Obituary of Andrew Marenger

Andrew Marenger June 10, 1928 - April 22, 2009 Written by Linda Lindquist Andrew Henry Marenger was born on the family farm near Laventure, Saskatchewan on June 10, 1928. He leaves to mourn his wife of 54 years Yvonne (Sarrazin), one daughter Linda and her husband Jack Lindquist and one son Lloyd and his wife Cheryle; 6 grandchildren, Colleen and her husband Scott Smith; Kevin Lindquist and his wife Shantele; Terry Marenger and his fiancé Maria Ricketts; Amber and her husband Josh Corpe; Christopher Marenger and Serina Marenger. He also leaves to mourn 4 great-grandchildren Courtney and Emily Smith and Cody and Hunter Lindquist. He is also survived by two sisters Alice and her husband Mel Brooks of Vancouver, B.C. and Martha and her husband Duane Peterson of Puyallup, Washington; one brother-in-law Raymond Sarrazin of Lloydminster and his wife Erica of Spiritwood as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Andrew was predeceased by his parents Jeanne and Henri, his half-brothers Robert and George Marion, one niece Cheryle Brooks and one great-granddaughter Jenna Smith. Dad left home at an early age and moved to Vancouver to live with Alice and Martha and went to work at the Empress Jam factory. After a few years he left the factory and went to work at sea. He enjoyed working on the large boilers of the freighters and often recounted many stories of the people and places he had visited. His love of the sea didn't last long though and in 1953 he moved back to the prairies and started farming at Laventure. In that spring he met the love of his life, Yvonne and they married on June 10, 1954. They sold the land in Laventure and homesteaded the farm west of Spiritwood. In March 1955 I was born and again in March 1957 Lloyd was born. Dad was always called a mixed farmer because he raised cows, sheep and pigs but also grew cereal crops, but he often joked that his claim to mixed farming came from his constant crop of rocks that had to be harvested each spring before he could seed his grain. In 1969, we moved to Lloydminster and although dad still continued to farm, he also started working as a custodian at the Neville Goss School. He continued to work there until he retired in 1993. During these 23 years, many things changed in his life. The addition of grandchildren thrilled him and he took every opportunity to spoil and torment them. He loved to play horsey with them and usually chose moments that were too close to bed time to instigate a rousing ride leaving them too excited to sleep and frustrating their parents. He took his grandparent's role so seriously that it extended into his daily life at school. He loved the students and took the time to get to know many of them. It was not uncommon to go shopping on Saturday and run into some of the kids from the school. They always called him Andy and he would always know them by name as well. He also took great pride in the teachers that he worked with and spoke fondly of the many years he spent with them. Unfortunately, retirement was short lived for dad. In 1994 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and his memory started to fail quickly. He spent the last 9 years at the Dr. Cooke Extended Care facility where he passed away peacefully on April 22, 2009 at the age of 80. On behalf of our family, I would like to extend a special thanks to all the nurses and staff at the Dr. Cooke Extended Care Facility for their special compassion and care extended to dad during these years, and your thoughtfulness, hugs and kind words during his palliative treatment. Donations in memory of Andrew can be made to the Alzheimer's Society or the Dr. Cooke Palliative Care Centre.