Marlene Gloria Street

Mrs. Marlene Street (née Bauer) passed away peacefully with her family by her side in Merritt, BC on April 27th, 2022 at the age of 74. She will be lovingly remembered by her daughters, Allison Street (Alain Fortier) of Gatineau, QC and Angela Street (Mark Freeman) of Calgary, AB, her grandchildren Zachary, Michaela, Spencer and Jane Graham, Lucas and Sébastien Fortier, 11 nieces and nephews as well as many other relatives and good friends. Marlene was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Morris Street (Mo).

Marlene was raised in Osoyoos, BC where she had many happy memories. It was there that she met the love of her life, Morris. The blushing bride and her husband moved to Merritt, BC in 1965. Marlene was a fixture in the Nicola Valley community, she loved to cook and bake for her family as well as for others. She was known and loved for her witty sense of humour and would give her opinion to you straight up, if you asked. She was very giving of her time. Family and friends came first, always. Marlene was a Mom and Grandma not only to her daughters and grandkids but also a Mom and Grandma figure to so many others. She loved people, she loved to laugh and if you found yourself in conversation with her, you would always feel better at the end of a visit.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, May 15th 2022 at 1:30 pm at Crossroads Community Church, with Pastor Jim Caruso officiating. Interment to follow at Pine Ridge Cemetery, located at 1675 Juniper Drive.

Instead of flowers, please consider donating to either the Breast Cancer Research Foundation or the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Eulogy:

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for being with us today, to celebrate the life of a remarkable woman, my mother Marlene.

But before I start, I would like to commence with what I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for my family, friends and friends of Marlene's. They have all been an incredible source of strength in the past few weeks and did the real work behind the scenes to help make this service happen, from cooking meals, watching the house, keeping the animals fed, making innumerable trips to the dump or sharing memories ...and from my dear husband, offering an unbiased sympathetic ear while holding down the fort. Thank you.

I am also grateful that this room is filled with so many people that knew and cared for my mom. Seeing the tremendous love and support here for her and our family is both humbling and inspiring. Community was important to my mother and I know that she made meaningful connections with all of you.

Thank you all for taking the time today to be here. It means a lot.

I don't know how it is possible to summarize or speak to an entire life. There are so many intricacies, much like a spider's web. Single strands which stand strong but do not make the whole without many more for additional support and structure. People are dynamic and their relationship with the world is infinitely complex.

My mom, like all individuals, was a distinctive person who was more than any of us could fully understand or speak to. I know I will not be able to capture in these next minutes, the full spectrum of her trials, tribulations and joys, which shaped her into the person she was...the person you may have known but I, perhaps, not.

So today, I'm going to speak to three important gifts she passed on to me as a daughter. There were many more but these three spoke to me the most: Humour, Strength and Compassion.

Touching on Humour, Mom was good natured but could also be humorous, intentionally and unintentionally. Those of you who knew Marlene knew that she was always late. This latefullness occasionally came at a cost. I recall when we lived in Mission in the late 1970s my sister Angela had Kindergarten, which was not located at the same school where I attended grade two. Angela had to be driven to Kindergarten and often mom would be busy (probably baking) and would inadvertently be running behind. Once it was quite late and she jumped into the car, with her housecoat on over her nightgown, with the intention of dropping Angela off at the front doors of the school. These were the days where you didn't need to escort your child right to the front door, what could go wrong? Well, for one, the car gas gauge was rather finicky and as you can guess, she ran out of gas on the way there. This was all the more ironic as Dad was an auto mechanic and also owned an auto parts store at the time. Also, these were the days with no cell phones. So, she had to knock at the nearest door and ask to use the telephone to call my Dad for assistance. The lady that answered did not want to even let my Mom in the door, never mind use her telephone! Who was this woman in her pajamas? Mom was most definitely embarrassed and I know my sister sure was. She was probably a bit mad at herself but she owned the situation and talked her way into the house to use the phone. She laughingly retold the story, albeit many years later.

Actually there were two main lessons learned - time management was critical and good humour was paramount if you didn't learn the former at some point. Mom didn't quite master the former, but she could always laugh at herself, even at her own expense.

Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes we over-react to a situation, often in anger or frustration. One thing is for certain, humour is likely to diffuse a tense or awkward situation. I use humour in my day to day interactions with difficult customers - although I have yet to master the quick, witty replies my Mom could whip up at the drop of a hat. I am still working on that.

Strength was another lesson mom instilled. Growing up in Osoyoos from the late 40s into the early 60s, times were much simpler. There wasn't a lot of money to go around but there was love and good memories made with family and friends. A strong work ethic was passed on from Mom's hard working parents, Fred and Barbara Bauer, to Marlene and her siblings, Gordon and Lorraine. She in turn passed this on to my sister and I.

In fact, Mom's medicinal cures were often in some form of work or volunteerism. If you were feeling low and perhaps a bit sorry for yourself? After a few days and some warm hugs, if your attitude did not change - work was her cure to fix what ails you!

She often didn't show her emotions if she was sad with us, she did not want to upset anyone. So instead, Mom put herself to work. She installed the suspended ceiling in our basement when Dad worked away mining at Coldstream. She was missing him greatly so she busied herself to pass the time until he came home. The physical activity of being productive improved her well-being and gave her strength to deal with whatever came her way, including her two sometimes unruly daughters.

Furthermore, in our childhood home, chores were not up for debate. There wasn't anything that couldn't be tackled. Mom taught us to rely on ourselves and learn new skills; independence was highly encouraged but so was working together as a team. Anything requiring physical strength or traditionally was not a woman's job was not off the table. I draw on this mindset today and I hope I instilled these lessons in my children.

Finally, there was the compassionate side of Marlene. She had a lot of love to give. She mothered everyone, so much so that our friends would often call her “Mom”. She took this as a compliment and never shied away from being there for others who needed support in one way or another.

Noteabley, one key way of showing support and compassion was through the administration of food. She loved to cook for and feed people; moreso if you could eat a lot! The UAP Napa team over recent years "suffered greatly" from leftovers and what my mother sometimes considered baking failures - which were always delicious, but not up to her high standards. A good meal and a full belly made everything right in the world, no matter your misfortune or suffering.

I will always cherish her handwritten recipe cards that she wrote out for my sister and myself, tried and tested recipes either from friends, or those handed down over the generations. I know these recipes are more than their face value, splattered with cake batter, dog eared and faded. They represent times of trouble, sorrow, pleasure and most memorably, times of celebration with loved ones.

As her daughter, I grew up with an incredible role model who allowed me to always be myself and who always encouraged me to learn more. I will miss her smile, her laugh, her advice, and her witty personality. I know personally that my sister and I will miss the small things. Her macaroni and cheese casserole being one; something so humble but so comforting. We knew it would be on the menu every time we would come home to the Nicola Valley, even after we flung ourselves far and wide to make our own way in the world. We just can't quite make it taste the same as hers...perhaps she kept the secret ingredient from us so we would always return, no matter how far we travelled.

Her passing on Dad's birthday was a sign. She was ready to be with him and had fulfilled a good life. Mom always told my sister and myself she didn't want crying at her funeral, rather a tall order given that she lived in this community for 57 years and also maintained lifelong connections with her family, friends from school in Osoyoos and Oliver and many others whom she met along her journey.

And so I thank you for being here today to honor her memory. She loved all of you and although this may phrase may be used often, her memory truly will live on in all of us.

We will miss you dearly.