Lydia Isaak

Lydia Isaak passed into the presence of her Lord and Saviour on April 27, 2020, after spending 9 days in the hospital from a heart attack. She was born in Coaldale, Alberta on February 6, 1928 to Peter and Helena Martens and was the youngest of 8 children. The Martens family moved to Yarrow, BC when Lydia was 14 years old. At the age of 16 she committed her life to Jesus and was baptized 3 years later. In Yarrow she met John H. Isaak and they were married at the Yarrow MB Church on August 21, 1954. Five children, Gordon, Grace, Wesley, Nancy and Philip were born to them in ten years, keeping Lydia busy.

Lydia worked hard for her family, cooking, baking, gardening, canning, making butter and homemade apple juice, sewing, mending, helping to butcher and make sausages. John was busy with his trucking jobs, MSA paving and partnering with their nephew, Ken Klassen in buying a loader to haul topsoil from Sumas Prairie. Lydia was supportive of her husband, doing all the bookkeeping, even as his business kept growing.

John and Lydia were very good at reaching out to neighbours and befriending them. Their hospitality was so great that John would even bring home hitchhikers for meals and give them a place to stay overnight. They loved to socialize and have people over. They supported many missionaries and had numerous missionary friends that would come to visit when home on furlough.

In 1970, Lydia and John moved to Cherry Street into a new house they built on 2.5 acres. It was a small hobby farm with a raspberry patch, a milk cow, beef cattle and one year there were turkeys. Lydia sold milk, made soap and tried to teach her 5 unruly children a good work ethic. Many happy memories were made there.

After 33 years of happily married life, John passed away tragically on July 1, 1987. Lydia moved to Abbotsford in the fall of 1989 and joined the Bakerview MB Church. She was very independent and involved in many church activities. One of her hobbies was working on genealogies and she volunteered at the Mennonite Historical Society for many years. She loved writing and wrote many years for the MB Herald magazine. She had a desire to write her life story which she finished in 2015. We are thankful for the wonderful legacy she has left us.

Lydia loved music and as a girl took piano lessons and then made sure each of her children had music lessons growing up. She greatly anticipated turning 16 not for her driver’s license, but because she could join the Junior Church Choir. She sang in numerous choirs over the years, singing in the Bakerview Fellowship Choir till she was almost 90 years old. She greatly missed it when the choir stopped singing.

Lydia had an adventurous spirit and loved to travel. John and Lydia took their children on numerous long trips across Canada and into the States in the 1970s. As the children got older, she was able to travel around the valley with John, in his truck. After John was gone, Lydia would often travel with her children, twice to Europe with Nancy and Peter, numerous times with Phil and Shelly and also with Wes. She flew 3 times alone to visit Gordon and Dora in Mexico City and went to Hawaii with Grace and Henry in 2013. She also enjoyed going to California to visit her close childhood friend, Frieda Kasdorf and took many other short trips around BC to visit friends and relatives.

She started scrapbooking when she was a little girl and kept that up till she passed away. She was always checking the newspapers for people she knew and interesting articles. Besides her scrapbooks, she had 5 boxes of newspaper clippings and she said each child should take one box, when she passed away. She made scrapbooks for each of the last 4 mayors, putting in articles from the newspaper of their term in office and presenting it to them when they had finished their term.

In 2014, she moved to her Church Street condo and she loved it there. She was close to Bakerview Church and could walk there numerous times during the week. She walked to Tabor Village and enjoyed visiting the seniors there. She would not allow herself to be called a senior till she turned 90. The seniors were the people in the care home and she was not ready for a care home yet. As time went on more of her friends and family passed away and it became lonelier for her.

The last few years were harder for her as her memory was not so good anymore. Every day she wanted to walk to church. It was a wonderful place for her to be but often only the office staff were there. Many times in the last year she talked about visiting or moving back to Coaldale, Alberta, her first hometown. Sometimes she would even start packing. We had to remind her that all her children lived here and we would not be moving there.

As a family we are immensely grateful how God took care of her in the last year of her life, after her stroke in May 2019. Wes was able to live with her the last 8 months of her life. Grace, Nancy and Fraser Health also gave good support. A special friend, Frytzy came every week and did activities and crafts with her. She especially enjoyed the painting projects her and Frytzy did together. And she finally gave up the idea of getting her driving licence back!

We are very sorry that her friends and relatives will not be able to attend a service for her because of Covid regulations. But we did have a celebration of her life for her 90th birthday on March 9, 2018. She chose her favourite singers and favourite pastor to participate in a short service. Some of her grandchildren performed a skit and a beautiful tribute was given by her daughter Nancy. Many friends and family members came and she enjoyed that time with everyone. She received 4 certificates from heads of government in celebration of her 90 years.

We are happy for her that she is in glory, where there is no more pain or suffering but also sad because she will be greatly missed by her children Gordon (Dora) Isaak, Grace (Henry) Falk, Wes Isaak, Nancy (Peter) Vossen, Phil (Shelly) Isaak, 14 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren and her brother, Walter Martens.

We will be recording the “celebration of life” service that the family will be having on Sunday May 3. Please contact someone in the family if you would like to view it later.