Mary Teresa Mitchell

Niech spoczywa w pokoju. On 22 September 2022, Mary passed quietly away in Rosewood Extended Care, her home for the past 18 weeks and is now with Dad, her brother and sisters and her cherished mother.

Born 27 May 1918 on the family homestead in Thorhild, Alberta to Jashko and Rozalia Kaczmarski, immigrants from Trybuchowce, Buczacz, Galicia, she was the fifth of seven. Her early years were ones of hardship as they cleared the land to farm, followed by a Depression which all of her community struggled to survive. After high school, off to hairstyling college in Edmonton and home to open a hair salon in Thorhild as the Depression years faded. During the Second World War, Mom (and several of her girlfriends) came to the West Coast to work on the farms in Langley. There she met Dad, Allan Ardiel Mitchell, during a furlough as he awaited shipping out to the Far East, on the Mitchell strawberry farm in Sperling District, Langley Township. Mom said “Love at first sight.” After a long courtship, they were married in 1951 and lived on the family farm and raised a family of three sons (Gary, Chet and Rece) amidst acres of strawberries. In her retirement, she volunteered with Penny Pinchers and stayed for nearly thirty years, learned to play SCRABBLE and knitted and knitted. After Dad’s passing, she lived independently in the family home until her fall in early March.

Predeceased by her husband Allan (1994), her siblings and spouses; George (Anne), Katie (John), Frances (Ed), Anne (Louis), Agnes (Ero) and Rose (Walter); survived by her sons; Gary (Irene), Chet (Gail) and Rece (Amy), granddaughter Marisa and step grandchildren; Annelies (Dan and little Max Gary) and Portia; many nephews and nieces. She was the last of her generation within the family and within Sperling District. Proud of her Prairie and Polish roots, Mom would want to be remembered as a hard-working, no-nonsense, and independent woman; who demanded much of her family and friends and was always ready to help anyone willing to help themselves.

The family would like to thank the Doctors & Staff at LMH & Rosewood for their efforts in ensuring Mom was comfortable and without pain in these last months.

A Memorial Service will be held at Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, 20786 Fraser Hwy, Langley, BC V3A 4G6 on Friday September 30, 2022 at 11:00am.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation or the Thorhild Library, 210 7th Avenue, Thorhild Alberta, T0A 3J0