Madge’s 91st birthday party in Idyllwild Lodge. Linda, Madge, Martin & Betty are joined by two other Lodge residents.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Marilynn: Mom’s Eulogy
Mom was the oldest of three children born to Ocie and Guernsey Cockrum who, along with an older half-sister, lived in Yoakum until the stock market crash of 1929 when they moved a few miles to a ranch near Fordtran, Texas.
In August 1934, Ocie and Guernsey and their children, Madge, Vernell and Euvon, prepared for the the greatest adventure of their lives: the move to a remote area of Saskatchewan where they planned to homestead. As they were preparing to leave, a change to the Homestead Act, which would require them to live in Saskatchewan for five years to qualify for a homestead, prompted Aunt Eula to write to them with the disappointing news, thinking they may decide to remain in Texas. I can picture Aunt Eula sitting at her large kitchen table in their log home, sadly writing a letter than may deny her the companionship of close relatives, doing so quickly, as she had to send her son off with the letter to catch the post. Quickly finishing off a letter, that no doubt contained news of the family and the area, Aunt Eula stuffed it into an envelope and watched as her son rode off on horseback to deliver the letter. As fate would have it, he was long gone when she noticed a page that had fallen under the table; the very page telling them the sad news about the new Homestead Act, so when the family received her letter, they were blissfully ignorant of the news that may have kept them in Texas.*
The family move took a week and was accomplished in a 1934 truck that Grampa had refurbished so that the family could not only carry their belongings but could sleep in it along the way. Their trip was a wonderful adventure in itself. They arrived in Makwa, Sask. in August and were fortunately able to purchase Hudson’s Bay land for $10 per acre close to relatives where, with the help of relatives and neighbours, they quickly built their own log home.
Mom was enthralled by the adventure of living in the remote county of Saskatchewan, and wholeheartedly embraced the winter and all that northern Saskatchewan had to offer, including a young gentleman named Elmer Bowes, whose family had moved to the Makwa area from Vanscoy, Sask after the drought of the late 1920s. As you can imagine, my beautiful mom and her beautiful sister were welcome additions to the social scene with their charming southern drawl. Uncle Euvon was too young to be part of that scene yet.
On October 9, 1937, Mom married Dad and they moved to a homestead near Makwa. The small farm did not provide sufficient income to meet the needs of a family, so Dad took a position with the Searle Grain Co. in Meadow Lake, embarking on a career as an elevator agent that would take them next to Bapaume, then to Spiritwood in 1947. In 1958 they purchased a General Store, then later a dry cleaning business. Spiritwood was to be their home for the rest of their lives and they were truly happy with their choice.
My sisters will add their part to the story of Mom’s life, but I want to comment on one of Mom’s values that had a strong impact on me. Mom had such an enquiring mind and was open to and fascinated by new scientific possibilities. And just imagine how many new life-changing discoveries she was witness to over her 91 years. With this love of learning Mom threw herself wholeheartedly into helping us with research for school projects and instilled a love for learning that has been one of her legacies to us all. She had no problem seeing the unfolding wonder of the world and universe as part of God’s design and her enquiring mind led her to graciously listen to and ponder on the spiritual views of others while not faltering from her own. I am thankful for that gracious legacy.
* After the funeral, Aunt Marilynn told me that she could picture Aunt Eula’s response to finding the missing page: very matter-of-factly saying, “Well, what will be will be.”
she whispered it to me
On the evening of Sunday, April 25th, Glenn and Linda got together with Martin and Betty for a game of Wizard. This had been something of a ritual for them over the past few years: gathering on many free evenings, especially Sundays, in Grandma’s room to play games. It was poignant to be with them on this first Sunday evening without Grandma. We laughed a lot over our friendly competition, and we teared up at the thought of Grandma’s absence. Here are some snippets from the evening’s conversation. ~ Colleen
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Linda: She really enjoyed having us around, talking and laughing.
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Martin: I was always teasing her about watching the sports games.
Glenn: I would go into her room and turn on the hockey game and say, ‘That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it Grandma?’
Martin: We were watching curling the other day and she wanted it left on!
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Martin: We never did get it settled who is the favourite son-in-law.
Glenn: (feigning disappointment) That is regretful.
Betty: She took the secret to her grave.
Glenn: I think she whispered it to me one day though. I just didn’t want to disappoint any of you!
Martin: She was always so diplomatic about it.
Glenn: She was diplomatic, wasn’t she? Everybody was always putting the pressure on her!
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