent her life raising her children and their numerous animals on the same farm that Kevin & Rose live on today. Russell was a very social and happy type of person. You would be hard pressed to think of very many times she was actually mad. Quite often Grandma would tell me "doesn't do any good to get mad, you just have to get happy again." She spoke many times of how she and Vernon had such a good time at the many community dances and parties that were held and all the good friends that they used to go with to all of the events. Sometimes there was the odd story that would come out like the one where Uncle Sonny hid along the trail to the Bear Island School one night and scared the crap out of her and one of her friends on her way home from yet another dance. Grandma Russell never did like the dark much after that!! She also loved music - I guess where there is music, there is usually people to visit with so that was probably part of the draw for her. She particularly loved fiddle music and listened to it every chance she got, even into her later years. The St. Walburg Blueberry Festival was a favorite event to go to for her because they quite often have really good fiddle music and lots of people to visit with. Russell also loved playing cards. She spent many hours playing crib, 500 and Kanasta with anybody who was around and wanted to play. She actually wore out decks of cards playing solitaire when there was nobody else to play with! Grandpa & Grandma hosted many card parties and told me that it was nothing to have 30 people show up to play cards - they even had a table in the bathroom sometimes because everywhere else was full! She really enjoyed going to the card parties that were held at numerous homes in the community all winter long, but the main event was the Christmas Eve card party that was always at Faye & Ernie Squair's. They went to that one for as long as Faye and Ernie hosted it - which was many years. Russell loved animals. It didn't matter what it was - she liked it. Together with Vernon, they raised chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, a few dogs, but I think her favorites were the horses. She truly loved taking care of them, feeding & cleaning them, and tending to any wounds that they might have had. Over the years they started getting into thoroughbreds and in 1978, Grandpa Vernon took the first bunch to Marquis Downs racetrack in Saskatoon. Grandma held down the farm but got in on the fun the next year and went with Vernon back to the track. This kept them busy for the next 13 years. Russell and Vernon worked hard to keep anywhere from 13 - 24 horses in their stable. They ran many of their own animals, but trained a few at the track from Tom Kitching, George Valliere, Blaine McMillan, and Lyle James, just to name a few. Needless to say, Grandma shovelled a lot of stalls and wrapped a lot of legs every day but never complained, because that was just something you did. I think the only time that I heard her complain about mucking out a stall was the time when it was storming in Saskatoon and a lightening bolt came down and blew a hole in the back wall of the stall that she was currently in! Russell didn't like storms to start with but really hated them after that experience. Russell spent enough time with her horses, that she acquired a very good eye for them and could tell you when one was ready to run or needed to go home from some R & R time. Some of her favorite horses at the race track were Great Paulette, Skylodge and Wild Critter. In later years she got into going to chuckwagon races and went to as many races as she could get to, many times going with Lou Forrest, Hazel James, Gertie James and anybody else that wanted to come along. Russell even made it out to last year's chuckwagon finals in Lloydminster. She was quite the fan. Mark James was quite often the chauffeur when they went to the chuckwagons which made us feel a little safer because Grandma's driving skills were .... interesting. "Put your foot to the floor" and "drive it like you stole it" seem like good phrases to describe her driving abilities. A talent of Grandma's was knitting. You told her what you needed and the color you liked and she could make it in a few days. She spent hours making socks for anybody who wanted them, fancy outfits for babies, mitts, hats, scarves, she did it all. One of her last major projects was to knit a blanket for each of her grandchildren. It would take most people forever to do that many but she was so quick with her knitting needles that she had most of them done in no time at all. When Russell was home in the summer time, she loved to garden. She spent hours getting Vernon or Kevin, or Rose, or who ever was handy to haul water or manure to make sure that the soil was just right. She was always on hand to plant seeds, cut potatoes and tend the garden every year. Russell enjoyed bringing in the garden that was grown and making bread & butter pickles, relish, or a multitude of other things. She particularly liked picking raspberries for jam and always picked more than we ever needed in a year. More often than not, she would come in looking like she had just been in a terrible cat fight with her arms all scratched up from the raspberry patch. One of the funniest times was when somehow she got her feet tangled up in the raspberry canes and fell over right in the middle of the patch. It took me ten minutes to get her out because every time I would get her organized to give her a pull, she would start to laugh and giggle. We would have to start over because when Grandma Russell laughed you couldn't help but laugh yourself. When my husband, Jason first met Russell he also spent the night laughing with her, and he told me that her laugh was totally infectious and she was the youngest old person that he had ever met. Of all the things that Russell did in her life, her greatest pride and joy were her grandchildren. She had sixteen grandchildren and great grandchildren in total and I don't think she every missed a birthday card or Christmas gift for every one of us. Grandma's Christmas parcels were the best. When we were younger she always had one big present for you to unwrap but when you opened it, there were several treasures that she specially picked out for each of us. It took forever for her to do her Christmas shopping because she was so picky about what she gave her grandchildren. She wanted us to have something good, that was fun and make us happy. Russell did her best to keep up to date on all of our activities and whatever we were doing. Russell & Vernon would go to as many plays, singing, birthday parties, hockey games, graduations & weddings as they could possibly get to. Her walls at home were covered with pictures of all of us as we were going through school or anything else. This trend carried on even after Grandpa Vernon passed in 2003. The next year she packed up all her pictures and moved them all to her apartment at Fellowship Village here in Lloydminster. She always took the time to let all of her friends know what we were up to because she was very proud of us. Our accomplishments were looked upon as hers and she loved us all very much. Grandma lived at the Fellowship Village for eight years. There, she gained even more special friends and had a lot of fun. She helped plan Christmas parties, potluck suppers, and all sorts of other activities. You actually had to book "appointments" to see Grandma. I would call her and say that I was coming into Lloyd. She would tell me that if I dropped in before such and such a time that would be good, but if I couldn't be there by then, she was going to be at exercises, gone to a concert or at a crib tournament, but make sure to call her and visit after supper. After having a stroke in 2012, Russell went on to live at the Jubilee Home where she stayed until she passed. I would be willing to venture a guess that her spirit is now as happy as it has ever been. Now she can look in on all of us whenever she wants. Chances are that she is playing a great game of cards with Grandpa Vernon & a bunch of friends, a heater at her feet, with a good hot cup of tea in her hand and plenty of people to visit with. CARD OF THANKS We would like to thank everyone for your support through cards, phone calls, flowers and donations received at the time of Russell's passing. Thank-you to Don Retzlaff for conducting the service; Marion Newman and the Clayton Meyers Band for their music contribution; to Kara for the beautiful Eulogy; and the ladies at the Legacy Centre for preparing & serving the lunch which followed the service. CARD OF THANKS The family of Russell James would like to say Thank You for your support through cards, phone calls, flowers, donations, as well as meals to the house while I was sitting with mom. Also the Tim's cards, baking, lawn ornaments, and to everyone that traveled so far to support us at the funeral. To Don Retzlaff for the service and a special thank you to Marion Newman and the Clayton Meyers band for the music. To Kara for the beautiful eulogy, and the ladies at the Legacy Center for the lunch which followed the service. To McCaw Funeral Service for your caring and comfort at this time. Your generosity and support will never be forgotten. The McKenzie and James Families.