Yvonne Shirley Grace (Cheney) Hodak

With great sadness, the daughters of Yvonne Hodak are sharing that they lost their mom in the small hours of Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at Foothills Hospital in Calgary with family constantly at her side.

Nanny is survived by her three daughters, Cindy Pirt (Rob), Cathy Hodak-Andersen (Mark), and Cheryl Madden (Steve Cooke); as well as 4 grandchildren; Joanne, Rick (Merrin), Megan (Woodrow), and Mitch. She was blessed to have known her four great-grandchildren Connor, Brielle, Oliver, and Matilda.

Yvonne, who was called Nanny (or Nan for short) by the entire clan, was a native Calgarian, grew up in Sunnyside and graduated from Western Canada High School. In 1953, she married the love of her life Dick Hodak, they settled down in Southwood to raise three little girls in what was then the outskirts of South Calgary.

Tragically, she lost her husband to heart attack/stroke at the too-early age of 43. Since then, Nanny’s family became her world, and she has been everything to her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Stories of her antics abound, from Christmas mornings sitting out front in her car at 6:00 am waiting for the family to wake, to maintaining strict control over her sons-in-law’s priorities around their homes. Without her hearing aids in Nan’s opinions on everything could be heard for great distances, to the humorous chagrin of her children.

She was a lifelong member of St. Barnabas Anglican Church, and along with her friend Shirley McKenzie would arrive early every Sunday morning while she was able to have coffee ready for the 8:30 congregation.

Her regular bowling league, weight watchers, trips to Reno, doing puzzles with her great friend Netty and always being involved with her family kept Nanny busy for most of her life. She was always helping her daughters with their children, a regular mobile Nanny with her own car seats in the back of whatever car she drove. The regular family dinners at Nan’s were must-attend events, and involved everyone all talking at the same time, great food, and presided over by a very fulfilled Mom.

Nanny was our “hero” and was there for us all.

In her more recent twilight years, Nanny succumbed to the downside of living long and well, principally COPD and dementia. Although the dementia took her short-term memory away, she always remembered all her family. Her last years were spent in the care of the staff at Glenmore Age Care. The family would like to thank all of her wonderful caregivers for their care and compassion. The family would also like to extend a special thankyou to Julia who visited and cared for Nan both in her home and at AgeCare.

A private service was held at St Barnabas Anglican Church on March 1, 2024

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St Barnabas in Nan’s memory.