Obituary of Pearl Watt

WATT ~ Pearl Isabel Watt passed away on Sunday, June 27, 2010 at the age of 81 years. The funeral service was conducted from the Kitscoty Community Hall in Kitscoty, Alberta on Friday, July 2, 2010 at 10:30 A.M. with Reverend Bob Aldrich officiating. The hymns sung were “In The Beautiful Garden Of Prayer” and “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” accompanied on the organ by John Scott. The Kitscoty Community Choir was in attendance. The active pallbearers were Wade Holst, Kerri Christie, Lee Watt, Louis Watt, Matthew Watt, Kurtis Pears, Brice Pears, Ian Pears, Ashley Watt and Brooke Watt. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster, Alberta administered the funeral arrangements. EULOGY We would like to thank you all for coming on behalf of our family. Granny was definitely one who enjoyed gatherings with her family and friends and would feel honoured to have so many special people in her life gather here today to remember her. Pearl Isabel Watt was Born Dec. 30th, 1928 to Steve and Emelia Danychuk in Biggar, Sask. She was the little sister to George and Earl and soon became the big sister to Joyce. Life was a lot different growing up then. She grew up in the depression and money didn’t get spent on all of life’s needs. In their family, most things didn’t come from the store, milk came from the cow, eggs had to be collected, and a garden provided fresh vegetables. She said life was simple back then, but is sounds harder to me. Those hard working values stayed with Granny throughout her life. She had many years as a hard working farm wife, and even at 81 years old she had a well kept yard, clean and tidy house, nicely kept flower beds and a full hummingbird feeder. She was a loving and devoted wife to Lawrence Watt who she married on November 15th, 1951. They had a happy loving marriage for 45 years. They had 4 kids together. Gail who is married to Tony Holst, Daryl and his wife Anne Watt, Brenda married to Charlie Pears, Bryan and his wife Sherry Watt, and Rick and his wife Linda Fedick; grandchildren: Wade and his wife Annette Holst, Kerri Christie married to Ryan Christie, Lee Watt and his fiance Lindsey Coade, Louis Watt and his wife Carmen Watt, Matthew Watt, Kurt Pears and his friend Shayla Barrett, Brice Pears and his wife Marcie Pears, Ian Pears and his fiance Kirsten Olson, Ashley Watt, Brooke Watt; great grandchildren: Madux Pears and Garrett Holst; brothers: George and his wife Rose Danychuk, Earl Danychuk; sisters-in-law: Iva married to Lew Truscott, Dorothy Barbour as well as numerous other relatives. Pearl was predeceased by her husband Larry, grandson Jason Holst, her mother and father, sister Joyce Coote, sisters-in-law Lila Danychuk, Phyllis Fedick, brothers-in-law Harry Coote and Jack Barbour. To Granny, this was her immediate family, but she widely considered many more people to be a part of her extended family. Friends of her kids were important to her, and her grandkids friends often got hugs or gifts from granny. She also had many friends and did her best to keep in touch with them. I will always remember the pride Granny held for her family. Recently Matt brought his girlfriend over to Granny’s to introduce them to each other. Jasmine was given a full 20 minute lesson on the Watt family tree, including a viewing of all recent photo albums and stories on Madux’s and Garrett’s achievements. For Christmas this year Granny was given a digital camera by her children. The other day Wade went through it and counted and 114 of the 128 pictures she had taken since Christmas were of her family. Granny was someone who actually visited. She would go to a neighbours house, or for coffee with friends, or keep in touch on the phone with Rick or her grandkids who moved away. She could even be found starting up conversations with people that she had just met or even complete strangers. When she went down to Carbon to see the Pears or watch the boys play ball, she seemed to know everyone down there and they knew and enjoyed her. If there is one thing that can be said about Granny, she loved the people that she knew. She seemed to love everyone and everything, Except magpies. Granny was trained as a teacher and she never lost her teacher ways. She taught her grandchildren math through Cribbage and instilled a love for reading by providing breaks from play time by sitting them down for story time. Granny always claimed that she would lose at Cribbage while teaching the younger grandchildren the game to keep them interested. In later years she made up for these losses by bending the rules in her favour. One always had to pay attention as Granny would attempt to claim ‘nibs’ even if she had the wrong Jack. Another teaching habit Granny never lost was correcting the speech of her grandchildren. Me and my brothers, sorry, my brothers and I learned as much from Granny on grammar and phonetics as we did at school. She devoted much of her time and energy into family and the community. As a part of the community she would work the booth at the arena, organize a wedding shower, work at a funeral, or be a part of a committee for an event. For her family she often would run to hockey games or ball tournaments, dance recitals, football games, Christmas concerts, or recently, to see Ashley in cadets. I don’t want to say that I took it for granted, but it wasn’t until I started getting older that I realized how special she made us all feel and how much time and energy she spent on us. The miles she travelled and hours spent on her kids and grandkids activities were staggering, but to her, this was how life should be spent. From a holiday gathering with a house full of family, to a game of crib with just one of her grandkids, this is when she seemed to be the happiest. Most people like kids, but it seemed like kids were drawn to Granny. She was a natural. Playing a silly game, or singing a song that ended in tickling, or organizing them to put sprinkles on the animal cookies or the rosebud on the cupcakes, she just had their attention. This was very evident watching her with her two great grand kids who are about 16 months old. For over a decade Granny has volunteered her time at the Interval Store in Lloydminster. While the store provided her with an outlet for her energy and a way to continue her community involvement, the most important attribute it had was the friends and camaraderie. Granny’s social life began to revolve around her shifts on Tuesdays and some Thursdays and the weekly coffee meetings on Saturdays where many of the workers would meet along with other friends joining in on the gathering. The store also began to provide many of Granny’s family with a multitude of items. Granny continued her emphasis on reading by providing Carmen with a new bag of books monthly for the Dewberry Grade 1-2 class. Granny was so confident of the store’s inventory that she even commented to Carmen that wedding dresses were available there. While Carmen did not find her wedding dress at the store, I was able to find a bridesmaid’s dress there for my prom queen Halloween costume. Granny had a great sense of humour and liked jokes and pranks and funny stories. She also had a mischevious side. Whenever she came across an unsuspecting child lying on the floor she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to in her words “make you into dough” by standing over you and using her knuckles to knead into your ribs, back, tummy or anywhere else ticklish and would not give up until you said uncle. She convinced many people that she could smell hearts in a deck of cards, and couldn’t seem to wash her hands without flicking water at you if you were standing close. Life was kept light and fun at Granny’s house. On Sunday, my wife and I were out at the farm with Granny. She had bought Garrett a little pool and we took it out there and filled it up so he could splash it around. It wasn’t long before it lead to me and Granny - sorry, Granny and I splashing water at each other and laughing. Looking back at Granny’s life I see three principles that she lived by. Granny never shied away from hard work. Secondly, Granny always had time for a visit and truly cherished the company of others. Granny’s number one principle was supporting her family. No matter how many miles needed to be travelled or what the circumstances were, Granny would find a way to be there when her family needed her. As we celebrate her life here today, Wade and I both hope everybody here can use these principles to make the lives of others as joyful as Granny has made ours. CARD OF THANKS The family of Pearl Watt would like to express their sincere appreciation to all their wonderful friends and neighbours for their visits, acts of kindness and support, messages of sympathy, donations, gifts of food and the lovely flowers. A heartfelt thank you to the Kitscoty RCMP, Kitscoty Emergency Response Team, and the Lloyd Ambulance attendants, who assisted Mom after the accident. Thank you to the everyone at the Lloyd Hospital for their care and compassion towards Mom and our family. Thank you to the grandchildren for being pall bears and providing the eulogy and slide show. Your courage and kindness would have made Granny proud. Reverend Bob, words cannot express the compassion and the comfort we felt by having you with us during this difficult time. Thank you. A special thanks to Kitscoty Community Choir and organist, John Scott, for the beautiful hymns. Thanks to Mel Coote and Kerri Fischer for performing Mom’s favourite song so beautifully. Sincere thanks to Lasting Impressions Catering for the delicious lunch. Glen, Dave and the staff of McCaw’s, we greatly appreciate and thank you for the compassion and professional manner in helping us with the funeral arrangements. From the bottom of our families hearts, thank you to everyone for helping us make this a true celebration of a life well lived. Gail, Tony and family Daryl, Anne and family Brenda, Charlie and family Bryan, Sherry and family Donations in memory of Pearl may be made to the Interval Home or to the Arthritis Society.