Obituary of Betty Chisholm

B I O G R A P H Y CHISHOLM: Betty Chisholm passed away in the St. Walburg Health Center, St. Walburg, Saskatchewan on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at the age of 94 years. Betty is survived by: three children, Joan and her husband Jim Mortimer of Stoney Beach, SK; Jim Chisholm and his wife Marilyn of Streamstown, AB; Allen Chisholm and his wife Margaret of Turtleford, SK; eleven grandchildren, six great grandchildren; two brothers: Harold Coombes of Maine Island, BC; Arthur Coombes and his wife Lila-Jean of Surrey, BC; one sister Doris Coombes of Vancouver as well as numerous other relatives. Betty was predeceased by her husband Earl, her daughter Margaret and her son John. The funeral service for Betty was conducted from the Good Shepherd United Anglican Church, Turtleford, Saskatchewan on Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 2:00 P.M. with Pastor Pat Ribey officiating. A eulogy was given by grandson Jonathan Chisholm. Hymns sung were "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "What A Friend We Have In Jesus," and "Blessed Assurance," accompanied on the organ by Bev Meikle and by the Turtleford Community Choir. Honorary pallbearers were all those who shared in Betty's life. Active pallbearers were grandchildren: Larry Tesch, Jonathan Chisholm, Steve Mortimer, Malcolm Chisholm, Brad Blasko and Jeff Cisco. Interment followed in the Mervin Cemetery. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster and Turtleford administered the funeral arrangements. Eulogy for Betty Chisholm Betty Chisholm's life began in Bristol, England on October 20, 1913, as Betty Coombes. Her first four years were spent mainly with her mother as her father spent most of this time in the British army in India. Her father was an auctioneer's clerk while in England and then came to Canada to farm. Betty was a teenager when they moved to Canada. She lived on a farm in the West Hazel district with her Mum and Dad and three siblings: Harold, Arthur and Doris. Betty married Earl Chisholm in 1935 and they had five children: Margaret, Joan, John, Jim and Allan. Mum was always a very busy homemaker looking after the post office in the home, gardening, canning vegetables, fruit and meat and baking bread. She also did a lot of sewing and knitting, making afghans for several of the grandchildren. She also found time to teach Sunday School and belong to the Homemakers Club. She loved her grandchildren; often saying it was so nice to have them around to visit, as she could send them home again with their parents. She never forgot a birthday - children, spouses or grandchildren. Always had a small gift for them. Same with Christmas. She would start saving money in January for the next Christmas so she would have enough money to buy everyone a gift. She was kind and hard working; never interfering into anyone's lives and only giving advice when asked. She often went without things for herself so that we could have what we needed. She enjoyed growing flowers and arranging them in bouquets. When she had spare time she like to do pencil drawings and water colour paintings. She also enjoyed knitting and made many pairs of mitts and socks over the years. She had a very strong faith in God, which kept her positive during some tough times throughout her life. Her love for us was unconditional even when we got into trouble or were misbehaving. We thought she was a wonderful mother and our spouses thought she was a perfect mother-in-law because she never interfered. She read her Bible every day and was well versed in it and whenever we played a bible trivia game which is like Trivial Pursuit only based on the Bible, she would always win. She was so embarrassed when it was her turn because she kept on and on and finally she would say, "Oh, its got to be someone else's turn." She loved to read all kinds of books so you never played any kind of trivia game with her. Whenever we had conversations with her she was always including interesting facts and information. She had an amazing capacity to remember so much that she had read and consequently a terrific vocabulary as well. She did have her problems though driving the car. The way the yard was situated, on the farm, when you backed out to leave, the car was facing uphill. So of course this caused a problem with a standard transmission. Every time she let out the clutch the engine would stall. So then she would push the gas peddle to the floor and pop the clutch and we would all dive for cover because of the flying dirt and gravel stones. In the 1950's, before we had electrical power, Mum had a washing machine that operated with a gasoline motor and exhaust hose out the window. It was so noisy in the house when it was running that you had to shout to be heard. One day while Mum was doing the washing at dinner time, son John hollered, "What's for dessert?" and Mum hollered back "Half hour pudding." But to John above the noise of the washing machine it sounded like "Arf arf pudding." We laughed so hard over it that to this day it is still called "Arf arf pudding." We miss you Mum, but we know you are in a far better place with no more suffering. Card of Thanks We would like to thank all the staff at the St. Walburg Nursing Home for their care of mom while she was there. Thank you to Pastor Pat Ribey, Bev Meikle and the Turtleford Community Choir for helping to create such a memorable service for Betty. Special thank you to Jonathan Chisholm for the touching eulogy. We would also like to thank McCaw Funeral Service for their professionalism in our time of need. Also special thanks to all our friends and neighbors for the food brought to the house, cards, donations and phone calls received, your thoughtfulness will always be appreciated. Donations in memory of Betty may be made to the Alzheimer's Society or to a Charity of the Donor's Choice.