MARY BERGEN
January 15, 1926 – February 17, 2017
Mom was born in Pigeon Lake, Manitoba on January 15, 1926. She was the third child of 11 born to Jacob and Helen Goosen. After Mom was done school, she worked out for various families, helping take care of the children, cooking, and cleaning. Mom also worked at a canning factory in Ontario and at Eatons. Mom and Dad would often tell the story of the 1 day that she worked at Canada Bread and then quit. She never got paid for that day and they would always joke about trying to collect. Mom took sewing lessons with a group of other young ladies. This skill served her well throughout her life.
Mom met Dad through her brother Pete and Dad’s sister Tina (who were married before Mom and Dad). They married in October 1951 and settled in Drake where Dad farmed with his brother Jake. Not only were they grain farmers, but they raised chickens and sold eggs, and sometimes some turkeys and even ducks. Eventually the operation became solely a grain farm. Mom made sure everyone was fed, often taking dinner and supper out to the field, so Dad and Uncle Jake could keep working. She had a large garden which provided potatoes, onions, cucumbers for her garlic dill pickles, strawberries, raspberries, etc. As recently as last fall, she talked about planting a few things in her garden next summer.
Mom was an accomplished cook, baker and sewer. In later years her apple turnovers became famous and were eagerly anticipated when Bob would take them to Blairs fertilizer for a snack. She was active in church with various ladies aid groups. They would often sew quilts and tea towels, some of which went to MCC. Church was an important part of Mom’s life. She strived throughout her life to be able to live by the scriptures and be worthy to go to heaven.
One of things that Mom was the proudest (and became well known for) was her rugs. By her count, she made over 600. Many of them went to family and friends, while many others went to various charities and fundraising activities. She was always curious as to how much money one of her rugs raised for the specific fundraiser. Some of her unique rugs included some Saskatchewan Roughrider and Winnipeg Jet rugs.
She enjoyed watching sports on tv – football, hockey, baseball and curling. She always attended Tom and Kyle’s hockey games. And she curled on local ladies teams and went into ladies and mixed bonspiels for many years, coming home with quite a number of trophies. She was very interested in what her grandchildren were up to and enjoyed seeing them whenever she had the chance, especially having them over for lunch or supper and making them their favourite meal. Granny loved to see her 2 great grandchildren, Maddex and Mason. Mom loved playing games too, from playing with games with her own children, taking part in many rousing games of Rook with other couples, playing games with her grandchildren, or even playing Yatzee or Solitaire by herself to pass the time.
Mom is survived by her 2 sons, Robert (Joanne), and Don (Jonine), grandchildren Tom (Candace), Kyle (Marcie), Kathleen, Emily, and Scott, and great grandchildren Maddex and Mason. Mom was predeceased by her parents and mother and father in law, husband George, an infant son at birth, sisters Helen Goosen, and Margaret Wiebe, brother Henry Goosen, brothers in law Jake Bergen, John Regehr, and John Doerksen, sisters in law Mert Wolfe, Elizabeth Neufeld, Rita Goosen, and Tina Goosen.