Obituary of Hannah Mary Clarkson

CLARKSON ~ Hannah Mary "Nan" Clarkson passed away at Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre, Lloydminster, Alberta on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at the age of 91 years. Nan leaves to mourn her passing: three sons: Barry Clarkson, Trevor (Dianne) Clarkson and Evan Clarkson; three grandchildren: Sean, Adam and Natalie; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Nan was predeceased by her husband, Norman; son, Keith; parents, Evan and Gwladys; and her brothers and sisters. The Memorial Service for Nan was conducted from the St. John’s Anglican Church, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 2:00 P.M. with Reverend Canon Michael Stonhouse officiating. Evan Clarkson gave the eulogy. The hymns sung, “Guide Me Oh My Great Jehovah” and “Nearer My God To Thee” were accompanied by organist, Pat Skinner. The Honorary Pallbearers were all of her Grandchildren, Nieces and Nephews. The Urn Bearer was her son, Barry Clarkson. Interment was held in the Lloydminster City Cemetery, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. Donations in memory of Hannah Clarkson may be made to SPCA, Dr. Cooke Patient Comfort Fund or CNIB. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster, Alberta administered the funeral arrangements. EULOGY by Evan (son) One day, back in the 1970s, I was at my mom's house and I noticed a picture of an old crumbling castle on the wall. I asked my mom what it was and she said it was Caerphilly castle in Wales. Her earliest memories as a child are playing in the fields by that castle. When mom and dad retired, they reconnected with all the relatives back in England and Wales and returned there for a visit. When mom saw Caerphilly castle again, she was now in her 50's and she was a bit disappointed. Disappointed because now it was a tourist attraction and you had to pay money to see it. Mom didn't think that was quite right that she should have to pay to see it when she had played there for free as a child. Mom was the youngest of nine children. Things were a lot tougher for working families in those days and four of moms siblings, three sisters and a brother, died in childhood. So when the opportunity came for grandma and grampa Williams to make a fresh start in a new country they jumped at the chance. They loaded up the five remaining kids and all their belongings and boarded a ship bound for Canada. One of moms most vivid memories was on that ship, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. This was in 1929 and mom was five years old. She was a precocious and fun loving child and she quickly became a favorite of the ship's crew. They even gave her a nickname. They called the "Little Angel." Everywhere she went and whatever she did there was sure to be a sailor calling her the "Little Angel." One day she was in the playroom on the ship. This was a big room set aside for the kids and it was full of toys and games and it even had some playground equipment. In one corner was an old hobby horse and another little girl was sitting on it. One of the sailors thought it would be a good idea to put mom on the horse next to the other little girl. He thought it would make a pretty picture, but he neglected to ask the other little girl if that was okay. Apparently it wasn't okay. She wasn't happy about sharing her horse. So unhappy in fact that she wound up and slapped mom hard across the face. This would probably account to why this was such a vivid memory for mom. But I told mom you have to remember the universe is a delicate place. It always has to stay in balance. So if there was a little angel onboard that ship it only stands to reason that there had to be a little devil as well. When the family landed in Canada, mom remembers them being at Vermilion land office and the land agent was getting all the necessary paperwork done and then he loaded up the family and all their belongings into a cart and they headed out for their new home in the Herbert district south of Kitscoty. This was a grand adventure especially for the kids, but grandma Williams was not happy. Mom remembers her standing out in the field looking down the road. When mom asked what she was looking for she said, "I'm waiting to see if a horse and cart comes down the road because if one does I'm going to get in it and go back to Wales." Well thankfully that never happened and as the weeks went by grandma Williams talked less and less about going home much to the relief of the family. It's hard to imagine today the challenges families faced growing up in the prairies in those days. I remember telling mom once how hard it was for me to get to school as a child. We lived in the far west end of Lloydminster and we had to go to school in the far east of town. One day we had a big snowstorm and I had to walk through these humongous snow drifts. I really thought I had it tough. So mom decided to set me straight. She said she had five miles to go to get to school, and in winter there was blowing snow and a biting wind, 30 below and snow drifts as big as a house and somehow it was always uphill both ways. "But mom," I said, "you had a horse." "Yes," she replied, "I had a horse and more often than not I had to carry him too." Mom was always an animal lover. Most of you probably know how much she loved dogs, but they were not her first love. Her first love was horses and it practically broke her heart when she had to leave them behind on the farm and come to Lloydminster to get her grade ten. She moved in with reverend Filer's family. He was the Baptist minister and they all treated her like one of the family. After getting her grade ten she went to business school and got a diploma with them. Then she entered the workforce and worked at a number of places including the creamery and the Lloydminster hospital. Around this time she met Norman Clarkson just back from overseas after serving in WW2. They were married in August 18, 1948 in this very church. Of course it look quite a bit different back then. By 1950 the Clarkson boys assembly line began. Keith was born in 1950, Barry in 1952, Trevor in 1954, and "the baby" Evan was born in 1957. If I could interject a personal opinion for a moment, yes I was called "the baby," but I always thought I was so much more mature than those other guys. In the spring of 1960 mom went back to work. The growing demands of a larger family required two paychecks to help pay the bills. So mom began her new career at city hall. This was a challenging, demanding job, but mom loved it and she soon became indispensable. In fact in the late 1960s the city clerk in Lloydminster applied for and got the city clerk job in Edmonton. So before he left he called mom into his office and told her that if she wanted to apply for the city clerk job in Lloydminster he would write her a letter of recommendation. Mom thought it over and decided not to apply for the job. She knew she could do the job, but it would require working different hours, sometimes in the evenings and mom knew that would conflict with her family responsibilities. For mom family always came first. When I think of the workload mom had at this time I find it so astonishing. Most teenagers are self-involved and I was no exception. When you came home supper was always on the table, clothes were always cleaned, the vacuuming was done, and you could count on fresh baked bread every week. This was the old fashioned way of baking bread. It was arduous task. I still remember her punching that bread dough over and over. At this time Keith and Barry were in the boxing club, but neither one could throw a punch like mom. And she did all of this while holding down a full time job at city hall. Just looking at all the things she had to do week in, week out makes me want to go take a nap. Mom retired in 1975 after 15 years in city hall. She had almost two months of unused sick days. She literally could have set her retirement date two months later and not gone into work and been paid for every day. But that wasn't mom's way of doing things. She was never one to curry favor or look for an edge. She never expected to be paid something for nothing. She simply did her job competently and efficiently without complaint and when it was time to move on she did without regret. With retirement mom had plenty of something she had never had before: spare time for herself. During this time she flew back from England and Wales three times and made many special memories with all the relatives over there. She also took up reading again. Reading was something she always enjoyed but never had the time for while she was working. Fate however has a way of throwing you a curve ball when you least expect it. Mom was only on her third book when she had to give up reading for good. Her macular degeneration had advanced so rapidly that reading became impossible. Around this time her drivers licence renewal form arrived in the mail, but she just threw it in the garbage. She let her current drivers licence expire. This was a tough blow because losing your licence means you have lost your independence. Now mom had to rely on someone to drive her everywhere she had to go. But mom was sentimental about that last drivers licence and she refused to throw it out. She kept it in her wallet and 20 years later that almost caused a problem for us. Because 20 years later dad lost his licence because of medical issues. The driver examiner tried to soften the blow for dad and told him that while he couldn't have a drivers licence he could be issued a learners permit which meant he could continue to drive as long as he was with someone with a valid drivers licence. So of course dad raced home as quick as he could and made a beeline for moms purse and dug out her drivers licence. Mom phoned the boys that night and asked us what to do. She said dad was bound and determined to keep driving as long as she was in the car with him. So we went over to the house that night and had to give dad the bad news. "Dad," we said, "We hate to burst your bubble, but there’s a couple things wrong with your plan. First of all, moms drivers licence has been expired for 20 years and secondly when the instructor told you can drive with a qualified person he was not talking about someone who was legally blind!" This deflated dad completely and he mumbled a few choice adjectives under his breath. I won't bother repeating them here, but nothing more was said about mom's driver licence. And I took that licence and buried it as far and as deep into moms cedar chest as I could. Then I covered it with as many blankets as I could find. In January of 2000 dad got sick and passed away. Mom entered a new stage of her life: widowhood. It was a tough adjustment, but with 4 sons, 3 grandchildren, Mrs. Winski's garage sales, and lots of dogs coming and going she was rarely lonely. It was about this time that moms niece Betty and her husband Rod reached out to her and asked her to come visit them in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. By doing this mom was able to reconnect with all the nieces and nephews out there and there were a lot of them and she cherished every one of them. This trip almost became an annual pilgrimage and she looked forward to it every time. And even when she wasn't with you out there she always had march the first to look forward to. March the first is St. David's day the patron saint of Wales and mom would get a big bouquet of flowers from the "BC Gang". That always made her day. In 2008 mom moved into the evergreen park condo complex and we sons were able to take care of her the way she was able to take care of us for so many years. The last 3 years of moms life became a challenge as her health began to fail. But mom was fortunate as Lloydminster home care came in to help out. Every week without fail for 3 years they would come to see her and make sure her needs were met. And they always did it with a positive attitude. Lloydminster is very lucky to have so many dedicated professionals working for them. Earlier this year, in January, mom received the most devastating blow a parent can get when her oldest son Keith passed away suddenly at the age of 65. Mom bore this difficult news with calm quiet strength and an unshakeable faith that she would see him again someday. Mom is probably hearing about motorbikes and bow hunting as we sit here today. And I think it's fair to say that Tiny and Tippy, Floss, and Dusty, Buddy, Roka, and Boomer, and Ali are not far away and in case you were wondering those are the names of mom's pets not the names of the players in some British heavy metal band. For the last 3 months of her life mom moved into the Dr. Cooke extended care centre. The stairs at the condo just presented too much of a danger for her. I'm sure most new residents at the Dr. Cooke do not present the kind of challenges that mom did. She had serious mobility issues. But the staff didn't shy away from the challenge and they did the best they could for her under the difficult circumstances. The family appreciates everything they did. I'd like to thank you all for coming today. This is an incredibly sad time for our family and sometimes grief can overwhelm our other emotions. Of course you feel sadness at the thought of not seeing her or not talking to her again. But if you remember someone you need to remember everything about them. Not just the sad times and the happy times, but the annoying times, the ridiculous times, the embarrassing times. Everything. I think I can speak for mom when I say, if you find yourself only remembering mom with tears and sadness, well, she probably wouldn't want you to remember her at all. The greatest gift you can give to her is to remember her with a smile. I love you forever mom. Thank you. CARD OF THANKS Thanks to all the Dr. Cooke staff for their loving care of Mom. Many thanks to Lloydminster home care for all their help the last few years. Thanks to the great neighbors in Evergreen park for all their support. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and brought food. Dan and Joanne you rocked it again! Thanks to the BC gang for taking care of mom on her trips out west. Thanks to reverend Stonhouse, organist Pat Skinner, and the Anglican women's Auxiliary. Thanks to Barry, the urn bearer and special thanks to McCaw funeral service. Thanks to Adam for his amazing typing skills. A special thanks to everyone who shared in mom's life. -The Clarkson family.