Obituary of Edith "Edie" Nelson

Edith "Edie" Irene Nelson passed away at Wainwright Health Center, Wainwright, Alberta on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at the age of 78 years. Edie leaves to mourn her passing: her children: Debbie & Barry Kerr, Donna Nelson, Dee Nelson & Dave Eshleman; her Grandchldren: Matt Kerr, Ryan Kerr & fiancé Kayla Goertzen, and Heather Kerr; her siblings: Marie Beaudry, and Gary & Susan Fairbairn; her nephews: Rick Beaudry and Sean & Bonnie Fairbairn; her great nephews: Brayden and Cody; her brother in law: Martin Nelson as well as several other relatives. She was predeceased by her husband Gerald "Jock" Nelson and parents Dorothy & Adam Fairbairn. The funeral service will be held at McCaw Funeral Chapel, Lloydminster, Alberta on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 2:00 PM. Interment to follow the service at Marwayne Cemetery, Marwayne, Alberta. Donations may be made in memory of Edie to the Marwayne Cemetery or Lloydminster S P C A. Eulogy ~ You heard some music coming into the service today, the songs playing were some of Edie’s favorites. The earliest memories Debbie, Donna, and Dee had of their Mother were of her singing along with Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, and Hank Snow. The Christmas carols are mostly just cutesy songs that Edie thought were fun. She used to sing Shoo Shoo Shoo Sha La La, a lullaby by Wilf Carter, to her girls all the time and sometimes to her grandchildren. She started listening to these songs again after she moved to Wainwright and that’s all we heard this last month. No one likes to talk about it, but these are somber occasions because we are here to mourn a person's passing. At the same time however, we are here to celebrate a remarkable life. Edith lrene Fairbairn was born in the Marwayne nursing home on August 20, 1938. Edie passed away peacefully in the Wainwright hospital on December 13, 2016 at the age of 78. She was always quick to tell everyone that she was ‘Edie’ not Edith. Edie started school in the Crown Hill district at age 6 but did Grade 2 by correspondence because her parents thought the horseback ride was too hard for her - it would seem it was some distance from the home to the schoolhouse. School mates were the Bacons’ and the Georges’. By then she had one sister, Marie. In 1947 the family moved into Marwayne and Edie started Grade 3. Her Father started a new job at the elevator for a while and then worked for Crown Lumber. Not long after, her brother Gary arrived. When her Dad took the manager position at Crown Lumber the family moved into the company house beside the United Church. Edie attended school in Marwayne until Grade 11. A few of her friends and school buddies were Glenda Bystrom, Sheila Robbie, Shirley Johnson, Elaine and Barb Gawley, Louise and Iona Parker and Doreen Banks. She enjoyed square dancing, curling and even some Highland dancing. Her Father and Uncle were very musical — often playing the violin, banjo and bagpipes at local dances, so everyone danced. After completing Grade 11, Edie and Glenda moved together to Vegreville to work for AGT as telephone operators. Sometime during 1957 she and Glenda started dating Gerald Nelson and Roy Hnatow — two Marwayne farm boys. The guys made several road trips together to Vegreville and all four became even better friends and enjoyed lots of adventures. Sometime later, Edie moved back to Marwayne to work for her Dad at the lumberyard. On August 6, 1960, she married Gerald — or Jock as most people would come to know him — at the United Church Minister's home in Kitscoty. Their attendants were Jock’s long time friend, Ed Sparks and Edie’s sister, Marie. She wore a beautiful blue dress and carried deep pink roses. They lived north of Marwayne in Jock’s parents’ yard, farming and ranching for the next several years. They moved into town with two daughters, Debbie and Donna, and continued to farm from there. ln 1971, they moved across town to a bigger house and not long after their third daughter, Dee, was born. Edie’s parents lived across the alley, and her Dad retired from the lumberyard. Edie enjoyed helping him with handyman and painting jobs that he took on around town. She also enjoyed helping in his greenhouse, working in her own garden, and coffeeing with her neighbor, Marilyn. She sampled a variety of hobbies over the years, including knitting, crocheting, jigsaw puzzles, and wine making. She loved being at Laurier Lake and had been going there since she was a child. She continued to spend as much time as she could there with her children while they were growing up and even long after they were grown. She often fondly recalled time spent fishing with her Father. In 1976, the family moved back to the country and continued to farm. She always loved the farm life and the animals. In the 1980's, her three grandchildren, Matthew, Ryan, and Heather were born and she began working in Lloydminster at several hotels. She liked working in Lloyd, spending time with her grandkids, and helping when she could at the Kerr’s. By then she and Jock had sold their own cattle, were farming less, and spending more time helping Debbie and Barry at calving and branding time. The late 90’s and early 2000's were good times. ln 2010, Jock passed away unexpectedly and she was left alone on the farm. Neighbors Greta and Lloyd Gray had been renting their crop land so they continued to and Edie moved to Lloydminster to be closer to family. Edie lived with Debbie and Barry for a while before moving first into Knox Manor and then to the Pioneer Lodge. In May of 2016 Edie moved to Points West in Wainwright. She liked living at the Pioneer but she really loved living in Wainwright. During her last 6 years, she enjoyed visiting the Kerr’s ranch, seeing the cattle, and attending branding time. She loved bouncing around in the side-by-side every spring, dressed in Barry’s chore clothes, and seeing all the new calves. In the fall, she enjoyed riding down to see the calves grazing the neighbor’s stubble. This fall, at Thanksgiving, she wanted to go on the side-by-side, but there was 4 inches of wet snow and it was windy and cold, so we took the truck instead. True to her roots, every spring she asked if Lloyd and Greta had the crop in, and every fall if the Gilchrists’ had it off yet, so the cattle could get out there. As the years went by, Edie seemed less inclined to talk and visit. What she really liked was being the third person at the table so she could listen to your conversation. She liked coffee time and just enjoyed the presence of others. Edie was predeceased by her husband, Gerald "Jock" Nelson and parents, Dorothy & Adam Fairbairn. She leaves to mourn her passing her children: Debbie and Barry Kerr, Donna Nelson, Dee Nelson and Dave Eshleman; her grandchildren: Matthew Kerr, Ryan Kerr and fiancé Kayla Goertzen, and Heather Kerr; her siblings: Marie Beaudry, and Gary & Susan Fairbairn; her nephews: Rick Beaudry and Sean and Bonnie Fairbairn; her great nephews: Brayden and Cody; her brother-in- law: Martin Nelson, as well as several other relatives. Donna - Memories of Mom ~ I would like to thank everyone for attending the celebration of Mom's life. I am the middle daughter - Mom was 24 years older than I am. She would have preferred that we keep this light, and short, with positive highlights of her life, as she would want to be remembered, and how she would have wanted her family & friends to feel. Some TV that Mom enjoyed was Bonanza, WWE wrestling when they got their first satellite, and any rodeo's but especially the one from Mesquite. No matter what time you went to visit you could bet that the TV was on and country music television would be playing. Patsy Cline's "Walkin After Midnight" was one of the very first songs I can remember hearing as she played the record & sang along. She would sing Wilf Carter's Shoo Shoo Shoo Sha La La to me - I'm not sure if it was meant as a lullaby for me, or she was just tired of hearing "Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin down the bunny trail". Her favorite colors were yellow and mauve - as l was putting her arrangement together, Dee suggested adding apple blossoms as she loved the apple tree that grew at our former family home. The little purple bird in her arrangement represents the memories I have of her feeding the birds, especially the humming birds. One of Mom's passions was animals - we all knew she carried pictures of animals in her wallet, not pictures of her kids. She had the patience to nurse sick and injured animals - our black cat, the one-eyed Bandit, was side swiped by a vehicle and had to be doctored every few hours while recovering and Minnie when a coyote tried taking her back leg. I thought Mom should have gone into the vet business instead of the hotel business, but more about the hotel business later. Speaking of her doctoring, I remember the winter Dee was born (Feb. 1972) - I guess she was holding out for warmer weather cause she was about 6 weeks over due. When Dad took us to the hospital to pick them up, I remember asking if Mom was sure that was our baby cause she was so wrinkled and had dry dry dry skin - to the 9 year old Mom said, "oh she just needs a bit of hand lotion & will be fine in no time - her doctoring skills kicked right in. Mom & Dad fostered my big yellow rescue dog Casey for 6 weeks. He made her so happy to get a welcome home and she would tell him "hi honey, I'm home". This was a daily event as she would be coming from the hotel job in Lloyd. I think those were some of the happiest years of her life — as we see in the pictures - the achievement of returning to the workforce off the farm after a 30 year absence was huge & meeting new people, and the bingo buddies, made her happy. I wasn't sure if she was going to let me take Casey back to my new house as she had said a few times she really liked that welcome home & it was no problem keeping him longer. Another animal story that Dee reminded me about is "That black". A black mare she bought from Eric Heathcoat - once again, another major accomplishment for her - being over 50 and buying a young 2 year old horse to ride. She spent weeks up with Eric, as he wasn't letting her leave until he knew that both of them were a good match. There were also a few colts running around during those years, so, guess whose pictures she was carrying. Dee, remembers the morning Sassy was born, the phone rang at 6:30 in the morning, Mom frantic with the — you better get your butt out here Charlie is foaling — she had watched that mare for days & I’m sure she didn't sleep. Everyone was excited to see that baby born but Mom was the most proud — she had a new fur baby to love. She also enjoyed the lake life in the summers and was always welcoming to extra kids coming along to Heinsberg or Elk Point or just being around the fire. In the trailer days at the lake, she met some interesting characters and had some one-of-a-kind experiences to tell me about. I will miss those Sunday phone calls from her about the weather in Saskatoon and the Ryder report (my white boxer). Hopefully we can all remember the happy times with our Mom, grandma, sister and friend. As Mom & Dad would have done, friends that wish to join us, after the interment, can come to Dee & Dave's farm. Rest in peace Mom.