Ellenore Ann Campbell

Mom was born on a stormy night in a house across the slough from her grandparents' home at Sunnyside, the family farm near Findlater, Saskatchewan, to Ellen and Bob Topping. She and her brother Bob Jr. grew up in a cottage on the Regina Jail grounds where her father was the Assistant Farm Manager. When she was eleven, they moved back to work the family farm. Access to schooling was challenging, so Mom and her brother were boarded during the week with relatives in Findlater, the nearest village; it had a one room school.

She moved to Regina for high school, living with her grandmother. It was there that she met her soulmate on a blind date. Coincidently, Dad had been introduced to her brother and her parents at a social event not long before this date. He was quite taken with them and they were equally taken with him. Mom swore that he married her so he could belong to her family. She and Dad quickly embarked on a life-long adventure together- marrying and having their family while very young.

She was proud to be a farm girl but happy she married a city boy- "the best husband and soulmate ever". Mom and Dad celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in July. They were each other's best friends, travel companions, and cheerleaders.

Mom and Dad moved from Regina to Swift Current, then were transferred for a brief time to Peace River, with ten years in Dawson Creek, and finally to Calgary in 1966. She mostly worked at raising her family, but had various jobs, such as cohost of Talk of the Town (a community affairs show in Dawson Creek), sales clerk in the lighting department of Sears (with a great staff discount that helped with the clothing budget for five daughters), and then an office assistant at Nagler's Furniture store.

After retirement, Mom and Dad spent years RVing throughout Canada and the US, a bonus after years of camping with their family. The winters in Arizona were special- they met so many good friends with whom they shared so many good times, especially as proud representatives of the Canadian contingent of their community. She had fond memories of the time they spent "camping" every summer in their gigantic trailer in the Sundre area. Mom and Dad also found a love of cruises and, as Mom once wrote, "Who knew this prairie girl would travel to so many places and enjoy so many adventures?"

She said that their marriage blessed them with five wonderful, individualistic daughters. When people remarked on the size of our family, Mom would tell them that she wouldn't take a million dollars for any of her children but she wouldn't give a plug nickel for another one.

She made some notes for her obituary (as she wanted to make sure arrangements were in place to make it easier for us- or to get her own way?) and this is what she had to say about herself: she loved an in-depth discussion on any subject, was extremely opinionated but hopefully open minded, and regarded good sportsmanship as the pinnacle of a person's true character. She felt she was born to dance, played a decent hand of "kitchen" bridge, was a fairly good curler, and not a very good golfer. She inherited an Irish sense of humour and was always ready with a joke or a funny story about incidents in her life. We would add that she was a compulsive but talented knitter and that there may or may not have been knitting needles cremated alongside her. She knitted for family and, in her latter years, for charity, donating hundreds of baby toques for newborns and scarves and mittens for folks in need. She also served on boards or executive committees for activities and causes she enjoyed or felt were important: politics and women's curling and building associations.

She endured years of limitations due to her "wonky" heart but lived a full life. Her family wishes to thank Dr. Jeffrey Syrnyk, Dr. Andreas Westib and the staffs of the United Active Living Fish Creek retirement and The Manor Village Rocky Ridge retirement communities for caring for Mom so well and so personally over the years.

She is survived by her devoted husband Ross, daughters Kathy Whitburn, Susan Wallace, Jean Edmonson, Beth Long, and Arleen Yee, by a passel of grandchildren and great grandsons, and by three nieces.

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson