Vivian Mabel Ellerman

Vivian Ellerman was born on a warm summer day in June. Her mother had just returned from the garden after picking some lettuce for the noon meal, she decided to have Vivian instead! Grandma Stussman, the neighborhood midwife, was summoned and Vivian arrived. Lots of dark brown hair and big dark eyes. It was decided to keep her! Mom was 39 years old! All this took place at their home on the farm in Pennant, Saskatchewan. The last of five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ed Kenzie. She had a sister Stella, fifteen years her elder and three elder brothers, Walter, Ray and Archie.

When Vivian was 10, her father decided to move to Swift Current. When it was time for her to go to high school, Father decided to move back to their original home in Pennant, and Vivian was left to go to high school with a family from their church, in Swift Current. She loved this because they had a daughter, Anna who was her same age, and so she no longer felt like an only child. This family was Harold and Kay Ellerman and Vivian was with them through most of high school and business college and during the 3 years she worked for the federal government at the experimental station just outside of Swift Current. She loved this job and she was good at it - a very organized person - perhaps the product of her upbringing on the farm.

During her years living with the Ellermans, their brother Roy was in the war for five and a half years and he wrote letters home and they were shared with Vivian. Vivian got to know all about this young man who was seven and a half years older than her. She was intrigued, even as a young girl, because his family talked so lovingly about him that she knew she would like to meet him if God brought him home from that awful war. God did. Roy had dropped out of school after grade 11 to support the family. They were so poor during the Depression and his father had died. During the war Roy sent money home to his mom from his paltry pay. Vivian was impressed! He was discharged from the Canadian Army in 1946 and worked to finish his grade 12, then enrolled in chemical engineering in the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, 200 miles away. When he came home for the Christmas holiday, he met Vivian. They went skating and had a couple of other dates and he was off to school again. When he came home in the spring, he spent three weeks in Swift Current during which time the two of them kept company and he was off to the northern part of British Columbia, surveying for the building of the Alaska highway. They wrote letters and discovered that they were deeply in love. Roy had three more years at university and he had to study 5 hours every night. They saw each other some weekends, traveling by bus. It was a 5-hour trip. They persevered and after Roy's third year they were married. After spending the summer together, Roy went back to school and Vivian stayed in Swift Current at her job.

Roy graduated in 1950 and jobs were scarce but he managed to find one at “the end of the world” in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Roy found a couple of rooms and Vivian joined him there. Along came their first son Chris and then Mark, and their first home.

They were in the mining industry and 7 years later they moved to Elliot Lake Ontario to help rescue a failing uranium mine. Four years later they moved to Riverton, Wyoming - Roy was General Manager and by now an expert in uranium mining. Then in 1965 they moved to North Vancouver. Roy commuted to the Northwest Territories to oversee Canada's only Tungsten mine. In 1968, Roy joined Wright Engineering and there he traveled the world, managing the construction of uranium mines on five continents! Vivian was the anchor on the home front and a leader at Delbrook Baptist Church, where she served in a variety of leadership positions for thirty-five years. The boys grew up, marriages took place and six grandchildren were born. Today her grandchildren are grown up and they blessed Vivian with ten great grandchildren.

In 2005 Roy temporarily lost his sight due to a mistake during an operation. He died three weeks later at age 85 from complications during a second surgery. And so the wonderful love of her life was gone.

In her own words, Vivian said that she did some special things in her life. “Raising my two boys Chris and Mark was special. In Wyoming I was a den mother, and young boys came to our home every week for four years - that was special. At Delbrook Baptist I delighted in keeping God's house in tip top shape.”

Vivian Ellerman lived her life with grace, with character and with purpose. She and Roy rose out of poverty brought on by the Great Depression and survived the aftermath of Roy’s six years of service and sacrifice during World War II. Vivian’s legacy will live on for generations to come - “her children (and her grandchildren), arise up and call her blessed.” Proverbs 31:28.

Vivian will be laid to rest alongside her beloved husband Roy at North Vancouver Cemetery at a private interment, the morning of May 5th, 2023. The Memorial Service for Vivian will follow at 11:00 am at Boal Chapel at First Memorial Services, 1505 Lillooet Road North Vancouver. A reception for friends and family will be held immediately thereafter.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy for the Ellerman family may be shared with them at http://www.firstmemorialnorthvancouver.com. "