Julie Buhr (Desmarais) (Nee Coutu)

Julie will be greatly missed by her loving family of seven children: Bernice (Rick) Klyne; Louise Champagne (Russ Rothney); Lionel (Catherine) Desmarais; Theresa (Victor) Schmidt; Barbara Desmarais; George (Terri) Desmarais; Dennis (Donna) Desmarais. 22 grandchildren; 28 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandsons; 3 sisters - Jeannie, Yvette, Bonnie; numerous nieces and nephews; and many friends .

Predeceased by her first husband, Aime Desmarais; second husband, John Buhr; granddaughter Renee Desmarais; siblings: Florien, Leo, Rose, Malvina, Margaret, Alexandria, Annette, Mary, and Rita.

Julie was born into a large Métis family in St Laurent, Mb, on January 22, 1928. She was the middle daughter of Anna (Klyne) and Joe Daniel Coutu. She was married to Aime for 31 years and later married John in 1980.

Julie spent many years working in housekeeping where she made lifelong friendships. Mom stayed connected with her family and loved to share stories with her grandchildren. She touched the lives of many.

Julie passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her family after a brief stay at Seven Oaks Hospital. Her family expresses their sincere appreciation for the compassionate care provided by the hospital staff and for the homecare provided by Jill Richards and Erin Humenecky during the last three years of Julie’s life.

Funeral Service will be hosted in the chapel at 2:00 pm on Friday, December 6 and will be followed by interment at Green Acres Funeral Home and Cemetery, Hwy. #1 East at Navin Road. Reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Julie’s memory to LITE (Local Initiative Towards Employment; http://lite.mb.ca ; 204-942-8578) or a charity of choice.

Pallbearers are grandsons: Dennis Champagne, Rick Klyne, Lionel Desmarais Jr., Chris Desmarais, Matthew Schmidt, and Donnie Desmarais. Honorary pallbearers are nephews: Edward Schendel and Leonard Flamand.

For the folks unable to attend and in honour of our beautiful mother’s life, the family is planning a Celebration of Life Gathering in Julie’s honour for the first Sunday (long weekend) on August 3, 2014. Please check the Green Acres Internet Memorial (www.greenacresfuneralhome.com) to confirm location.

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Eulogy

Our mother, Juliette, was a great woman. She was dearly loved by her seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, twenty-eight great grandchildren, and her two precious great-great-grandchildren. To Julie they were all precious. She was dearly loved by other people’s children as well. Some of you are here today. She was a great ally to young people and always stood up for their well-being. She worked hard all her life. Hard work and determination characterized this strong and loving woman, mother, grandmother, sister, auntie and wife.

She was born to Anna Klyne and Joe Daniel Coutu on a farm in St Laurent on the shores of Lake Manitoba on January 22, 1928. - I imagine it was a cold and beautiful day. - Given that Julie’s grandmother would have been the midwife at her birth and the first person to greet the new baby girl; she had good role models for hard work and social responsibility. Julie’s own mother, Anna, later became the midwife in the community and attempted to lure Julie into this important vocation; midwifery. However Julie found the experience of helping women birth babies to be very stressful. Instead she took to work in the field, in the barn, in the garden. She spent her youth, caring for animals, milking cows, feeding pigs, harvesting crops and seeding gardens with her dad. She had little time for formal schooling and became close to her father who saw her as a capable farm hand.

Her childhood is best described as both humble and wondrous. Her family was very self-sufficient. They consumed their own farm products and fish and drew income from the winter fishery. Julie often reminisced that her dad went to the city infrequently and it was only to purchase flour, sugar, and textiles. Julie had eleven sisters and two brothers. Providing for this large family was hard work. Julie loved to ride her horse and told tales of driving a team of horses during the winter fishery to gather the fish on the lake. Did you know that horses will not go on a frozen lake if there is danger of falling through? My mother told me that! Julie cultivated a love for the outdoors and animals that would stay with her for her entire life. She passed on to me a respectful fear of the lake which has the power to both sustain you and take your life. Julie tragically lost her precious brother, Florien, whom she deeply loved. He and two of her brother-in-laws drowned when their vehicle went through the ice. They became entangled in their nets and were not able to save themselves.

In her youth Julie loved to play guitar and often backed up the fiddlers at barn dances. It was at one of these dances at the Gaudry’s that the shy sixteen year old Juliette was surprised by the bold and daring Aime Desmarais who went up to the stage and kissed her on the forehead in front of everyone - including her mother, who normally kept a close watch on all her daughters. Aime thought she was beautiful and thanked “la Belle” for the music. Julie’s mother warned her to stay away from that guy; but it was too late. She was in love with him and after several years she got to the city to marry him.

Julie fell in love with the brash, fun-loving Aime. You may have heard some of the recorded music when you came in and will hear more during the reception. Thanks to Lionel, Jr., for pulling that together. Mom loved music and our exposure to old time and country music in our home life was a constant. Aime’s brothers were all talented musicians within the Métis fiddling style and all played the banjo. Aime was a dancer in the old time style of music and dance. Although Julie enjoyed old-time music, she also enjoyed singers like George Jones, Freddie Fender, and Roy Orbison. I often heard dad asking her not to play the music of those “cry babies”. She did anyway. He later had a harder time with the rest of us and the Beatles! He could not get his head around the ‘ya ya ya’ while Julie could. Music sustained her throughout her life right to the end.

Julie married Aime in 1948 when she was twenty. Her first born, Bernice, came two years later, followed by six more. In earlier days Aime harvested logs, worked in a mine, harvested seneca root, and hunted wild game. He then had a long and accomplished career in construction. We lost Dad in 1976 and miss him deeply. We were happy for Mom when she married John in 1980. They traveled in a motor home as far as Alaska. At Traverse Bay where they cleared land and built a lovely log house. Her children and grandchildren enjoyed spending time with them and have cherished memories of that.

Our mother made us feel loved, welcomed, and secure at all times. She held her family together during some very dark times. We love her very much and will miss her dearly. Her lifetime of dedication and self-sacrifice serve as a monument to the woman she was. Her integrity and hard work continue to inspire those who knew her. Julie cherished her independence and she fought for it to the very end of her life.

I want to thank you for being here today and to close with a quote from a song by Beth Middler called the Rose

Just remember

in the winter

far beneath the bitter snows

lies the seed that with the sun’s love

in the spring becomes the rose.

Mequwitch.