Obituary
Beulah Giesbrecht (Née Loewen) was born in Swalwell, Alberta on February 24th, 1922. Beulah married her husband, Emil, on January 10th, 1946. Beulah and Emil raised their family of ten children on a farm near Lacombe, Alberta. After Emil’s passing in 1995, Beulah remained on the farm for several years, sheltering grandchildren and great-grandchildren under the roof that weathered many storms inside and out.
Beulah tended a lifelong love of gardening and flowers. During her time on the farm raising her children, she kept a large plot that helped feed the numerous mouths. The kids recall arriving home to warm buns and pots of soup crafted from fresh veggies and her talent for making a little into a lot. As a mother, Beulah was quiet and patient. Until the youngsters set up their hockey games inside and her plant pots became goalposts, that was when she drew the line. Beulah continued to embrace her green thumb even in her golden years and would situate the plants she’d nourished through the winter on the seat of her walker and determinedly march them out to meet the first warmth of spring.
After leaving the family farm in Clive, Beulah lived independently in a condo in Lacombe, where she made friends with neighbours and continued to host family at every opportunity, sometimes even taking in a straggler or two and treating them as her own. She loved to read and was rarely without a Harlequin by her side, even as she watched the Young and the Restless, Wheel of Fortune, or her favourite sport, curling. It was only in the throes of a curling match, or the family ball games that many of us ever heard her voice raised.
Beulah enjoyed creating, embracing other hobbies such as embroidery and quilting. The paint by numbers she completed adorned the walls of each of her homes. While in the condo, she embraced her independent streak by obtaining a motorized scooter. Adorned in the familiar rainbow cap that outnumbered some of her grandchildren in years, Beulah would pop in a piece of gum and head out to the grocery store. On the occasions her scooter got stuck on the ice, Beulah grinned and assured her worried children, “don’t worry, there’s always a nice young man around to help.” She was close to the fire station, after all.
Once leaving the condo, Beulah moved to Golden Leisure Lodge in Ponoka, Alberta, where she lived semi-independently for six years. She enjoyed showing her visitors the gardens, taking them for tea in the dining hall, and introducing them to whoever they met on their tour. She looked forward to the games the residents would play together and loved to share the jokes printed in the lodge’s annual write-up.
At ninety-nine (and three-quarters), Beulah witnessed numerous changes within her family, her town, and the world itself. Even with the extent to which her family grew, Beulah never forgot a birthday, a spouse’s name, or that of a new baby, despite having twenty-one grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren to date. There was always room on her corkboard of photos for the latest addition. The vast family she and Emil created is the perfect legacy to her life.
On October 30th, 2021, Beulah passed peacefully at Northcott Care Centre in Ponoka, Alberta, where she had spent her final months. She was never lacking for visitors, even during the trying times of the last couple of years. Beulah is predeceased by Emil, her husband of nearly fifty years, six brothers, two sisters, her daughter Audrey Stenerson, and grandson Michael Giesbrecht. Those of us left behind trust they will be awaiting her with open arms.
Due to the current restrictions surrounding Covid 19
a Private Family Service will be held.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Beulah (Loewen) Giesbrecht, please visit our floral store.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Beulah Loewen Giesbrecht February 24 1922 October 30 2021 (age 99)..
Death notice for the town of: Wetaskiwin, Province: Alberta