Glenda Ashdown

Glenda Ashdown (Bashforth) passed away on December 20, 2021 at the age of 78. Glenda is survived by her loving family, her husband, John, her three sons, Mitchel, James (Lisa) and Keith (Leanne) and four grandchildren Evan, Amy (Zach), Morgan and Keli, sister Nancy (Peter) Sikora and sisters in law Sandra, Joyce, Ruth and Lil. She was predeceased by her parents Glen and Rose (Hiebert) Bashforth, two brothers, Robert and Richard, and her daughter Myrna Heroux (Ashdown).

On July 24, 1943, Glen and Rose Bashforth welcomed daughter Glenda Marguerite to the world in Saskatoon. Glenda was raised on a farm near Okla, Saskatchewan and attended school in Okla, Hazel Dell and Preeceville. After high school she lived in Winnipeg for 2 years while attending hairdressing school.

Glenda married John Ashdown on November 24, 1962. They lived in Moose Jaw and Regina, welcoming 4 children (Mitchel, James, Keith and Myrna) over the next 8 years. While in Regina, Glenda babysat pre-school kids from the block for most of those years. She always maintained a small garden in the back yard. The family traveled to Plentywood Montana every spring to pick rocks (Montana agate and petrified wood) as John did some lapidary work. They also went to visit and help their parents in the Okla and Hazel Dell area most weekends.

Moved to the small farm north of McLean in June of 1970, this was the delight of Glenda’s life. Bought a ¼ section of land complete with buildings, machinery, a dozen beef cows, 3 sows and a pen of hogs, 100 chickens and a very large garden and yard. The garden always produced under Glenda’s green thumb and she soon had flower beds and hedges of caragana, spruce and siberian elm; raspberries, strawberries and haskaps. It was a great place to raise their children. Glenda soon added milk cows (holstein and jersey), and she milked and shipped cream. She bought baby bull calves from neighbor dairies and raised them to butcher size and raised some hogs as well. When the creamery in Regina closed, they sold the cream quota and milk cows, and increased the beef herd. In 2015 they retired from active farming and rented out the farmland and pasture.

Also, during this time Glenda was busy raising her three boys, Mitch, James, Keith and daughter, Myrna to her standard. The kids all had chores every day and helped with whatever had to be done. The work had to be done before the family could take off on their many expeditions. She maintained her house and yard very well, always neat and tidy.

Glenda officially joined the Scouting movement in 1977 as the two oldest boys were active in Scouting and wanting to attend a Canadian Jamboree in P.E.I., they needed to register the group and obtain a charter. John was chairperson, Glenda was secretary treasurer. She remained in the treasurer role until 2021 when her health failed. In 1978 Glenda gave up the secretary role but became the head cub leader, continuing in this role for years. She also worked as group commissioner, beaver leader and wherever else she could help. She ran regular Cub meetings, and attended many camps at the farm, District Camps at Gilwell near Lebret, Provincial camps at Moose Jaw, Anglin Lake and Prince Albert. She even spent a week at a Canadian Jamboree in Prince Edward Island as staff. She also went along as a helper on several Venturer outings in Waterton Park, Banff, and canoe trips North of LaRonge on the Churchill River. She participated in Campanoe Challenge Camp with the Scout group leading both first year at Good Spirit Lake and second year on the Assiniboine River from Kamsack to Pyott's Point.

Glenda was always a leader with the group in Scouting both local and on the district level, training Cub leaders for many years and was the backbone of the group from fundraising to leading activities. She prepared the menus and put the food together for all canoe trips on the Churchill River making jerky, fruit leathers and other dehydrated items so they did not carry extra weight.

Glenda loved auction sales and attended most of the local farm auctions, got to meet the neighbors and buying a lot of calves, tools and even some equipment.

Glenda became involved with the McLean Women’s Club, and Recreation Board soon after moving to McLean, providing meals for New Year’s Eve Cabaret, Sports Day supper, Dinner Theater, weddings funerals and family functions. Glenda’s garden provided a lot of vegetables and fruit for these events as did her pies and other baking. Glenda was also quite involved with the McLean Bethel United Church, both the UCW as well as the local Board.

Glenda kept as active as she could right to the end. She organized the making of cabbage rolls on December 2, 2021 for the McLean Christmas Parade on December 4th, and on that day, she was in the kitchen supervising the luncheon put on by the Scouting Group. She even had her picture taken with Santa and members of the Scout Group.

Glenda liked to travel, and found some holiday time to take several trips with Dutch friends Ekke and Magda Kok, including the West Coast trail on Vancouver Island and the Chilkoot gold rush trail in Northern BC to Alaska. She also took 2 ship cruises from Vancouver to Skagway, Alaska, one with Fay Spencer and the other with Alf and Betty Reece.

From about 1980 to 2000, John and Glenda enjoyed winter holidays in Las Vegas for a week each year doing lots of touring and sightseeing but no windfall at the machines. Starting in 2003 the winter holidays shifted to Cuba. It was a wonderful, beautiful country for a winter vacation! They took many tours into tourist spots in cities, rivers, the ocean and into the countryside. The best visits were to local homes for a Cuban meal, often lobster, or chicken with a full array of local vegetables and fruit. They loved to visit local homes and Glenda always had clothes and school supplies for the children there. They made many friends especially in the resorts. Glenda made 13 trips to Cuba between 2003 and 2020 with John, Myrna and other family and friends including Jim Roszelle (and his mother Marion), sister-in-law Sandra Bashforth, sister Nancy Sikora (and her daughter Dawn), and friend Joan Forbister.

Glenda also spent time at the family cabin on McLennan Lake North of LaRonge for a few days each summer; fishing for lake trout, picking blueberries or just relaxing.

A funeral service and internment will be held when Covid-19 restrictions allow.

This poem the family received on her passing expresses Glenda quite well:

There are:

So many lives she touched in a positive way

So many memories that bring a smile and show the wonderful person she was.

So many stories About how she made a difference or made someone’s day

So Many Hearts That are feeling sadness.

Because she was here - because she was loved.