Obituary of Carol Mackintosh

Carol Louisa Mackintosh passed away at Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre, Lloydminster, Alberta, April 26, 2021 at the age of 89 years.

 

Carol is survived by: daughter, Brenda (Gerry) Gehlen; grandchildren, Dennis (Jenny), Joey (Stacy), Kelly Tobler (Teddy), Jesse, James (Melissa) and Grady; great-grandchildren, Derian, Roscoe, Jack, Kyra, Declan and Olivia; daughter-in-law, Dixie; siblings, Ross (Chic) Lindberg, Wayne (Barb) Lindberg and Wendy Lindberg; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

 

Carol is predeceased by: her husband, Donald Mackintosh; son, Brian Mackintosh; parents, Mary & Carl Lindberg; siblings, Bunny Firby, Marney Ross, Warren Lindberg and Eileen Cluney.

 

The Celebration of Life for Carol will be conducted from Kitscoty Community Church on Friday, June 11 at 3 PM.  Due to COVID-19 restrictions the service will be by invitation only. The service will be live-streamed and posted on Carol's obituary at the time of the service.

 

Donations in memory of Carol may be made to Alzheimers Society of Alberta, Stollery Children's Hospital or ALS Society of AB.

 

Eulogy

 

Hello, and thank you all for coming, as a challenging time in many ways I’m sure Carol is grateful for your efforts to be here for a celebration of her life.

 

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Teddy and I am married to Carol’s grand daughter Kelly. At times like this, we often take the time to reflect and ponder the things about life which we determine give us purpose and meaning. The meaning of life perhaps? The beauty and complexity of life, with all of the ebbs and flows are to be celebrated and cherished. Although I had only known Carol for a handful of short years in her full and storied life, like many of you here, I felt fortunate to get to know her. She was a wearer of many hats; wife, mother, grand and great grandmother, sister, auntie, and friend. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A simplified yet complex way of describing Carol would be “What a woman.” Carol exemplified what it means to life a full and rich life, from her early days attending of Sunny Valley School to raising children, to running the show at the acreage just north of Kitscoty.

Carol Louisa Mackintosh was born on November 8, 1931, the second daughter of Carl and Mary Lindberg in Dundurn Sk. In total she had 3 brothers and 4 sisters, so things were always busy in the house from an early age. Her school days began at Sunny Valley School and a eventually attended Hanley School. Carol was a social butterfly who would make many friends. These school days were also where she began channel some of her creative energy, as she liked to act in the school plays. Which seemed to fit well, as many of you know that Carol could have a flair for the theatrics.

Not long after finishing school she started her life in the work force. Carol was a bound and determined to succeed young lady, she worked hard at whatever she put her mind to. For a time she worked at a place called Roy’s Cafe, but shortly after she ventured her way to Lanigan work as a cook for a farming crew. This is where she would meet Lindsay and Eileen Blair, who would become her lifelong friends. But they weren’t the only lifelong friends she would come to know. Carol would catch the attention of some of the local boys, but she would also draw the interest of one MAN in particular. A man that we all know by the name of Don. Legend has it that Don, not long after seeing Carol, turned to his buddies and said “Hands off boys, she’s mine.” The two lovebirds said that they were two lost kids who found each other. They would tie the knot on December 22, 1949 and were married for a mind boggling 65 years until Don’s passing in 2015.

The following year, in November of 1950 Carol and Don would become proud first time parents, to their son Brian. Shortly after, in 1952, Don and Carol would move their little family to Rivers MB, as Don got a job working at the military base as a civilian pipe fitter. Carol would also work there in the payroll dept.  Then in Sept 1953 they welcomed their little girl Brendainto the world. She would complete their happy little family. They spent the next few years in Rivers and would build a new house in Spring Valley just down the road. After spending Saturday’s going into Brandon to get her hair done while Don would tour hardware stores, Carol decided she needed a new hobby. It was the early 1960’s, and Carol thought it would be great idea to start jumping out of airplanes. But not just once, that wasn’t enough. She became a bonafide skydiver. Don didn’t argue, he told her he was content to watch and jokingly brought along a shovel and a sack in the trunk, just in case. This isn’t to assume that all of Carol’s hobbies were high flying and potentially dangerous. Carol and Don would often go square dancing around the neighbouring towns, and she was an avid bowler. If they weren’t doing that, they’d spent some considerable time traveling around with the kids’ pipe band every summer.

As in all of our lives there were some bumps in the road, in 1967 the base where Don and Carol worked was preparing to close, so they were faced with the challenge of what to do next. This didn’t even phase them one bit. Don had accepted a good job working for the recently opened Potash Corp. and on the same day of December, 15 years after they had left, they moved back to Lanigan. While Don was working his way up to be the maintenance foreman at Potash Corp, Carol also tried her hand working at the mine. From what I’m told this was short lived as Carol got mad at someone telling her what and how to do something, so she quit. As we all know, Carol wouldn’t take any guff from anyone. As her kids, Brian and Brenda were getting older and more independent, Carol decided to take on a new challenge, and right out the blue she bought a ladies wear store, called Arnelle Fashions, she would end up running it for over 10 years. This gave her the freedoms to utilize some of her strengths and find some new ones. Even seeing some older pictures of Carol and Don, they always dressed to impress. At the store Carol was the boss, just like at home, she would help people feel good about themselves, she got to socialize, and she was afforded the freedoms of being able to give back, something Carol had always done throughout her life. She became a longtime member of the Lioness Club and would travel to international conventions. She volunteered for the Red Cross and would eventually become a medic and ambulance driver, no doubt helping countless people along the way. With her credentials as a medic, she would also teach CPR in her spare time. In 1994 Carol went to the southern State of Georgia for 2 weeks with the Red Cross to help out the flood victims of the Tropical Storm Alberto, even in her 60’s Carol was still giving back to communities near and far.

Throughout her life Carol took a great pride in what she did. She was an unapologetically proud woman, and she had much to be proud of. Even just taking a look around here you can see the mark she had left on so many. Her wonderful children Brian and Brenda would grow up and find loving spouses of their own. Brian would marry Dixie, together they had 3 children of their(Jessie, James, and Grady), making Carol a proud newgrandma. Brenda and Gerry would also have 3 children (Dennis, Joey, and
Kelly) helping round out the total number of grandkids to 6. Eventually she would become a great grandmother to 6 more little ones. Being a grandma brought Carol heaps of joy, I could tell from the first time I met her. She was the quintessential grandmother-strong, loving, honest, and always willing to share wisdom, she also baked some top notch cookies(particularly her famous snickerdoodles). You knew they were always good when the certified quality control tester Don was right there at the counter with a cup of tea ready to verify each batch was as good as the last. After her and Don retired, they bought a cabin at Stony Lake, close to Humboldt, and spent many summers there and in the winter head south to Yuma, Arizona. During the summers when Gerry and Brenda lived in Edson, Carol would
meet Brenda just west of Kitscoty and take Kelly and Joey(and Whiskey the dog) for a couple weeks over the the summer. This was when Kelly made the infamous toothpick holder which Carol had no idea was being built under Don’s “supervision” with power tools until it was all finished. To pair with the cabin at the lake they bought a boat and named it after the granddaughters Kelly O’ Grady. To this day there still may be a few pairs of childrens glasses lost at the bottom of the lake from water skiing. Carol and
Don would celebrate their 50th Wedding anniversary in Yuma. Their kids Brian and Dixie, and Brenda with Gerry, would be there to join the celebration. They actually got to have 2 parties, as the kids planned a surprise anniversary party in the September of that year, they tricked Carol and Don in to coming to the hall in Lanigan which was full of friends. They used the picture from that party to put on the wine bottles for the party in Yuma.

It wasn’t long after their 50th anniversary party, in the year 2000, Gerry and Brenda went down to Arizona to help Carol and Don pack up for a new endeavour in life. The four would work together to build a new acreage just a few short minutes north of Kitscoty. This multigenerational home, would grow full of memories and love just as tall as the trees and flowers found all over the property. To this day you can still find Carol’s prized Rose garden to the west of the pond. Carol would spend a great deal of time researching the family trees, as family was always so important to her. This desire to know her roots led to her and Don taking trips to their respective countries of origin, Sweden and Scotland. Family was always welcomed warmly at the acreage. As soon as you would drive in there would be Carol with her big smile ready to offer you a drink and a cookie. She would spend countless hours tending to the garden, taking walks with Don down through the gulley, with their pups Spud and Tater, enjoying one
of the multiple fire pits they had on the acreage, and even enjoying the toboggan hill with the kids just a few short Christmases ago. It was truly home for Carol, and she made it home for everyone who came. Even in her later years, she was finding new ways to give back. During her time at the acreage she had knit over 200 bonnets for the newborn babies at the Lloydminster Hospital. In the summers she would volunteer at Camp Whitney, at Whitney Lake. One of her favourite stories she told me was when a young boy was stung by a bee and became quite upset. They called the boys mother to inform her of what happened and as he hung up the phone wiping away his tears he turned to Carol and said “My mom says I can give you a hug.” She beamed when she told me that one. Just the way she beamed at so many things in her life.

In the spring of 2015, as health concerns began to grow and Don’s dementia was not getting any better Carol and Don decided to move to a place with a little more round the clock care and amenities. So with the help of Gerry and Brenda they moved into the Hearthstone Place senior living home. There was always lots to do, from in house church services, to game night, to crafts, and even field trips. Unfortunately Don’s health faded shortly after and he passed away later that spring on May 29th. Carol, like she always did, persevered and continued to get the most out of life. Now that Brenda and Gerry didn’t see her everyday there was sometimes a concern about how she was doing. And then all of a sudden you’d see Carol in the news paper, front and center, enjoying some paint night, or even on the news as part of a project of seniors sharing wisdom with youths. When we would come to visit the nurses would even surprise us with a “You know, Carol is Really good at table tennis!” Ah, who knew?
Even in her 80’s she was still a social butterfly and was always part of the
action.

In closing, as we celebrate the life of Carol, we will be privileged to remember the best of her, because the best was all she would give. Which seems quite fitting for this quote from one of Carol’s favourite writers Erma Bombeck:

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say “I used everything you gave me.”

Thank you Carol for everything you gave us.