Frances Helen Boone

August 4, 1937 – October 9, 2015

Frances Helen Boone (Hetlinger) passed away after a long battle on October 9th, 2015 at Stensrud Lodge in Saskatoon at the age of 78. Frances is survived by her husband, Ronald; children, Cindy (Brian), Vanessa, Wesley (Tracy), Sandra, and Travis (Sandra); as well as grandchildren, Corey (Jody), Jason (Bryann), Jaime, Chad, Kelsie; and great-grandchildren, Gabriella, Phoenix, Lennon, Tristan, Jett, and Nickolas. She was preceded in death by her parents and her daughter, Shelley, and granddaughter Jolene. Frances was born on August 4, 1937 in Loon Lake, SK to Florian and Louise Hetlinger. She attended Northern Beauty School in Goodsoil, SK. She married Ron on November 11, 1961. Ron and Frances established their family in Evansburg, AB and moved to Grande Cache, AB in 1976. In 2007 Ron and Frances relocated to Saskatoon, SK. Frances was a dedicated wife and homemaker, a force of nature, a warrior, and a fiercely loving mother and grandmother. She willingly gave to others, often at the expense of her own well-being. Frances’s wishes will be honoured by a private cremation. All are welcome to attend the Celebration of her Life, scheduled for 10:30AM on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at Acadia-McKague's Funeral Centre (915 Acadia Drive, Saskatoon, SK), with a reception to follow. Lisa Bos will be officiating the ceremony. The family would like to thank the staff at Stensrud Lodge for the care and comfort provided to Mom during her stay.

Corey's Tribute...

Morning everybody. Thank you for joining us today as we remember and celebrate the life of one of the most wonderful women to grace us. With seeing all your faces today it shows us how special she was to each and everyone of us.

My name is Corey Boone, grandchild of Frances Boone. I was asked to speak at the service today and couldn't of felt more proud to be able to honour such an amazing person.

Driving down to Saskatoon yesterday with a truck full of family crammed inside I reminisced about when I was a child how it felt heading out to grandmas house. The joy that was bursting through me as my cousin Jason, sister Jaime and myself wrestled in the back. Barely controlling our excitement. If only I had a sleeper in the back of the truck to stuff the kids in to keep them quiet like my aunt Cindy and uncle Brian had back then.

Warm thoughts filled me as I remember how grandma would greet us with the biggest hug and the sloppiest kiss. How we would squirm hoping she just got our cheeks.

Not even through the door and all you could smell was the aroma of the day's baking and the nights feast cooking. Grandma would never let you go hungry. "Must of been a long trip you better have some pie, you are growing so big you must be hungry, did you just take the last bite of that pie, here's some more."

In between going into a food coma, we gathered around listening to stories she would share. She would tell about adventures her and grandpa would go on searching out the next mineral hot springs. Travelling hundreds of miles, As a child I thought of these springs as mystical magic body of waters that kept my grandparents looking so young.

While sharing all her stories she would never let you feel unheard. Frequently stopping to ask how school was, asking about activities, how our friends were doing. She always was interested how our life was going.

Grandma's love of the lottery would always be a topic of discussion. She would say " If I would of played Vanessa's birthday instead her birth month and used Travis's birth year instead of birthday I would of won the big one!" Her family was always on her mind even if it was only to win the jackpot.

The biggest smile and laughs would come from grandmas face whenever the whole family could gather to celebrate the holidays. I could remember trying to fall asleep on their big bear rug downstairs only to be awakened by laughter upstairs. It was a toss up who had the louder laugh my mom or grandma.

She cherished these moments so much. Wanting to save those memories forever. We would always have take a million pictures with everybody. "Let's take a picture of the grandchildren, now let's take pictures of the kids, oh we must not forget the 5 generation picture." There must be a 1000 photo albums in grandmas closet by now.

Grandmas generosity and kind soul will always be etched in my mind. She would give you the world even if it takes losing part of hers. This even held true in her final days.

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit with grandma numerous times in Her final months. Even though she was physically struggling you could still see she wanted to share her stories and listen to yours. She wanted to cherish those moments but didn't want you to fuss over her.

I am glad I got to spend those last visits with her and I couldn't of done it without the loving arm of my wife Jody. She was the brave one when I felt so weak. Even though she has passed grandma still left me with one gift:

It's a gift to cherish the moment, share it with the ones you love, laugh and smile along the way. Thank you grandma for being such an amazing person.

I would like to close with a poem I found while thinking about grandmas new journey.

If roses grow in heaven lord,

Please pick a bunch for me.

Place them in my grandmas arms

And tell her they're from me

Tell her I love her and miss her,

And when she turns to smile,

Place a kiss upon her cheek

And hold her for a while

Because remembering her easy,

I do it everyday,

But there is an ache within my heart

That will never go away

Travis's Tribute...

Mom always said “My son, my baby, he sure knows how to talk”, well mom, here we go…

First - thank all those who travelled great distances to be in attendance this morning. It means a lot to Dad and the family.

Thank you Corey, Grandma would be so proud.

I begin with a quote: “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” - anon

Today is a celebration of mom’s life and the memories she made with us.

I will no doubt have some gaps in recounting her life, though, I am sure you have memories with mom, and we know mom liked to talk so I welcome and encourage you to share your stories during the lunch following today’s service. Do not leave here hungry and do not let the food go to waste, this I say with confidence. My mother would not want to see a gathering of people without food nor the wasting of food so please indulge and over-eat.

Mom is the 3rd of 9 kids born to Grandma and Grandpa Hetlinger.

In childhood, mom had issues with her health at an early age, and at one point was so ill, Grandpa Hetlinger had to sell a family cow to pay the doctor and medical bills.

I believe this is where Mom’s life of dealing and masking pain began. She did not want to be seen as weak and not able to contribute to the family, or not able to get things done. This is also where what we know to be her stubbornness has come from.

She lived in Goodsoil until she chose to leave home in her early teens, determined to establish her own life off of the farm. Imagine having the determination to set out on your own at this age. This desire to establish her own life, set goals and a commitment to get things done paid off when she started raising her family. The work ethic and determination we as children learned and have benefitted from is a direct result of mom and dad.

Some fond childhood memories with mom;

- I was very young when we lived in Evansburg, though, I remember and have seen pictures of many family and friends gathering at the old Boone house on the corner. The large garden, the collapsing pool, and mom of course being in the kitchen making food for everyone.

- Mom was a firm believer in having the kids around the house, even as we got older, I remember many a house party in either Evansburg and more so in Grande Cache, where the house would be rocking, but, mom would be so happy she knew where the kids were. She knew we were going to party, she wanted us to be safe, so she opened up her home to everyone.

- Mom was a hockey mom, before being a hockey mom was cool. Mom was one of the loudest in the crowd, if Wes would score, or God forbid if the ref made a call against her little boy, Mom would erupt. In a crowd of 300, there was one voice that was crystal clear and could be heard by everyone.

- One of the funniest memories, I recall of mom’s innocence was during a weekend trip to Evansburg, when Wes brought a couple friends along. Mom went out to the tent one morning to get the boys up for breakfast and she felt the beds needed to be made as well, and she found a baggie of dried weeds, spices, and grass. She wondered why those boys would be saving that kind of garbage. Teddy just didn’t seem the same the rest of the weekend.

- Mom was well known in Grande Cache for the baby blankets she would make. There are many adults in Grande Cache today, who were swaddled in one of Mrs. Boone’s baby blankets.

- There were many trips back to Evansburg and Drayton valley to visit with Cindy, Vanessa, and Shelley, especially after the grandchildren were born. Cindy would host Christmas and we would spend many good time there. One Christmas in particular Brian and Mom seemed to discover a very good Caeser recipe and well it is enough to say, Mom really didn’t enjoy clamato juice quite the same way after that night.

- I smile when I think of the family gatherings with the Boone Family especially the ones with the grandparents. Paramount are the loving arguments between Grandpa Boone and mom, he would always over eat and then comment about her food causing him heartburn.

- There were many trips out and into the mountains on the trikes, quads, and argo, mom liked to go out on them and she liked to go fast. Anyone, who drove with her, knew she had a lead foot that on occasion got her stopped by the police, though, her smile got her off many a ticket.

- One final memory, Mom was very well known in Grande Cache. A town of almost 5 thousand people, she had her very own parking spot, no one dared park in Mrs. Boone’s spot.

Moving from childhood memories to a little more information about mom;

Mom held many jobs throughout her life, I recall hearing stories of her times working as server in a restaurant, as a Car Wash attendant in Edmonton where she was pinned between two cars (who knew this accident would come back to haunt her later in life). There was also the time she took up a job cleaning the mall in Grande Cache, this happened after I started school on a full time basis and “there were no more kids at home”.

The job she was most proud of though was being a homemaker. She dedicated her life to being a devoted wife and mother. She wanted her children to be good people. She wanted us to learn to look for what help people needed and get to helping them, don’t wait until they ask for it. Just do it.

Mom is and was proud of all her kids, how do I know this, well she took great pride in talking about all of us to anyone who was within earshot. If you have ever been introduced to or spoke to our mother you would know the first few minutes or sometimes longer of the conversation would be dedicated to an update on what everyone was up to.

As one of her adult children, I would get upset that she would be asking me all these questions - Did you forget you had a mother? I didn’t know you were going…. or doing…. you didn't tell me. I would be all caught up in my business, “geez mom, I’m an adult, I didn’t realize I needed your permission to do these things anymore… or I am responsible for many people and millions of dollars and I need to ask my mom’s permission to do something… well the reason she was asking is because she wanted to know what was going on in your life, so she could share that with others, or help out in any way that she could. That is all she was doing, she wanted more to share about the children she was so proud of.

Mom was always so excited to get things out, you were “blasted” with the update in the first 5 minutes talking with her, you didn’t even bother to try and interrupt, she would ignore you until she was finished, and then ask, so what’s new.

Our mother touched many lives of people in the community. I travel to many places around western Canada and people ask about mom and how she was doing and would share a story about her.

There’s a question many people ask… What brought Mom and Dad to saskatoon?

- Some say it was, she wanted to follow her baby. Well, I am not so sure about that. I lived here for 8 years before their move, so I am pretty sure it wasn’t to come live with Sandy and I.

- What really happened was, a spur of the moment decision to list their house, resulted in the house being sold while they were here in Saskatoon attending our wedding. Mom and Dad were homeless and looking for a place in Alberta and could not find one. It was late in the year when they came to see us in Saskatoon for a visit so we asked them to stay here for the winter…. well that was in 2007.

- This move was the best thing that could have happened for her, she had access to health care and much needed specialists. As mentioned earlier mom has been plagued with health issues from early childhood. She received some good care in Grande Cache, though after having a heart attack and stroke she was beginning to require more advanced care and regular access to these specialists.

- It took some time, but Mom made strong connections with people here, though, she didn’t have her own parking spot, she did have her boy toy Darren and other staff at Shoppers who always seemed to sell her lucky lotto tickets, not the millions but enough to keep her coming back every week.

I want to touch on mom’s health just a little bit:

- At an early age, she underwent some pretty significant surgery.

- She had some very extensive surgery after having us kids and almost passed away on the operating table.

- She had arthritis throughout her body.

- She had a heart attack and stroke while living in Grande Cache.

- She was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure which ultimately ended her life.

But if you asked her how she was doing, she would hide most of her pain and tell you everything was ok.

Following her first stroke, she would be a little more irritable, which many attributed to being cranky and an aging mother. However, being quick to anger is common in stroke patients. So not only did mom mask some severe and chronic pain, she was managing an emotional system that many would find difficult.

Mom didn’t finish high school, or have a college or university degree, she had life experience and I along with the rest of the kids learned many things from her. For me, they were some of the best life lessons I acquired and not one of them came from a textbook or required thousands of dollars in tuition.

- Always do for others, look for what they need and help, don’t wait for them to ask.

- mom placed very high expectations on herself and had expectations of others, this often led to disappointment for her. This was an important revelation for me over the past few years and especially the last few months. I realized I am like my mother, I have very high expectations of people and when they don’t live up to those expectations, I need to adjust, not accept mediocrity, but find a better way to explain what it is I want to happen and help the person achieve the goal. It was this revelation that has assisted me in developing patience and tolerance. I can speak for Dad, his patience and tolerance have also been tested throughout the years and for those of you who know him, wow, he has developed quite a bit of patience and tolerance.

- Forgiveness, no matter how loud the bark was with mom, the bite was very small. All it took was for you to come back to her, you didn’t even have to say you're sorry. It helped if you did, but you didn’t have to. If you included her, she forgave you. I struggled and frankly continue to struggle with this sometimes, I have learned to give people second, third and sometimes more chances, people are not perfect, and we are here to support each other, and I learned this from my mom.

- No matter how mad she got at someone, she was always ready to help, and when she could physically no longer help, this made her very unhappy, and it was projected out to others, because, she wanted things done and not everyone understood what she wanted.

- I learned to listen… this is not an easy thing to do. I had many discussions with her over the years on the art of listening to people. I always thought I was using my skills on her, but in reflection, she was teaching me, because, when I would actually listen to what she was saying, rather than what I wanted to hear or was trying to get her to change her mind or opinion on something/someone, which is something I accused her of many times. There was a clear message in what she was trying to say.

I offer one more cherished memory of mom:

- The most fearful day of my life, bringing the scooter into the condo for my mother. I have faced many adrenaline pumping situations from emergency calls, disgruntled inmates, parolee families, though, the most terrifying moment experienced so far was crossing the threshold of their condo door. But once we got her on “her machine” which she began to call it, she cranked it up to 11 and 99never looked back, she had a new found freedom for awhile, the freedom which had been taken away from her when her legs gave out. She would take the scooter every tuesday to market mall, to see Darren and the staff who made her feel very welcome. It was just like being in Grande Cache, she had a sense of community there.

In closing, I share with you:

The Broken Chain - Ron Tranmer

I little knew that morning. God was going to call your name,

In life I loved you dearly, in death I do the same.

It broke my heart to loose you, you did not go alone,

for part of me went with you, the day God called you home.

You left me beautiful memories your love is still my guide,

and though we cannot see you, you're always at my side.

Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the same,

but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.

Frances Helen Boone, a devoted and loving wife, sister, friend, grandmother and mother. We will miss you mom, though rest in peace as you have been set free from your pain and suffering.

* * * * * * * * * *

Frances Helen Boone

August 4, 1937 – October 9, 2015

Frances Helen Boone (Hetlinger) passed away after a long battle on October 9th, 2015 at Stensrud Lodge in Saskatoon at the age of 78. Frances is survived by her husband, Ronald; children, Cindy (Brian), Vanessa, Wesley (Tracy), Sandra, and Travis (Sandra); as well as grandchildren, Corey (Jody), Jason (Bryann), Jaime, Chad, Kelsie; and great-grandchildren, Gabriella, Phoenix, Lennon, Tristan, Jett, and Nickolas. She was preceded in death by her parents and her daughter, Shelley, and granddaughter Jolene. Frances was born on August 4, 1937 in Loon Lake, SK to Florian and Louise Hetlinger. She attended Northern Beauty School in Goodsoil, SK. She married Ron on November 11, 1961. Ron and Frances established their family in Evansburg, AB and moved to Grande Cache, AB in 1976. In 2007 Ron and Frances relocated to Saskatoon, SK. Frances was a dedicated wife and homemaker, a force of nature, a warrior, and a fiercely loving mother and grandmother. She willingly gave to others, often at the expense of her own well-being. Frances’s wishes will be honoured by a private cremation. All are welcome to attend the Celebration of her Life, scheduled for 10:30AM on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at Acadia-McKague's Funeral Centre (915 Acadia Drive, Saskatoon, SK), with a reception to follow. Lisa Bos will be officiating the ceremony. The family would like to thank the staff at Stensrud Lodge for the care and comfort provided to Mom during her stay.