Kathleen Margaret Dales

On July 2, 2024, Kathleen Margaret Dales passed away quietly, after a long struggle with progressive dementia, at Tuxedo Villa in Winnipeg. She will be loved and remembered forever by her children Carol (Ken), Donovan and Jeffrey (Lori); grandchildren Gerald Jr. (Christine), Tom, Christopher (Claire) and Scott (Mel); and great-grandchildren Benjamin, Isla and Evan. Kathleen was predeceased by her parents Elizabeth (Betty) and Arthur, her brother Ronald, sisters Shirley and Betty Anne, and her daughter-in-law Maggie.

Our lovely mother grew up on the family farm in Brunkild, Manitoba, where she excelled in her schoolwork and, following normal school, taught grades 4 to 8 at Roseisle School No. 726. Mum was a petite woman with striking red hair, blue eyes and an alluring figure. Although most of the boys in her classes were already much taller than she was, she fearlessly took full charge of her classroom, proving to herself that she had found her true vocation in teaching.

Her schoolteacher career might have continued longer had she not been swept off her feet on a blind date by a dashing young man from nearby Sperling. Captivated by his curly hair and brilliant blue eyes, Mum married Gerry in 1946, launching a love story that would last over 68 years. Their first home was a small farm near Headingley where they would spend the first three decades of their lives together raising their family.

My first childhood memories are the sounds of music at home, often quiet classics on the CBC at naptime, or Mum’s clear soprano rehearsing for the Headingley United Church choir, playing Beethoven’s Minuet in G or Chopin’s Prelude in A on the spinet piano in the den. Later, she bought us, one record at a time over many months, a giant set of classical LPs we played on the living room stereo.

Mum made the little house on Roblin Blvd. a warm and loving home for the three of us kids and our Dad. Every bit as resourceful and determined as her life partner, she embraced her many roles of loving wife, mother and homemaker, stretching the budget, cooking nutritious meals, gardening, preserving and sewing and knitting most of our clothes. By saving diligently, she and Dad were able to expand their four-room house to double its size, and it quickly became a hub for frequent gatherings of extended family. Eventually, Mum worked part time at Breezy Bend Country Club just down the road, saving enough to enable Dad to build our cottage on 8th Avenue at Victoria Beach.

Our mother was not only beautiful, but also multitalented and full of energy. She loved gathering with people to chat, but she also enjoyed quiet time spent with a good novel. Like so many of her generation, she chose marriage and a family over education and a career, and we are the beneficiaries of her decision and her dedication to us. From the time we started school, she made sure that Don, Jeff and I had a good encyclopedia, dictionary and atlas right in our living room, resources that were not found in most fifties’ homes. As a capable but uninspired student, I could always count on her help with what seemed like an impossible assignment, and so could my brothers. One of her many gifts was artistic ability, and I fondly recall her guiding me to create ink sketches of Prospero and Caliban in Shakespeare’s Tempest and turn them into a pastel watercolour montage that earned me the only A I ever got in Grade 9 art. Mum applied her gift for interior decoration in our home; we were one of the first homes to have fashionable ultramodern teak furniture and a wallpaper mural of a forest scene that covered an entire wall.

Our parents made a momentous move in 1975 to their 19th floor condo in Tuxedo. With its lush balcony garden, silvery walls and sweeping view west over Assiniboine Park, it quickly became the new family gathering spot. Mum returned to school at Red River Community College, quickly acquiring the top-notch secretarial skills that qualified her to become office manager at The John Howard Society, a position she held until her retirement.

Mum experienced several major illnesses and injuries during her long married life. While convalescing from one of these setbacks, she impulsively ordered a few new dolls to cheer her up, eventually developing an extensive collection of antiquarian porcelain dolls that was the envy of many a North American aficionado. She loved to spend hours on her computer searching for bargains and tracking down new members for her doll family. She shared her passion freely, often lecturing and displaying selected gems, both locally for the Manitoba Doll Society and on her travels.

During the following years, Mum and Dad traveled to numerous scuba diving destinations in the Caribbean and Hawaii where she supported him as he honed his underwater skills.

After retirement, they regularly escaped Winnipeg winters at the Pine to Palm Resort Park in Weslaco, TX, where Mum loved to socialize with friends and fellow Snowbirds, garden, and enjoy the glorious weather and extended visits from family members.

We will always remember how lovingly Mum cared for us as we weathered our many childhood illnesses and catastrophes. Later, she offered the same tender care to her mother, her father and her sister Shirley, regularly checking in with them, delivering nutritious meals and driving them to appointments. When our father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she cared fondly for him at home until the end of his life.

Widowhood did not sit well with our mother, and she never was the same vibrant person after Dad’s death. A rapid descent into dementia led to her move to nearby Tuxedo Villa, where she spent the final eight years of her life. It was a big adjustment after so many years of life at home, but she soon relaxed into the new environment and its routines, enjoying the tasty meals, flowers and birds in the courtyard, and Jazz, the resident cat. I can see her now, scooting her wheelchair down the long hallways to socialize with other residents. The nurses often told me fondly how much they enjoyed her and what a character she was! However, in her final years, Mum’s thoughts often returned to the wellbeing of her parents, and she would often ask me how they were doing.

We are heartbroken to lose our wonderful mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

Kathleen’s interment will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 7, 2024 at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home and Cemetery, 1291 McGillivray Blvd. with a celebration of her life to immediately follow at 10:30 inside the reception center.

Our heartfelt thank you to all the staff at Tuxedo Villa who cared so diligently for our mother over her long residence.

Contributions in Kathleen’s memory may be made to the Alzheimer Society of Canada or the Canadian Cancer Society.