Obituary of Marguerite S. Botting

Marguerite Seighold Martens was born in Provost, Alberta on August 5, 1922 to Conrad William (Bill) and Georgia Martens. Marguerite passed away on December 13, 2011 at the Provost Health Centre—Long Term Care at the age of 89 years. Marguerite will be forever remembered and dearly missed by her children, Ken (Shirley), Shirley (Dan), Stan (MaryLou); grandchildren, Tanis (Kevin), Angela (Kevin), Cory (Amanda), Michelle (Jarvis), Cheryl (Mike), Shawn (Ann-Marie), Ryan (Leila), Jeff, Natasha (Corry); great-grandchildren, Becky, Jordan, Morgan, Ashlyn, Rachelle, Ty, Layne, Paige, Rylan, Emma, Abby, Mackenzie, Bentley; sister-in-law, Doris Kvill; as well as numerous extended relatives and friends. Marguerite was predeceased by her husband, Lawrence; brothers, Herman, Willie, Paul (Rosanna), and Peter (Marion). WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE read by Dan & Shirley Stuckky Thank you for coming and sharing this day with us as we celebrate our dear Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma's Life. Marguerite Seighold Martens was born in Provost, Alberta on August 5, 1922 to Conrad William (Bill) and Georgia Martens. She grew up on the family farm in the Eye Hill Lake area with her parents and brothers Willie, Herman, Paul and Peter. She took her schooling at the Stuckky School, a mile from their farm. She truly loved the farm and outdoor life. One winter, she trapped enough weasels to buy a guitar for herself. During the winter of 1946-1947, Marguerite and her friend Cora Guttormson traveled to Calgary to find work. In the spring, they both returned back to work on their family farms. In 1948, she met Lawrence Botting and their courtship started. On October 26, 1951 they were married at the United Church Manse in Provost. They resided with their cousin Clarence Kvigstad on his farm for 5 years. During this time, they were blessed with a son and daughter. Ken was born on August 10, 1953 and Shirley on April 28, 1955. In June,1956, Mom and Dad bought the Allan Shumer farm and moved there with their two children and the family dog, Rover. On March 1, 1958 they were blessed with another bundle of joy, a son, Stan. Mom was a proud wife for almost 40 years, mother, mother-in-law, Grandma and Great Grandma and was always there for her family. There are 9 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. We have learned so many valuable lessons from her and she tried extremely hard to teach us her talents. She was very active in the Cadogan and Metiskow community, a very dear friend, good neighbor and she loved playing tricks or pranks. Mom was always up for a good joke. Mom was a homemaker and a very particular cake decorator. She worked at the Provost Auction Market with Marge Fossen for many years. When Mom retired from the Auction Market Ken's Shirley took over. Mom enjoyed curling, bowling, discing, going to bingos and playing cards. She spent time playing the guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion, and banjo. Mom rode horses, shot a rifle (better than her brothers), trapped and snared animals, milked cows, the list goes on and on. Mom was a very hard worker, but she made time for fun time as well. As the years went by, our family increased; Ken married Shirley Martin, Stan married MaryLou Hansel and I married Dan Stuckky. Shirley, MaryLou and Dan have said many times over that Mom was a very precious and special lady and that they were very proud to have had her for a mother-in-law. With these marriages come 9 grandchildren and later 13 great grandchildren. These special little people brought so much joy and happiness into Mom and Dad's home and hearts. In the fall of 1980, Mom and Dad sold the farm to Ken and Shirley and moved to an acreage just north of Metiskow. Dad passed away in August 1991, but Mom remained on the acreage until October, 2003 when she moved into the Provost Hillcrest Lodge. Mom's health was gradually slipping and moved into the Provost Health Centre- Long Term Care in August 2008 and resided there until her passing. We would like to share some very fond memories of Mom, Grandma and Great. These are very special and dear to our hearts. Easter Egg hunts were a huge highlight. Mom would hide the Easter gifts and loved to tell each one if they were either hot or cold as they went around the yard searching for their gift. The odd time, the granddaughters had a little extra something on top of their gift which came from Bambi. All the family and guests waited for a special treat - the awesome "lefse". We are sure that is why a huge potato patch was planted. When Mom would be decorating a cake and the grandchildren were around, they would be right beside her, with the back of their hand out. She would ever so carefully make the first initial of their name. Sometimes the letter would dry before they would eat it. She always had time for her grandkids. Mom had this funny looking spitting man on the wall in her back entry. She would tell you to stand by it and look at him and pull his tie. He would spit water out at you and then this horrible laugh would come from it. The grandchildren would be startled but would want this done a few more times. Another favorite was when she would sit on a chair and cross her one leg over the other and have the kids sit on her foot and she would bounce them up and down. They had such a great horsey ride. Eventually, they got too big to do this. At Halloween, Mom would make some excellent costumes, dress up along with her friends and go to the Halloween parties and come home with first prize for the most original costume. Mom had a love for gardening and flowers. Every year a huge garden was planted. We would graciously accept any fresh vegetables when we visited. They were so delicious. As we mentioned before, Mom liked to play pranks. When it came time for the grandchildren to go to bed, she teased them about getting the toe jam out of their toes and if they didn't she would come into the bedroom and remove the jam and then pretend to eat it. She always said that is was so tasty. They laughed and giggled and thought Grandma was silly. Talk about getting the kids wound up for bedtime. Another memory, is when I started dating Shirley. (Now that's a long time ago.) I would bring her home and as soon as we stopped the car, the yard light would come on and off to tell Shirley to get in the house and me to go home. This past week has brought a few more memories. When you think that one is not listening to you, you better be careful. Mom had been laying still for some time and had not moved as I sat beside her bed. When a friend, Loretta came in and asked how she was doing I spoke up and said she was pretty quiet and had not moved for a long time. At that moment , she rolled her head towards me and raised her arm. I got the message, she was telling me she got the last laugh. We have so many wonderful memories that we will cherish forever. We will miss our dear Mom, Grandma and Great dearly but she will never be forgotten.