Linda Marie Larsen was born to Denise & Solomon Roussel on February 6, 1953, in Bellegarde, Saskatchewan. She spent the first 4 years of her life on a farm south of Bellegarde with her older brother, Roger until moving to Redvers in 1957 where she lived for the remainder of her childhood and teenage years. She attended Redvers School for most of her schooling and then attended post-secondary in Regina. She later went on to meet the man of her dreams, Curtis when she was the young age of 20 in Grande Cashe, Alberta. They later moved to Curtis’ family farm in Aylsham, Saskatchewan, married in 1977 and, were married for 46 years. Mom loved farm life. She loved living just steps away from Kim & Lyle and Gramma and Grandpa and always talked about how fortunate they were to raise their kids together and navigate farm wife-life together. A story that mom always liked to tell was on the day that Krissy went to kindergarten for the first time she was looking forward to finally having a day to herself. There was a tiny knock on the door and little cousin Tara was standing there with wide eyes coming to visit because she thought Aunty Linda might be lonely and needed some company. Some of mom’s happiest times were on the farm, gardening, bonspieling, attending community dances, their annual Craven trips, and traveling with their friends. In 1978, mom and dad were thrilled to welcome their first daughter, Nicole to the world. Three years later their second daughter, Jody joined the family, and just 18 months later, having not quite reached perfection, they welcomed their third and final baby girl, me to the world, or at least that is the way I tell this story. In reality, they could have been trying for that son that they never ended up having, until they met Howie of course. They stayed on the family farm until 1991 when they packed up all their belongings, their three little girls, and headed out for their next adventure. After a few more moves over the next 10 years, they settled into Yellow Grass in 2001 and remain there until today. Mom loved living in Yellow Grass, she loved the quaintness and quietness of it and often referred to it as her own little Mayberry.
One of mom’s greatest passions was her yard. She worked endlessly to make it perfect and it brought her so much joy showing company her flowers and her pond and all her creations. Her yard is so beautiful, it could be in a magazine and she took such pride in it. She was so incredibly creative. She loved sewing, especially when we were little. There were always new matching outfits for her three girls for every event we went to, which at the time I am sure we were not thrilled about, but mom always made sure we looked our best for as long as we allowed her to. Another passion of moms was pottery. She started potting over 25 years ago and was a true natural at her trade. One of her favorite pieces to make were mini tea sets for kids and all the little people in her life were gifted with one. She spent countless hours having tea parties with her grandkids with her handmade sets.
Another passion of moms was the weather. Passion, obsession, call it what you will, she was very in tune with the weather happenings all around the world. We learned at a young age about Colorado highs and Alberta clippers. Her favorite channel was the weather network and trust me if there was weather coming within a 2,000-mile radius of you, she was going to let you know about it. Weather and birds, the Olympics, the Brier, The Scotties, really any world events, mom was going to keep you informed whether you wanted to know or not. I am sure that none of us will ever watch the weather network again without thinking of mom’s commentary.
When I look back on mom and dad’s time together some things that I remember were the thousands of miles they put on the motorcycle together with their biker buddies. I always got the impression that mom enjoyed the destination and hotels more than she did the riding to get there, but she was a good sport and was dad’s biker girl for many years. I remember the way they would dance together. I was always in awe of how easy they made it look and how they would float across the dancefloor together. I remember them working side by side together on projects and home renovations and mom referring to their jobs as “pink work” and “blue work” much to the dismay of her feminist daughters. Mom loved taking care of our dad and I don’t think he minded one bit.
She loved her family. I remember the times she spent with her brother, Roger, and sister-in-law, Penny, and how they would laugh until they cried. She always looked forward to their visits and even recently, they took their last and final camping trip in August together. Those times were so special to mom. Some of her most fond memories of living in Yellow Grass was her time working with Doug and Sheila. She came home with so many stories that had us all questioning if they got any work done at all. Moreover, she loved her Debbie Doodle. They had a friendship like no other. Their daily coffee time sometimes lasted until supper but neither one of them seemed to mind. Debbie was by mom’s side every day in the hospital, savoring every minute left they had together.
All of mom’s hobbies and passions came second to her most favorite role. Being a grandma. As parents, we had to come to terms very quickly that gramma was going to do whatever she wanted to make those grandkids happy and we would just have to deprogram them when they got home. She would always say, “what’s the point of coming to grammas if the rules are the same as you have at home” This often lead to cookies for breakfast, chips before bed, coffee, actual coffee, with her and Debbie, and all the screen time they could handle with that good town Wi-Fi. She made special memories with her grandkids and Carter shared one of his favorite memories of him and Gramma. He talked about visiting her a few years ago and going to Weyburn together to take the bottles in and do a little shopping. He remembers that everyone at Sarcan and the local stores knew her and had stories to share with her. Owen remembers playing cards with gramma, I believe this is where he learned the art of “trash talk” but that was only allowed during card time. Cassidy was grammas’ first grandbaby. She was so proud of Cassidy and loved watching the beautiful young women she is growing into.
Mom was beyond thrilled when our sister, Jody moved to Yellow Grass 5 years ago just a block away from them. She loved the time she got to spend with Jody and they saw each other almost daily for the past 5 years. They shared a love of gardening and Jody talks about how much help mom was transforming her new house into a home. Mom would often get sidetracked looking through the many boxes left by the previous owners and would have to coaxed out of the basement to get back to work. She loved her Josie so much and we are so thankful she had her these last few months.
(Nicole) I am thankful for the time mom spent with us when we welcomed both of our kids into the world. She made the transition to motherhood a little less scary for both Stan and I. She had a special bond with her first son-in-law and they spent their entire relationship trading jokes and teasing each other relentlessly. Both Cassidy and Carter loved spending time with Grandma, especially if we weren’t there because that was when the real fun began. I will miss my long chats with Mom on the phone these last few years while I was driving here and there, talking about everything and nothing, getting caught up on the latest Yellow Grass gossip, what birds were stopping by the feeders, and the latest project Dad was working on.
Mom was diagnosed in May 2019 and I was 5 months pregnant at the time. We didn’t know if she would even be here to meet the baby. Not only was she here, but her and dad rolled in with the RV the day I came home from the hospital and stayed for 6 weeks to help with the baby and harvest. We are so grateful we got to celebrate Aaliyah’s first birthday together just a few weeks ago. We knew we were on borrowed time this past year and we took advantage of that time whenever we could. Our baby’s first word was “Hi Bob” – we have no idea why or who Bob is but it is literally all she says. Gramma would get such a kick out of it and even at her weakest moments when Aaliyah saw her, she would say “Hi Bob” over and over again. Coincidently, our baby's first word was the same as Gramma’s last words. We saw her just hours before she passed and even though we didn’t think she could hear us when Aaliyah said hi bob, mom promptly replied, ‘hi bob’. That is a memory we will never forget and one that will keep us smiling forever.
Mom was the queen of long goodbyes and this may have been the longest one. We are so thankful for the borrowed time we had with her.
Mom, we will always remember your sense of humour, your kindness, the way you always saw the best in people, opened your home to people, your creativity and flair, the way you loved us, the way you loved our dad, and the way you loved your grandbabies. We will always remember the way you had to be forced into trying anything new, but every time you did, you loved your new adventure. We will love you and miss you forever and we are so thankful we had you as ours, even if it wasn’t for as long as we wanted you.
You will always be dad’s peanut and love of his life and we will take care of him for you. After all, we learnt from the best.
Linda was predeceased by her parents, Solomon and Denise Roussel. Linda will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 46 years, Curtis Larsen of Yellow Grass, SK; daughter, Nicole Wagner (Stan) of Grandora, SK; and their children, Carter & Cassidy; daughter, Jody Larsen of Yellow Grass, SK; daughter, Krissy Larsen-Ratzlaff (Tim) of Carrot River, SK; and their children, Owen & Aaliyah; brother, Roger Roussel (Penny) as well as nieces, nephews, relatives & friends.
A Celebration of Linda’s Life took place on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at Fletcher Funeral Chapel, Weyburn, Saskatchewan with Howie Mercer officiating.
Donations in memory of Linda may be made to Weyburn & District H♥spital Foundation at PO Box 1416 STN Main, Weyburn, Saskatchewan S4H 3J9.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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