Memorial Service

Thank you all for being here today. Everyone who knew mom knows how wonderful she truly was, so I thought I would share something about mom you may not know.

When mom was 14 years old, her dad was helping Tommy C Douglas campaign for Premier of Saskatchewan, who is now known as the father of medicare, which started in Saskatchewan. Mom helped her dad by writing out voters lists which, at that time, were all hand written. A few years later mom was stricken with TB and was sent to Fort San Saskatchewan (a sanitarium for TB patients).

At that time there were no drugs to cure TB, and the nurse told my mom, who was to be there for almost 2 years, that she should finish her high school by correspondence. Back then you had to pay for high school. Mom said her family was too poor for her to afford to get her grade 12. The nurse said, "Oh No, that's all changed - Tommy Douglas is the Premier now - high school is free". Mom eventually took her Nursing and many years later started working for the Medicare Insurance Commission of Saskatchewan, Adjudicating Doctor's Claims in a building named the "TC Douglas Building". My wife Donna, as well as several people who are here today, do the exact same job mom did. A few days after mom passed I was in the hospital having surgery - I was thinking of my mom, 14 years old, writing out voter lists, and just reflected on how events unfolded.

My name is Kristi and I am one of Frieda's grandchildren. It is difficult to put into words how much my grandmother meant to me. She was a strong willed & intelligent woman. She was very successful & achieved a lot in her life.

My grandmother loved life; she loved her family, she loved her friends, she loved her squirrels and she loved nature. She also loved her crossword puzzles.

My grandmother taught me that no matter what happens in life, to remain calm and positive you will over overcome it. She reminded me that family is everything. It is lessons like that, that I will remember for the rest of my life. It is incredible what a smile and a kind heart can do.

As long as I can remember my grandmother always shared with me the importance of faith. She was a very religious woman, but never preached her faith on others. She showed me how a belief in God and it helped shape my life. I thank my grandmother for her faith and the god that I found.

She inspired me in a lot of ways and she meant more to me than you can possibly imagine.

She is someone that I admire so much. I hope I can live my life with the same honour and respect that she did. I will always remember the time we spent together.