Obituary Overview
Gale Ann Parchoma
Surrounded by the love of her friends, colleagues and family, Dr. Gale Parchoma passed away peacefully at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on October 3rd, 2018, after a 6-month journey with terminal cancer. The big question many of her loved ones and academic colleagues asked was how she managed emotionally and mentally with the reality that her life was coming to an end. Her typical professor answer was, « It depends. » Some moments were better than others. The descent into cancer was a sorrowful journey. Three months before her diagnosis, in December 2017, Gale’s beautiful stepson, Chris Willie, passed away at 32. Accompanied in grief, alongside his amazing mother, Kathleen Watts, Gale and Kath spent much time connecting on the phone and in person, working with the grief of loss and then the grief ahead. Kath visited and helped Gale’s household at key moments, including recently when Gale needed extra support during her radiation treatments.
Additionally, Gale called her children, April Parchoma, Elyse & Emilio Portal, together to spend her last six months with her. While often in enormous levels of pain, she committed the rest of her life to having fun: playing, travelling, and sharing good food and conversations with those she loved. She watched her grand little man Teo Sol grow from a crawling baby into a little boy who could climb and go down a playground slide all by himself.
Gale also realized her vision to have a Learning Garden at Honeywood Nursery Provincial Heritage Site, where she held her first job outside her family farm, starting at age 12, with horticulturist Bert Porter. Securing the project by making a contribution, she visited the nursery to walk on the ground of its future site. Weeks before she passed she completed a final collaborative paper referencing Van Gogh’s Yellow House painting. Additionally she received confirmation about a textbook she worked on for five years as both the first editor and chapter author. It will be published in 2019 – for print and online. Twenty-one English and French Canadian colleagues, former and current students, whom she considered friends throughout the process, contributed. It was good work. Her and her colleagues expect that this text will have an impact on online teaching and learning for some time into the future. As a point of satisfaction, the online version of her textbook will be published on open source, so anyone in the world with Internet access will be able to read it. Along with being an accomplished academic, Gale was also an award-winning poet, and gained great insights from the Shoreline Writers’ Society, and friend and author Judy Leblanc.
As a third generation Canadian of Irish, German and Prussian Mennonite heritage, Gale will be buried in Treaty 6 territory near Parkside at Honeywood Cemetery, next to parents Tena and Roy Muller. The cemetery is near her family’s former farmstead, where she had many fond memories. Gale deeply appreciated her many adventures growing up with her siblings: Gerald Muller, Warren Muller, Colin Muller, and Lesa Boudreault, as well as with their growing families. Time spent with family members Jud Paynter, Bruce Thompson, Debbie Day, Peggy Day and Wanda Hatfield also brought her immeasurable joy. Additionally, Gale’s colleagues formed a part of her community and provided enriching lifelong friendships that she maintained throughout her life.
Gale’s family, friends and colleagues recognized her as a brilliant, creative and generous person, whose core values and capacity underpinned her extraordinary level of devotion to all that she loved. For all that she gave, her family and friends did their best to reinforce a sense of love, value and ease in her death and dying process. She will be deeply missed by all of the hearts she touched.
To share memories and condolences, visit www.parkfuneral.ca “Obituaries-Guestbook”. Arrangements entrusted to Greg Lalach, Park Funeral Home, 306.244.2103.
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Gale Ann Parchoma 2018..
Décès pour la Ville: Saskatoon, Province: Saskatchewan
