Obituary of Edna Halstead

Halstead - Edna Marjorie Halstead passed away peacefully at the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Centre, Lloydminster on December 7, 2009 at the age of 81 years. The funeral services were conducted from the St. John's Anglican Church, Lloydminster, with Reverend Michael Stonhouse officiating. The interment took place at the Golden Valley Cemetery. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., administered the funeral arrangements. The pallbearers were Dion Schultz, Trent Schultz, Vince Buzuk, Clint Buzuk, Don Ogilvie and Ty Ogilvie. The eulogy was prepared and presented by her great-nephew Trent Schultz of Calgary. Eulogy: Edna Marjorie Halstead was born in the district of Tring in Hertfordshire, England, on July 6, 1928 to Richard and Hilda Halstead. She had two sisters, Amy Perkins and Rachael Beckett, and one older brother, Tom. She came to Canada with her family in 1930 at two years of age aboard the "Duchess of Atholl". This ship held the record for the Atlantic crossing from Liverpool to Canada which was 6 days and 13 hours. They traveled across Canada on the train to Lloydminster and settled on a farm 17 miles southwest in the Madresfield district. She worked on the housekeeping staff at the Lloydminster Hospital for 30 years and quit when the new hospital was built because it was too far away for her to walk each day. She was a steady, conscientious worker. While working at the hospital she would ask what patients wanted, and would walk downtown and buy whatever various items they wanted, for example writing paper, wool or stamps and deliver the items to them the following morning. When her father was admitted to the Dr. Cooke she brought her mother from the farm to live with her. She took her mother over to the Dr. Cooke every evening after supper in a taxi to see her dad. When she had her holidays, she would take her mother on trips to see her relatives in England and a cousin in the US. She would travel at least once a year to visit her sister Rachel in Drayton Valley and her niece Sharon in Calgary. She faithfully attended the Golden Valley Anglican Church near the farm then St. John's Anglican Church in Lloydminster and only missed when she went away on holidays. She always sent money in birthday cards for her 7 nieces and nephews and for her 14 great-nieces and great-nephews. She was proud of the house she purchased in downtown Lloydminster. After living in it for over 30 years she sold it and, she moved to the Pioneer Lodge and stayed there for two years, and after her health began declining moved into the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Hospital and stayed there for five years. I remember visiting Auntie Edna and Granny in that house during the 1970's, when I was a boy. I remember that my brother Dion and I thought Auntie Edna had the coolest secret room in the whole world! If you pulled the kitchen table aside there was a handle flush with the linoleum floor. You could grab this handle, and open a hidden door in the floor. If you pulled it up and open, that door in the floor revealed a steep wooden staircase down into the darkness. . . into the dirt cellar! Dion and I were big city boys - and hadn't seen anything like that. What a cool and scary place to play and hide in as a kid! Sometimes while we were down there we would ask the adults to close the door in the floor, and Dion would turn out the light. I remember being very brave, I probably lasted a good 20 or 30 seconds before banging on the door to be let out into the light. Usually Auntie Edna would have Kentucky Fried Chicken waiting for us when we came back up into the kitchen - now that was awesome! Looking back, I think that it was a really great arrangement Edna and her mom had living together in that house. Edna enjoyed visiting the senior centre, attending dances, bingos, and social activities. She always had a smile. My family enjoyed her annual fall visits to Calgary to purchase her Christmas outfit. When she was visiting us in Calgary she would play the monopoly board game with Dion and me. She had a very gentle nature and laughed easily, which was seen when playing these games with us. I remember sometimes we would realize she was cheating, I would shout in my very loud, for a little boy, Halstead voice "Hey, THAT'S CHEATING' and Edna would just laugh and giggle. Unfortunately, after I hit adulthood, as the pace of life sped up for me, I didn't spend much time with Auntie Edna. But I do remember a time in my early 20's when Auntie Edna was staying with my family for one of her annual Fall visits. I didn't have many conversations with Edna. I think I saw her as someone who I probably wouldn't have much in common with, and because I was pretty chatty, and she wasn't, I figured that our conversations probably wouldn't be very interesting. Around that time, I was dating a woman named Jennifer. I remember having to run a quick errand away from the house leaving Jennifer and Edna alone. Time got away on me and I ended up being gone for a good hour. Later on, when Jennifer and I were alone, I apologized to her for leaving her with Edna for a such a long time, someone she didn't know, who I didn't think she would have much in common with. She said what? Edna was great to talk to; we had a great conversation about politics - a subject which Jennifer really enjoyed. Jennifer said Edna impressed the heck out of her; she was very impressed with how intelligent my great aunt was. That gave me a new respect for my Aunt. Probably my favourite memory of my Auntie Edna was when I was a boy of about 8 or 9 years old. I was a pretty accomplished video game player. None of my friends were available to come over and play Atari tank battle with me. I was telling Auntie Edna about this, and how no one would play with me that day, and she said she would play with me. I couldn't believe it; I figured she would have no interest in something like that. . . Well, we sat down, on the floor, in front of the TV, I explained what the idea of the game was, and how the controls worked, and then I proceeded to unleash a torrent of hell fire with all that a 9 year old could muster. She was getting blasted clear across the screen, repeatedly, for extended periods of time. Seems that someone who had not only never played this game before, but had never played any video games before couldn't match the skills of a kid who spent most of his waking hours playing these games. Well I started figuring out that I was dominating her in this game so I started to relax, and watch her out of the corner of my eye while I let up a lot on her to see how she was reacting to this trouncing. I expected to see a frustrated adult not having any fun, and would probably quit at any second; instead, I saw when I looked at Auntie Edna out of the corner of my eye that she was laughing like crazy. The more I blasted her tank across the screen the harder she laughed and she was having a great time. My Auntie Edna had an incredible sense of fun about life, and always seemed like she could find things to make her laugh. I really admire that about her, and when it occurs to me I try to be more like her. Although Auntie Edna was a very gentle person, I have a story of where she probably came across quite differently. Across the street from her house was a man who she considered might be a bit of trouble, he was a scruffy looking guy who often worked on his noisy motorcycle on his front porch. One time this man banged on her door, trying to push past her to get into her house. It turned out that his house was on fire and he wanted to phone the fire department but she couldn't understand his frantic talking, so she grabbed her broom to fight him off. Apparently she was pretty good with that broom because she broke his glasses during the scuffle. I think that if I had to try to describe Edna, in few words, I would say she was a surprising woman, and shouldn't have been judged at face value - and I think that neighbor of hers would have agreed. Card of Thanks Edna's family would like to thank all those who attended her funeral service. Thanks to Reverend Michael Stonhouse for his kind words, organist Pat Skinner, soloist Marlene Risling, the choir, the pallbearers for their time and travel to Lloydminster, Dr. Kerlis, the staff at the Dr. Cooke, Colleen Hozack and ladies for preparing a great lunch, McCaw Funeral Service for their excellent care. A special thank you to Trent, for the thoughtful and endearing eulogy. Edna would have been very pleased and proud. Amy (Halstead) Perkins and families Rachael (Halstead) Beckett and families Donations in memory of Edna may be made to the charity of the donors choice.