Obituary of Vivian Flora McElhinney

Vivian was born to Adolf and Elsa Wenzel at Alsask Hospital on September 8, 1932 and passed away at Jubilee Lodge, Edmonton on December 1, 2022. She was the seventh of nine children, raised on the farm near Oyen, Alberta. 

She started school at the one room Fairacres School near the farm, and graduated High School in Oyen in June, 1950. She worked in Edmonton until enrolling in the Nursing Program at the Edmonton General Hospital. She graduated in the Spring of 1953, but had to make up time lost due to a bout of viral pneumonia.

Vivian and classmate Velma Rusk (Fleck) left Edmonton in August of ‘53 to work at the Provost Hospital. Provost was chosen because an extra $10 a month isolation pay was added to their $100 monthly wages. Of that $110 a month, $30 was deducted for room and board at the Nurses Residence.

In Provost, she met her future husband, William (Bill) McElhinney, and on April 24,1954 they were married at Sibbald, Alberta in the Community Church.

They lived on the farm just south of Provost, raising their two children Dale and Lorna. Vivian worked at The Provost Hospital, the Provost Medical Centre and finished her nursing career with Alberta Heath Services Home Care.

Vivian was active in the Central Lutheran Church. She attended Thursday bible studies and was not afraid to voice her opinion.

She was in Kinettes and helped with Brownies. In the early 1960’s she ran a concession counter at the brand new Kinsmen Ice Arena. Bill was the caretaker there. Her homemade donuts were always a sell-out. She was an excellent cook.

She loved songbirds and worked on building and maintaining bird houses on a Bluebird trail south of the farm. She had Snowy Owls nest in the trees by the farm house. She was musical as well, playing Piano, Accordion and drumming in the band The Happy Wanderers. She was also a good artist, working with paints and pastels.

Vivian & Bill stayed on the farm until 2010, when Bill moved into assisted living, and Vivian took up residence at Crestwood Place.

She stayed at Crestwood Place until 2019, when she moved into supportive living in Summerwood Village, Sherwood Park to be closer to her children and grandchildren. 

In the Summer of 2022, her health forced a move into assisted living at Jubilee Lodge, where she passed away on December 1st, 2022.

She will be dearly missed by her children, Dale (Marilyn) and Lorna (Peter); grandchildren, Mira and Maeve, and her surviving brothers Victor and Ivor, and sister Lyla.

Vivian was predeceased by her husband, Bill (2011); parents, Adolf and Elsa; brothers Theodore and Leland and sisters Renata, Viola, and Berniece.