Elma Rose Brenna

Elma was a prairie woman through and through, never straying far from her roots. Her children will fondly remember huddling with her in the root cellar at the farm during vicious summer storms when the sky blackened and the winds howled. On the coldest nights of winter, she became a card shark, hustling her family for pennies in games of blackjack or teasing mercilessly when she defeated us in games of schmeer.

She was born in Spalding, Saskatchewan, to her parents Ed and Ethel Eklund, on July 5, 1932. Some of her fondest memories included racing other children home from school in a cutter behind her favourite horse Pet, until racing was banned when a competitor was forced into the ditch. Her mother was a formidable woman who challenged a repo man to a fist fight, during the Great Depression, when he had come to repossess her sewing machine. The repo man left, empty-handed.

Elma migrated to Saskatoon when she was fifteen, perhaps stretching the truth about her age so she could land a waitressing job at the Modern Dell Café. She came to Naicam in the late 1940s and worked as a waitress in the local hotel. She met our father Gordon Brenna shortly thereafter. A local songster, Henry Marion, wrote and recorded a song about them that ended with the deathless line, “Everybody wants to take home Elma, but only Gordon’s there.” Gordon and Elma were married on April 24, 1950.

Mom liked curling and bowling. She once met Rachel Homan and boasted that she had won numerous garbage cans in bonspiels during her athletic career. She was an excellent cook in later life, although she explained that, not knowing how to make a single dish when she was first married, she received cooking lessons from her father-in-law. The table at family Christmases was groaning with lefse and lutefisk, jellied salads, and an astonishing collection of preserved fruits and vegetables. She was an avid gardener in the summer, staying on the farm for several years after our dad passed away, for the simple pleasure of enjoying her garden.

In retirement at Elim Lodge, she fed her grandchildren vinarterta or watched curling and baseball incessantly. She had an unseemly love for Jose Bautista in his prime, a love which was only bested when she saw Bo Bichette’s flowing locks. She remained a Rachel Homan fan until the end, often neglecting to eat if a key game was televised.

Family was the centre of Elma’s life, and she was the centre of the family. “When all my kids were at home,” she often said, “those were the best years of my life.” She was a kind and nurturing woman, proud of the accomplishments of her children and grandchildren. Several nieces and great nieces thought of her as a favourite aunt or a surrogate mother. Friends back home in Naicam and Spalding and newer friends at Elim Lodge were special to her.

Elma was a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Left to mourn her passing are her four children: Lyle Brenna (Janice), Dwayne Brenna (Beverley), Debbie Amundson (Leslie), and Shelly Lowe (Kevin); grandchildren Erika Chomiak (Taylor), Britni Brenna (Brett), Wilson Brenna (Erin), Eric Brenna, Connor Brenna (Meghan), Kristofor Amundson (Melanie), Sara Duke (Cailean), Andrew Lowe, and Nicholas Lowe; great-grandchildren Osa Chomiak, Ty Chomiak, Nadya Chomiak, and Lachlan Duke.

Elma was predeceased by her husband Gordon Arnold Brenna, and by three sisters and three brothers.

A celebration of her life will take place at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Saskatoon, at 2pm on Thursday May 29.

As an expression of sympathy, donations in Elma’s name may be made to Canadian Lutheran World Relief: www.clwr.org.

Arrangements entrusted to Ryan Lensen