Mary Dunlop

Sadly the family of Mary Dunlop announces her passing on November 26th at the age of 92, ten days prior to her 93rd birthday. Sadly and suddenly, Mary was predeceased by her son Sonny on November 24th.

Mary was born to Bella and Peter Shewchuk on December 5, 1919. At a young age Mary and her family moved to the Rosewood area where she met and married Roy Dunlop on May 1, 1936. Together they raised their family of 7 children on a farm in Rosewood. Mary loved to cook, bake, read, sing, garden and get together with friends and family. Mary and Roy lived on the farm until 1978 when they moved to Winnipeg. Roy passed away in 1983.

Mary was predeceased by her husband Roy; her siblings Florence, Mike, Olive and Tony: her son Sonny and daughter-in-law Joan.

Mary is survived by 6 children, 5 grand-children and 10 great-grand-children: Mavis and Earl Asmundson (Tim, Lesley and Bethany; Ron and Christine; Paul, Christa and Gunnar, Axel, Magnus); Ruth; Sonny’s family (Darin, Belinda and Rebecca, Kirsten, Connor Dunlop; Dawn, Mark and Tom, Jack, Mitch Pugh); Isabelle; Peter; Patrick; and Susan. Mary is also survived by her brother Phil and Gwen Shewchuk, sister-in-law Mamie Dunlop, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

To all who knew her, Mary’s smile will never be forgotten.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, November 30, 2012 at Green Acres Funeral Home and Cemetery, Hwy# 1 East at Navin Road. Interment to follow in Green Acres Cemetery.

Thank you to all the staff at Vista Park Lodge for the care and compassion shown to our Mother and the family over the last several months.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Mary’s Road United Church, 613 St. Mary’s Road, Wpg. MB, R2M 3L8, or to a charity of your choice.

GREEN ACRES

Funeral Home and Cemetery

(204) 222-3241

Condolences may be sent to

www.greenacresfuneralhome.com

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Eulogy Read by Peter Dunlop at Mary's Service

Good Afternoon.

Thank you for joining us today in honouring and celebrating the life of our mother, Mary Dunlop.

Mom was born in Gilbert Plains, MB in 1919 – the middle of 5 children to Pete & Bella Shewchuk. Both Pete & Bella’s families had immigrated from the Ukraine when they were young children - moving from a great wheat growing area of the old world to an even better wheat growing area in the new world.

The Shewchuk family moved to Winnipeg for a few years while Mom was still quite young, and then on to Arondale to accommodate Grandpa Pete’s health needs. There, he managed a sheep farm and Mom attended Arondale school – finishing grade 8 and then a couple years of correspondence courses. In 1935, Granny & Grandpa Shewchuk bought their own ¼ section farm a mile or so east, in Rosewood – where they built a house, large barn and other out buildings.

Grandpa Pete hired a young man by the name of Roy Dunlop, who worked on his parent’s farm a few miles west, to work for him. This brought Roy and Mary together, and they were married in 1936. Mom and Dad spent time living and working at both the Shewchuk farm and the Dunlop farm, before taking over the Shewchuk farm in 1941. They then spent the next 37 years farming that ¼ section of land. Through it all, they raised 7 children.

Life on the farm was not easy. Lots of hard work, but also lots of good times and happiness. Money was scarce, but love, laughter and goodwill were in abundance. Mom’s recollections were always of how much she loved living on the farm, from early childhood through adult life.

In truth, Mom was born to be a farm wife – a good mother and keeper of the house. There were always plenty of things to be done. A large family meant lots of cooking and baking – which she loved. Mondays were always laundry day (or as we called it then - washing day). Life on the farm was pretty much self-sufficient – we produced most of our own produce and usually only purchased necessary staples at the store. We grew grain, and had cows, pigs and chickens. We shipped milk in the early years, until the barn burned, and everyone helped out with the milking. Mom always had a large garden in the summer, which demanded a lot of work.

But, notwithstanding the steady stream of things to be done on the farm, Mom always had time for us kids. Looking back through old family albums, we see photos of us small kids outside on a sunny summer day sitting at a table with a nice tablecloth, and having a tea that Mom prepared for us. She always made us feel special – because, in her eyes, we were.

Mom was a kind and gentle person. Raising 7 sometimes rambunctious and argumentive children on a farm occasionally required stern measures to keep everyone in some sort of line. Yet Mom’s method of corporate discipline would be nothing more than perhaps the threat of a wooden spoon, or fly-swatter – especially if you were being a big nuisance in the kitchen.

Mom and Dad loved visiting back and forth with their many good friends in the Rosewood area. Mom especially loved having people come over – pleasant chats, good fellowship, occasionally playing cards and, of course, such visits always included a pot of tea and snacks.

We always had a lot of relatives visiting – Uncles, Aunts, cousins. Uncle Walter & Aunt Mamie were probably the most frequent. Us kids would play outside while the 4 adults would play cards – boys against the girls. I can’t remember if Dad and Uncle Walter ever won any of those matches – Mom and Auntie Mame always gave the men a good trimming, as they called it.

Mom loved playing cards – in fact, we played a lot of cards as a family, and still do. Every time some of us are together, the deck of cards comes out sooner or later. Mom favourite games were cribbage, canasta, king pedro and several others. She loved playing cards almost right up to the end. As she became more forgetful in the later years, we would kid her that she might not remember something, but she didn’t miss counting any points in cribbage!!

Nobody ever went hungry if Mom was around. It didn’t matter who might drop in close to a mealtime, Mom would always make sure there was enough food on the table to go around. When I would come home for a visit, she would greet me at the door with a big hug. Then I would hardly have time to get inside the door and my coat off, and she was busy getting a pot of tea and some snacks ready.

Mom and Dad’s youngest son, Pat, took over the farm in 1978, and they moved to Winnipeg – St. Boniface actually – getting an apartment on Enfield Crescent. They kept in touch with their Rosewood friends, but Mom also made a wide circle of new friends in the city. Dad passed away in 1983, and Mom continued to live there until 2004. At that point, the difficult decision that ultimately confronts all seniors arose – the need to downsize.

She moved to a senior residence a few blocks away for 4 years, then on to another senior residence on St. Anne’s Road in St. Vital, and then to supportive housing. She spent the last 4 years of her life in St. Vital, near to where 2 of her daughters lived. As the years went by, her health showed the inevitable deterioration. She would take a bad turn, but always rallied back to her feet and, much to our enjoyment, be full of life again. During those last few years in St. Vital, she especially enjoyed receiving visitors and chatting outside on the bench swing on nice warm sunny days.

This spring she spent a few months in the hospital, and the end seemed near. At first, the doctor told us not to bother with making nursing home arrangements. But, she rallied again – defied the doctor’s opinion – and was moved into a nursing home in St. Vital, where she spent the last 6 months of her life.

Her final rally fell a bit short but, within a week of 93, she did pretty well - although she was inclined to mention from time to time, that she would like to out-do her mother. But that was not to be - Granny had lived into her 98th year.

To conclude, there are 2 points about Mom that I would like to leave you with.

1) – She was always there for us. Some of us had moved away, but she always kept us coming back home. She kept us getting together for family events, holidays and so on. She kept us visiting together, playing cards together, having fun together, working toward common goals together.

And - through it all, she kept us smiling, laughing, enjoying life, working hard, and being a family.

She was the glue that kept our family together, and she will be greatly missed.

2) - I can’t ever remember a moment in my life, not even one of those brief fleeting moments, when I ever doubted Mom’s full and unconditional love for any of us in our family.

May God’s grace and mercies continue to flow her way – forever and ever, Amen.