Edith Bertha (Slopianka) Patterson

Edith Bertha Patterson was born on September 11, 1930, in Three Hills, Alberta. She was the first born of Emil and Freida Slopianka who were immigrants from East Germany.

When Edith was a baby, the family pulled up stakes and left Three Hills. They embarked on a grand adventure that ended near Valleyview, Alberta, where they set up a homestead southwest of town. Her younger siblings Martha, Herb and twins, Emily and Ernie, joined the family making for a loud and busy household, as they worked hard at establishing their homestead and making a living.  

As one can imagine, times were hard, but church family and neighbors carried them through. Over the last couple of years, Edith enjoyed reading the history book of the Valleyview area (Where the Red Willow Grew) and she could recall the names of all the neighbours, including listing the children from oldest to youngest correctly in order – even when there were 10 in the family! She had many clear memories of the times that were spent together with friends and neighbours, as well as the mischief that all children seem to get into. Those memories often brightened her days.

There were no schools in the area, so when Edith needed to start school, she was sent back to Three Hills to live with her Aunt Bertha and Uncle Karl for two years, which must have been hard for such a little girl. When the Smoky Valley school started up, she was then able to come back home and be with the family. When she was 11, she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. The days were filled with family, friends, and neighbours in their close-knit community.

At 17 years old, Edith entered the work force out of necessity to help the family. Her first job was working in the High Prairie Hospital to help pay off her mother’s medical bill that totalled $300.00. She made $30.00/month and $15.00 went to pay off the medical bill, leaving her very little to live on, but she managed and recalled that the kindness of various people along the way helped her to do so. Edith then moved to Edmonton, went to Bible School, and worked at the University Hospital. Three Hills was her next move, where she also worked at the hospital.   

It was upon her return to Three Hills that she met her future husband, Charles Patterson. They were married on September 19, 1952, and then moved to Red Deer, where Charles pursued his mechanic career. Corrine was born and, shortly after, they moved to Lacombe where Norman, Donald, and Valerie were born. Life was busy! One of the homes they lived in in Lacombe was on 58th street and it is still there - as cute as ever! Part of its charm is how small it is. It must have been bursting at the seams with this young family.

Another move took place when Charles, Edith and the kids moved 4 miles south of Lacombe on the old C&E Trail, where they lived on the Ziemmer place. While there, Allen, Sandra, and Bruce completed the family, meaning there were 7 children in total. It has been a story in the family that not very many other families would have them over for Sunday dinners after church because that was a lot of people to feed! 1969 saw a final move when Charles and Edith bought an acreage across the road and built a new house. This would remain their home for over 50 years.

Edith loved her garden and yard. The garden down the hill produced abundantly and many people went home with fresh garden vegetables after a visit. As if the huge lower garden was not enough, there was also a garden up top that was handier to get to, especially in the later years when the big garden was too much. When even that became more than they needed, a nice little bed of lettuce was planted in an old tire, and they still enjoyed a bit of fresh produce. And then…the berry patch! It is likely that everyone in the family, as well as many friends and neighbours, spent time in the infamous raspberry patch filling containers with those delicious berries. Her perennials were beautiful and scattered around the yard. Many of us have been able to dig some up and now enjoy them in our own yards.

Edith had many other interests, too, and she always had things to do.

She spent many hours sewing clothes for the children, ensuring they all looked very stylish – or not!

Holidays were a priority and every holiday she would try and do something special, even if it was just a drive in the country.

Edith loved to go camping and fishing; she especially enjoyed seeing the mountains. Some of the kids have said they would get very surprised looks from the other campers when they pulled into a campground and all of these kids started piling out of the truck and camper! Edith loved the north, as well, and enjoyed her Bucket List item of being up there on the longest day of the year. Many family camping trips were enjoyed at Slave Lake and grandkids learned the art of fishing at Open Creek Dam.

Her church was very important to Edith. Edith and Charlie were some of the earliest members of the Calvary Evangelical Free Church in Lacombe, where she helped with Pioneer Girls, taught Sunday School, attended the ladies’ activities, and often welcomed the youth group over when the kids were in high school.

Edith made sure the kids learned to swim and skate. In the summers, she would be up early and had the garden tended to. In the afternoon, she would pack up the kids and head out to Gull Lake, where she would often sit and shell peas while the kids went swimming. In the winter, the nearby pond was cleaned off, where the kids would spend hours skating. Edith tried it once – fell - and broke her tail bone. That was probably the end of her Stars on Ice career!

Because she so enjoyed the outdoors, Edith also x-country skied in the winter when she was able and went for many “walks” on the path by Lacombe Lake with her scooter. If you went along with her on her walks, you were likely having more of a jog than a walk, but she usually brought along some sun tea and watermelon, so the effort was worth it.

Edith had a soft spot for injured wild animals and nurtured many back to health. She also had a fondness for birds and loved to watch them at the feeder right outside her kitchen window or listen to them sing, as she sat in the shade on her deck. Other than wrens…!

Edith loved her grandchildren. The older grandchildren would have different memories of times spent with Grandma than the younger ones, but she made sure she did what she could with all of them. During the summer, she had different age groups over for several days. A stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s was always an adventure! She took grandkids to Drumheller to the dinosaur museum, went on Stettler train rides, and spent time at Gull Lake. They might have enjoyed special camping or fishing trips, or rides around the acreage in the wagon behind the quad. Edith loved to take the grandkids to the Ellis Bluebird Farm, and even when her eyesight grew weaker, this remained a favorite place for her to go. She did not miss a concert, play, program, or event of any kind that involved her grandchildren if it was at all possible for her to attend. One favorite, although questionable, thing to do was place coins on the nearby train tracks and watch the train flatten them!

Birthdays were important to Edith, and she knew each name and birthday of each child, grandchild, and great grandchild, which is no small feat given how big her family is!  Until very recently, every person in the family could expect a phone call on their birthday. 

There were many laughs over the years from crazy mishaps that often left Charlie shaking his head. Things just seemed to happen to her, and then she would have the fun of recounting them using an appropriate accent. She had a knack for both storytelling and accents! She had two favorite stories she loved to tell. The first involved a mishap in an automatic car wash in Red Deer. As one can imagine, it can be tricky to keep your car on the track, especially back when automatic car washes were fairly new. Somehow, Edith got off track and was stranded in the car wash. Despite her best attempts, she was unable to get the car moving and get out of the wash bay. The saga ended when Edith was finally asked to get out of the car, so the owner could get the car out of the bay. This seemed reasonable, and wanting to be cooperative, Edith did as she was asked. However, somehow she activated the spray and the spray came on, drenching the poor man! She found it to be quite amusing. He did not! Another mishap involved a vacuum salesman that got himself into a prickly situation when he sat on a cactus in her basement,   while attempting to demonstrate the features of his product. Life was never dull around Edith!

The last few years were, in many ways, not easy for Edith, but she still enjoyed visits from family and friends and sitting outside in the sunshine when she could. She also maintained her dry sense of humor and often had a witty comment to make about her current situation or life, in general. We often had a good chuckle with her!

Her favorite saying was “Take time and smell the roses.” In the busyness of life these days, we are sure she would encourage us all to do the same.

Edith is survived by her children: Corrine (Bob) Graden, Norman (Linda) Patterson, Donald (Beverly) Patterson, Valerie (David) Regnier, Allen (Heather) Patterson, Sandra (Kevin) Wiebe, Bruce (Sandy) Patterson, 17 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. She is also survived by her siblings: Herb (Shirley) Slopianka and Emily (Al) Ratzlaff and sister-in-law, Faith Slopianka.

She was predeceased by: her husband, Charles, sister, Martha Poffenroth, and brother, Ernie Slopianka.

If desired, memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International at http://www.gideons.ca and  Ellis Nature Centre at http://www.ellisnaturecentre.com

A Funeral Service will be held on Thursday, December 19, 2024 at 2:00 p.m., at Wilson's Funeral Chapel (6120 Hwy 2A, Lacombe).

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Edith Bertha (Slopianka) Patterson, please visit our floral store.