Obituary of Doreen Mathilda Gartner

Doreen Mathilda (Rolheiser) Gartner was born on July 30, 1935, and raised on a farm south of St. Donatus. She was the 6th of 10 children born to Alex and Elizabeth (Baier) Rolheiser. She spent her early years on the farm and as you can imagine with 10 children there were lots of shenanigans going on. Much of the time the girls were trying to get away from the boys and endless controversies arising such as who ate all the gum, who drank the tooth ache potion and the boys teaching the girls how to ride bikes by pushing them down hill. Doreen married Bernard Gartner on August 2, 1954; she always said, she knew Bernard was the one when once on an outing with his new car, he let her drive and as she approaches an intersection, she didn’t know if she should turn left or right, and no one would answer her, so she drove straight into the ditch and scratched the car along the fence. Bernard was not even mad at her! Together they raised 3 children, Elaine, Ernie and Sherri. They enjoyed a long happy marriage together for nearly 64 years until Bernard’s passing in October 2018. Mom loved the farm. She hauled grain, milked cows, and had a garden and flowers. She also worked at St. Mary’s school, sold Avon, did crafts, sewed, was a home care coordinator. She also accompanied Bernard often driving truck and camper to all the gymkhanas. As the years went on she indulged in her love of garage sales, antiques and a huge collection of glass dishes and China. She opened a bed and breakfast and enjoyed meeting new people and widening her large circle of friends. Mom was very supportive of her kids, but her eyes really lit up with every new grandchild that came along. Over the years mom made countless pots of homemade chicken noodle soup, grebel topped in mounds of icing sugar, puffed wheat cake, crepes, and cinnamon twists, all to the delight of her children and grandchildren. Doreen passed away unexpectedly on August 21, 2021 at the Provost Health Centre at the age of 86 years. Grandma will be missed by everyone. Doreen is dearly missed and lovingly remembered her 3 children; Elaine (Don) Gartner, Ernie (Teri) Gartner, Sherri (Rod) Soderlund; 5 grandchildren; Dylan Gartner (Katrina), Cassidy Soderlund (Tristan), Kelly (Mckenna) Gartner, Hayden Soderlund (Maddy) and Tia Soderlund; siblings; †Sr Donata Rolheiser, †Hubert (Kathy) Rolheiser, Alex (Emily) Rolheiser, †John (Agnes) Rolheiser, †Hilda (Joe) Rottmar, Victoria (†Mike) Schlosser, Dely (August) Weinkauf, Kathy (Victor) Scheck and Delores (Lenard) Schlosser; in-laws, †Romona (†Pete) Hollman, †Gus (†Mary) Gartner, †Fred Gartner, †Theobald (†Mary) Gartner, Virginia (†Pete) Ackerman, Ida (Vince) Weber, Arnold (Jean) Gartner and Bruno (Shirley) Gartner; as well as numerous other relatives and friends.