Today, we pause to celebrate Freda’s life. Aunt Freda to me and a sister to my Mom. She passed away in October 24, 2024, but today is the graveside service, which I am happy to share in. Freda is below on the left. Freda was a very talented artist and painted and sketched. Her oil paintings were her love and we are fortunate to have one of them she did for us of The Three Sisters (Canmore AB).

In the most wonderful of ways, the Lord brought my cousin Belinda, Freda’s daughter, back into our lives recently as we began working together. So it is my pleasure to share in this sacred time of remembrance.

Freda was a lifelong learner and spent years as a primary school teacher where she was inspired every day by the insights and abilities of her young students. Their progress brought her so much joy.  After she retired, she was always taking courses whether it was at the Ontario College of Art where she studied for 60 years or out in the fields on a painting workshop or at a university taking history and politics courses with her best friend, Helen. They were attending class right up until Covid hit.

Her younger years were filled with joy as she was surrounded by a loving family. They were active community members through The Salvation Army and spent summers at Lake Cecebe canoeing, swimming, and fishing with her sisters and brother. She loved nature and spent the rest of her life capturing the beauty of that wilderness in her paintings.

She was a devoted wife to Richard and mother to her two children, Belinda and Harold. She made family life special with her flair for bringing joy to even the smallest things.  Whether it was a coloured sugar initial on the morning fruit bowl or the extra effort she put into her relationships with everyone around her. She always found time to make people feel cared for, appreciated, and to have a good laugh.  She had many great friends that she hiked and traveled, and loved to entertain and share memories. She was very close with her sisters and brother throughout her life, and they always made time to connect, catch up, and share a meal.   

Her grandchildren were her pride and joy. She was so proud of the young men that William and Charles had become and the young woman that Sydney had grown into. She always cherished the visits and calls. They were the highlight of her older years.