Gladys E. White

Gladys E. White (Hanson), Regina, SK. and formerly of Kipling, SK. died on September 16, 2010 at the age of 86 years. Predeceased by her husband Ed White and grandson James White in infancy. Gladys is survived by two sons Wayne (Merle) White of Ottawa, Ont. and Kevin (Amanda) White of Regina; one daughter Linda Richards of Regina; grandchildren: Rhonda (Paul), Neil (Jocelyn), Krista (Corrie), Kara (Nolan), Amie, Jordan and Sierra; nine great grandchildren; four sisters: Sadie Gathercole of Broadview, SK., Jean Ovans, Enid Hawkes and Leta Johnson all of Regina and many nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be held in the Kipling United Church, Kipling SK. on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. with Rev. Janet Sigurdson officiating. Interment to follow in Landsdowne Memorial Gardens. If friends so desire contributions to the Santa Maria Nursing Home Memorial Fund, 4215 Regina Ave. Regina, SK S4S 0J5 may be tokens of remembrance.

A Tribute to Aunt Gladys - from nephew Miles White

September 25, 2010

It was always a pleasure to go to Auntie Gladys’s and Uncle Eddie’s house. As a very young lad living just a couple of miles down the road , it was easy to get there from mom and dad’s and so began my frequent visits.

When I was a pre-schooler it was Auntie Gladys and Uncle Eddie who picked my sister Debbie and I up on Sunday morning so we could go to Sunday school at Lansdowne. Gladys thought it was important and so she did it, as our parents didn’t go to church. Sunday evenings were spent going to their house to watch the Ed Sullivan Show and Bonanza as they could afford a TV and we couldn’t. During the winter months we traveled down by way of horse and sleigh.

Auntie Gladys had a warm heart and open arms for all who visited weather it was at the farm in Kipling or the house in Regina where they retired to. This included me and my own family as when we purchased land and farmed with mom and dad, traveling back and forth from Consort to Kipling, it was their house that was kind of half way for me. In the end they just gave me my own key and room to come and go as I needed. But no matter how late at night I traveled, Gladys was always waiting up for me when I arrived. Needless to say, we had to visit for a few hours and look at pictures.

You know after hearing all their names time and time again I still can’t even remember them. Auntie Gladys had a better memory and a knack for remembering everything, even with her Alzheimer’s, than I do.

Gladys was known as the family historian, keeping track of her family and Uncle Ed’s, not to mention the entire community. She would relay stories and events and rattle off the years in which they occurred and how it all went down without ever looking at a history book. She had it all stored in her mind. She was a walking, living historian. If you ever needed to know something you just called Gladys. She spent many hours researching topics of interest and keeping track of history.

Gladys loved her children and grandchildren dearly as was evidenced in her pictures around the house and her many stories of where and what they were up to as she kept abreast of their busy and full lives.

Although she adored and loved her children and grandchildren, she let them lead their own lives not wanting to intervene and become the domineering mother/grandmother. When asked why she didn’t go down to Ottawa to visit more often her reply was, "They don’t need some old woman hanging around when they are as busy as they are."

Auntie Gladys was well respected and very independent having worked full time for crop insurance well into her retirement years. She prided herself in being able to look after herself, being well dressed and having her hair done on a regular basis. She kept her life, her house and her possessions in top notch shape from the beginning and still believing she could do it all!!

She valiantly fought the Alzheimer’s in it’s earlier stages and managed to even convince the doctors and some of the family that she DID NOT HAVE ALZHEIMER’S AND she could live alone in her own house. But her family thought better of that idea and feared the worst for her. Unfortunately, the last few years of life the Alzheimer’s over took her brilliant mind and won out.

I am sure that Auntie Gladys will be much happier in her new home, being re-united with Uncle Ed and all the rest of her relatives, for she hated being in the group homes and housing alternatives which she referred to as prisons. She just wanted to go home. Rest in peace auntie.

OUR MOTHER

(read by daughter Merle)

Mom was born November 13, 1923, the fourth daughter of Eric and Nora Hanson. She was raised in a loving family of five girls, with whom she remained close her entire life. Her sisters are Sadie Gathercole, 97, living in the Broadview Nursing Home, Jean Ovans, 91, and Enid Hawkes, 88, both living in Santa Maria Senior Citizen Nursing Home in Regina, which was where mom was living at the time of her passing, her baby sister Leta Johnson is 85 and still lives in her own home in Regina.

Prior to mom and dad’s marriage on December 21, 1943, she worked at the World Café in Broadvew for $15.00 a month. She often spoke about how she was not allowed to write down the orders and had to keep them in her head till she got to the kitchen. Of course she always got the orders right, despite the men trying to confuse her. Following their wedding on the shortest day and longest night of the year, she moved to the White family farm, which was down the road from where she grew up. This was the start of a loving relationship, as she was outside with her new husband all the time. Anywhere he was, she was, doing whatever had to be done. She did get a reprieve from farming on January 10, 1945 when she gave birth to their first son Wayne. Of course it was winter, so I’m not sure how much of a reprieve it was. She got a little longer break when their daughter Linda was born on September 12, 1947, as it started raining and continued for 2 weeks. By the time she recovered the weather was fine, so it was back out to helping with harvest. It was some years later that her family was blessed again with the arrival of a second son Kevin on December 31, 1962.

Mon was proud of her 7 grandchildren, who are spread out over 30 years. Krista, Rhonda, Kara, Neil, Amie, Jordan and finally Sierra, Kevin’s youngest. She is 8.

Mom was also blessed with 9 great grandchildren: Kara has Chase, 15 and Morgan, 11; Krista has Logan, 9 and MiKayla, 8; Rhonda has Taylor (her daughter) 8, Hunter, 6 and Chase, 1 and a half; Neil has Nicolas, 6 and Brooke, 4. Kevin hasn’t become a grandfather yet. That enjoyment is yet to come.

Mom and dad sold the farm after dad was diagnosed with cancer. They first moved to Kipling and then to Regina in 1978. They bought a house in University Park where they lived for 25 years before dad passed away in 2003. Mom continued to live in her home until March 2008. As her health further declined, she moved into Santa Maria Senior Citizen Home where she lived until her passing.

Mom was never a person to sit around. After they moved to Regina, she completed her high school, took computer courses at the university and started working for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance. After so many years running the farm, she was more than qualified for the job. Mom was one to cut through paper work and red tape. In fact, after one provincial election seven men showed up at the office to work, much to mom’s surprise. They told her that they had been promised jobs. She asked by whom, they said by the Minister of Agriculture, so mom quickly picked up the phone and called the minister to find out what these guys were to do. It so happened the minister was also the Premier of Saskatchewan. We think this is the only time she spoke to the Premier and are not sure of the outcome of the conversation!

As you would expect, family conversations during the last few days have been all about mom and it has become very clear that your birth order gives you a different perspective of your mother.

Linda recalls mom driving an old blue Ford truck they called "Cannonball." She thinks it got the name from the way mom drove it. It was the truck used to haul grain from the combine while harvesting. She drove that truck like a madwoman, as the truck box wasn’t very big and she had to unload and get back to the combine before the hopper was full. She would race into the yard where the grain bins were, whip around, back up, stop on a dime right where she needed to be, start the motor on the auger, dump the grain - all happening before the dust settled. Many of these trips were done at night, making it more interesting.

She remembers coming home one day to find mom painting the outside of the house, or rather mom hitting the ground repeatedly with a hoe. She later found that there had been some snakes at the bottom of the scaffolding, and that they had had mom trapped on it. So when they moved to one side, she got off the other side, found her hoe and then proceeded to cut the snakes into many small pieces. She really didn’t like snakes.

Linda also remembers mom using Kevin’s little motor bike to chase cattle. The thing was about 2 feet high and she drove it like crazy, much the same way she drove the truck. When the weather did not permit the use of the bike, she would jump on the Shetland pony and herd the cattle. She was the only one who could ride the pony without their feet touching the ground.

Wayne claims that mom’s records on farming in the 50's, 60's and 70's are of historical value. Every day she would write the day’s activities on her calendar, things purchased, sold, etc., even if dad bought a package of gum, she recorded it!! Family discussions were often resolved by her calendars. Any historian writing about farming on the prairies would be well advised to refer to her notes. She had such detailed records that she even kept copies of the two original income tax filings of our great grandfather White.

On the lighter side, he remembers how she used to drive dad crazy. Our father’s hair was a bit unruly in that he had a cowlick and every time he went out the door, she would proceed to lick her fingers and wet it down much to his annoyance! Wayne is sure she glued it down this morning before the service!!

Kevin’s memories are about a hockey mom and how she went from not knowing the game to telling him how to play it and taking credit for his success on the ice but she didn’t like to see him get hit; a true Canadian hockey mom.

Although not a sports fan, she did enjoy the game of curling and being a true Saskatchewanite, curled in a mixed league and watched the game on TV.

After moving to Regina, mom became the neighborhood baby sitter and grandma to some of the children in the neighborhood.

Mom took pride in her family and her home. She had family pictures scattered throughout her house. She kept her home spotless and the heat way too high and no one was allowed to open a door or window as some dust might get in! She got down on her hands and knees and washed the kitchen floor daily and vacuumed the carpets so often she had vacuum marks on them and would get upset when they weren’t there! Kevin tells us mom mowed the lawn with the same passion; all the lines had to be perfect. There was one door way, on the way to the kitchen, that was never washed or painted over. This is where she kept track of the growth of her family; name, date and height, even as adults.

In addition to all else, mom was blessed to have seen Canada from coast to coast and most of the northern United States. These included trips to Ottawa to visit Wayne, trips to the west coast and a trip to the east coast with her daughter.

In later years, she kept in touch with many family members by nightly phone calls. She looked after the family tree, collecting data and pictures on both the White and Hanson families, a contribution of her historical nature and a gift to her family.

I’m sure there are many more stories to be told about our dear mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and friend. We hope that each of you will add your’s.

We just want to say that we all loved her very much and she will be missed.

We love you mom.