Elfriede Ergang

Elfriede was born to parents Julius and Marie-Elisabeth Segert in Klein Bösendorf (near Thorn) Poland in October, 1930 and was the 13th out of 14 children. She grew up on her family farm where there was never a shortage of work but there was always time to have fun with her parents and siblings. Elfriede may have been a tiny girl but she was very energetic and was not afraid to try anything. She grew up in a Christ-centered home and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

In 1945 her family was forced to flee Poland during the war, and they came to Lillienthal (near Bremen) Germany. Elfriede was able to find work with a liquor distribution business where she worked in both their store and household cooking and cleaning. She also worked in a knitting factory.

Seeking a better life Elfriede immigrated to Canada in 1953. In Calgary she lived together, for a period, with her parents; sister Adina (Arthur) and children; sister Wanda; and brother Adolph. She also worked in a knitting factory until she met and married Roman Tietz in 1955. In 1959 a construction accident took Roman’s life and she was left to raise Alice, Ingrid and Hildor on her own.

Her time was spent with her children, family, and going to church. One Sunday afternoon in April of 1961, it had just snowed and some of the churchgoers started a snowball fight. Elfriede began throwing snowballs too and one of the ladies encouraged her to throw one toward a dashing widower named Edwin. That was the start of a budding relationship and he began to call on her, often taking their respective children to the zoo or parks. Elfriede suggested that they get married, Edwin agreed, and they did so in July of that year. Edwin had two sons Eddy and Arthur and with Elfriede’s three children they became an instant large family. Elfriede loved children so it was very natural to accept Eddy and Arthur into the family and love and care for them as her own. The couple decided that having one more child would bind the family together, and in 1965 Edie was born.

Edwin worked to support the family and in 1966 they decided to purchase a neighborhood corner store called Stanley Jones Grocery in Renfrew. This business helped support and feed this large family! The couple were busy with their store, participating in church activities and raising their children. There were hard times as well with the deaths of Eddy in 1977 and then Arthur much later in 2019.

Elfriede loved to cook for her family, and relatives were always welcomed to stay at their house. Every Saturday she baked enough German yeast cake to feed the family for the week. She was an avid sewer and would make her daughters new dresses for special occasions, like Christmas or Easter, to wear at Church. She also loved to knit and crochet and could look at any doily and recreate it. Elfriede and Edwin loved to garden and, while the store didn’t allow them to spend too much time doing that, they managed to still have a huge garden with vegetables and flowers. Elfriede had a lovely singing voice and sang in the church and guitar choirs.

They sold the store in 1987 and were very busy in retirement as they now had time to visit with friends and work in their garden.

In 2008 Elfriede was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She remained at home for as long as possible but eventually she was placed in the George Boyack Continuing Care Facility where she resided just short of 5 years. While it was very hard on the family to send her there, Elfriede loved it as there were so many people to visit and even though she could not communicate with words, her smile and happy demeanor would brighten the day of visitors, staff and residents alike. She especially loved the tea parties and walks in the garden.

Earlier this year Elfriede began wheezing and, around the start of Covid19, it began to get worse. She also had symptoms due to a pneumonia-type virus which seemed to be going around the facility. Last week she became so very tired but still managed to remain happy and smile at the staff. It was in the early morning of Saturday, April 18, 2020 that Elfriede left her earthly home to rejoice with her Lord and Saviour in her eternal home.

She is survived by her loving husband Edwin; son Hildor (Carla); daughters Alice (Johannes), Ingrid (Manfred), and Edie (Randall); and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her sons Ehrenfried & Arthur Ergang, and her first husband Roman Tietz.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made directly to the Alzheimer Society (https://www.alzheimercalgary.ca/get-involved/donate-now)

A Celebration of Life will be held at Foster’s Garden Chapel. Please contact Foster’s Garden Chapel for more information.

A live stream of the service will be available via the website https://funeraweb.tv, by searching the name Elfriede Ergang.