Hilda Marling

Born on January 22, 1931, in Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan, Hilda was the daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Freimuth. She grew up alongside her siblings Ted, and Albert Freimuth, both of whom predeceased her, as did an older brother, Berthold, and an older sister, Victoria, both of whom died in infancy. She is also predeceased by her beloved husband, Ben Marling.

Throughout her life, Hilda was known for her vibrant spirit and love of connecting with others. Outgoing by nature, she found joy in meeting people and building lasting relationships within her community. Her warmth and sociability left a lasting impression on those fortunate enough to know her.

Hilda was deeply committed to service and spent many years actively involved with the Abbotsford Hospital Auxiliary. Her dedication to helping others reflected a lifelong commitment to giving back to the community she loved.

Her faith was a guiding force throughout her life. Hilda maintained a close relationship with God through regular prayer, Bible reading, and charitable giving. Her spiritual devotion was evident in both word and deed.

Hilda’s legacy lives on through her loving family. She is remembered with affection by her sons Michael Marling and Grant Marling; daughters-in-law Vali Marling and Kim Marling; grandchildren Jordan Marling (with his wife Aline), and Emily Jewer (with her wife Fiona Ryan). Their lives are enriched by the love and values she shared with them.

May Hilda’s memory bring comfort to those who knew her and continue to inspire acts of kindness in the world she leaves behind.

EULOGY

A little less than 7 years ago, I stood here in this exact spot to speak about my dad at his funeral service. I said, among other things, that he was never the loudest person in the room. By contrast, my mom, sometimes was. I certainly don’t mean that in any sort of negative sense. Mom was outgoing. She was friendly. She was a big personality. She enjoyed talking with people, whether she knew them or not. She had no issue with striking up conversations with total strangers. The phrase “opposites attract” could be applied to my mom and dad in that regard. Dad was not nearly as talkative. Mom certainly was. You could always count on her to fill in any potentially awkward lulls in any given conversation.

Our Mom, Hilda Marling was born Hilda Freimuth on a snowy Canadian prairie winter day on January 22nd ,1931 in Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan. Her parents, Elizabeth and Michael Freimuth had immigrated to Canada from Romania about two and a half years earlier. Mom had an older brother, Ted, who was about 7 when Mom was born. A second brother Berthold, and a sister, Victoria, both born before Mom, had died in infancy. Eight years after Mom’s birth, her younger brother Albert was born.

Mom grew up with her two brothers on the family’s farm in Saskatchewan. It wasn’t an easy lifestyle. The family was poor as far as money was concerned, but they were a close-knit family and everyone supported each other. So they were rich in that regard.

In 1952, at the age of 21, Mom set out on her own and moved to Chilliwack BC. She stayed with relatives there and began a job working at Simpsons Sears. It wasn’t long after her arriving in Chilliwack that she was introduced to Ben Marling. By the summer of 1954 they were married, and built their first house in Chilliwack. By 1956, I came into the world. That same year, the family moved to Vancouver as my dad was transferred there by his employer, Canada Packers. Five years after that, my brother Mike was born. We lived in Vancouver for nine years until 1965 when Canada Packers once again transferred Dad - this time to Abbotsford.

Once my brother started school in Abbotsford, and Mom had some additional time on her hands, she felt the desire to do some volunteer work, and she became a member of the Abbotsford Hospital Auxiliary. One of the tasks she undertook was to do cart duty. The cart contained numerous sundry items that people might need or want that weren’t necessarily readily available elsewhere in the hospital. Mom would don her blue Hospital Auxiliary vest and go from room to room in the hospital. This task suited Mom perfectly. She got to meet new people every time, and although those people were not usually having their best day, because after all, they were in the hospital, they were invited into conversation by this outgoing woman, who, I suspect helped cheer up more than a few of them. Mom continued her work with Hospital Auxiliary for the next 30 years. She felt it was an important part of her life. So much so, that she requested that she be interred wearing her blue Hospital Auxiliary vest, which is exactly what occurred earlier today.

Mom and Dad made a good pair. They respected each other’s opinions and made family decisions together. However there were times when Mom made some decisions unilaterally. One such example of this was when the family was camping together with relatives in the interior of Oregon State in the U.S. On the morning of the last day there, we started packing up to leave. As we rolled up the sleeping bags in the tent, we were surprised to find a rather large, about 2-inch long beetle-like insect that had two formidable-looking pinchers on each side if its head. Now, the beetle was fortunately dead. But it was dead underneath Mom’s sleeping bag. And seeing this, Mom declared that we would be rethinking this whole camping business. Dad was a smart guy, and he knew when to pick his fights, and when to give ground, and in his mind, he figured this was one of those give-ground moments. The next night we stayed in a motel. And to the best of my recollection, I don’t think the four of us went camping in a tent together ever again.

In the mid 1970s, Mom, Dad, and a business partner, Harvey Goodwin, whom you will hear from soon embarked on a recreational vehicle business they called Traveland, located in Surrey. Although they ran the business for only a few years, the name was later purchased from them by a man who, in his youth, was our newspaper delivery boy. He built Traveland into what is now ten locations across western Canada.

Once Mike and I were old enough to take care of ourselves, Mom and Dad started avoiding parts of our Canadian winters by heading south, first to Palm Dessert in California. They enjoyed it so much, they repeated the journey every winter for the next ten years. Then they opted for a change, and instead went to Cancun, Mexico for the following ten winters. Other travels took them to Portugal, China, Germany, and Indonesia, among other places.

In 1988, Mom and Dad became grandparents for the first time with the arrival of my daughter, Emily. Mom was thrilled to have a girl to spoil. She had grown up with two brothers. She later had two sons. So having a granddaughter was now a special treat for her. That said, she was no less thrilled when Mike and Vali’s son Jordan was born in 1993. Mom and Dad cherished the many wonderful times they spent with their grandchildren and were especially proud of them.

Mom very much missed Dad after his passing in 2019. Although she still socialized with other residents of the condo building her and Dad had moved into, her slowly deteriorating hearing made it difficult to enjoy conversations, especially with groups of people despite having hearing aids. Eventually she opted to spend more time reading than socializing, and I think that was a bit difficult for her. Once she reached her nineties, she felt she was ready for God to call her home, and said so on more than one occasion. So although her passing brings us sadness, I prefer to think of it as Mom now being where she wants to be, after living a full and wonderful life to the age of 94. We will always love and miss her.