MABEL IRENE DEITZ (nee: McLARTY, PASSED AWAY AT THE VULCAN EXTENDICARE JULY 16, 1991 AT THE AGE OF 96 YEARS.
MABEL WAS BORN AT ROCHESTER, NEW YORK OCTOBER 21, 1894. HER FAMILY LIVED IN BARRIE, ONTARIO. HER MOTHER DIED WHEN SHE WAS JUST EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD AND WHEN SHE WAS TEN YEARS OLD, HER FATHER DIED. ONE YEAR LATER, HER OLDER SISTER, EDITH ALSO DIED. SHORTLY AFTER, MABEL, HER SISTER, BELVIA AND HER BROTHER WILBERT CAME WEST TO WHAT WAS THEN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES AND NOW SASKATCHEWAN TO LIVE WITH SOME COUSINS AT WEYBURN. AT THE AGE OF TEN, MABEL EARNED HER ROOM AND BOARD, AS A LITTLE MAID TO A DOCTOR’S FAMILY. PERHAPS THIS WAS WHAT MADE HER SO SELF-RELIANT. SHE USED TO SAY, THAT, LIKE TOPSY IN UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, SHE “JUST GREW”, NOBODY RAISED HER.
SHE ATTENDED NORMAL TRAINING IN REGINA, AND THEN TAUGHT SCHOOL AT VENN, SASKATCHEWAN, WHERE SHE MET AND MARRIED ARTHUR CALDER. LATER, WITH THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER PHYLLIS, THEY MOVED TO ALBERTA WHERE ARTHUR BOUGHT GRAIN FOR UNITED GRAIN GROWERS. IN 1934, WHILE LIVING IN RED DEER, HER HUSBAND ARTHUR PASSED AWAY. IN 1937 SHE MET AND MARRIED ALBERT DEITZ. THEY FARMED IN THE MILO AREA UNTIL RETIRING TO CALGARY, WHERE ALBERT PASSED AWAY IN 1956. HER YOUNG GRANDCHILDREN SPENT MUCH OF THEIR HOLIDAYS AT GRAMMA DEITZ’S AND SO DID ALL THE KIDS ON HER BLOCK WHEN THEY WERE THERE. HER PLACE WAS ALSO A MEETING PLACE FOR FRIENDS AND STUDENTS WHEN BARRY AND GORDON ATTENDED UNIVERSITY. IN 1977 WITH SOME STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT FROM HER FAMILY SHE THEN CAME TO VULCAN WHERE SHE LIVED AND CARED FOR HERSELF IN HER OWN HOME UNTIL THIS PAST FALL, WHEN SHE HAD A MINI-STROKE THAT MADE IT NECESSARY TO MOVE TO THE PETER DAWSON LODGE, A SHORT TIME IN HOSPITAL AND THEN TO EXTENDICARE.
MABEL WAS A PEOPLE PERSON. SHE LOVED VISITING AND BEING VISITED. SHE HAD A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOUR, AND A PERT TWINKLE IN HER EYE ALWAYS.
SHE WAS A PAST MEMBER OF THE HILLHURST UNITED CHURCH, WHILE IN CALGARY AND SPENT MANY HOURS EACH STAMPEDE WEEK MAKING PIES FOR THE CHURCH BOOTH. SHE STILL RECEIVED BULLETINS FROM THERE AND KEPT IN TOUCH WITH HER FRIENDS AFTER COMING TO VULCAN. SHE FAITHFULLY ATTENDED VULCAN UNITED CHURCH WHERE SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE UNITED CHURCH WOMEN. SHE WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE RED DEER CHAPTER OF THE REBEKAH LODGE.
MABEL WAS GRAMMA TO SO MANY MORE THAN JUST FAMILY MEMBERS. SHE ALWAYS KEPT HERSELF AND HOUSE IMMACULATE. SHE LOVED LIFE, PEOPLE, FLOWERS AND PRETTY JEWELLERY. SHE WAS STRONG FOR THOSE WHO WERE WEAK AND NEEDED PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HELP, AND WAS ALWAYS THERE.
SHE WILL BE MISSED BY HER DAUGHTER PHYLLIS GORE OF VULCAN, LOVING GRANDMOTHER OF FOUR GRANDCHILDREN CAROL (KEN) VOOYS AND GORDON (ELVA) GORE ALL OF MILO, BARRY (MARILYN) GORE AND SHELLEY (RICK) ERVEN ALL OF CALGARY, NINE GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, TWO GREAT GREAT GRANDSONS, NUMEROUS NIECES, NEPHEWS AND A HOST OF FRIENDS.
MABEL WAS PREDECEASED BY HER FIRST HUSBAND ARTHUR CALDER, HER SECOND HUSBAND AL DEITZ, A BROTHER WILBERT, TWO SISTERS EDITH AND BELVIA AND A GRAND-DAUGHTER LINDA GORE.
FUNERAL SERVICE FRIDAY, JULY 19 AT 1:30 P.M. AT VULCAN UNITED CHURCH WITH SHIRLEY COLLARD OFFICIATING. INTERMENT VULCAN CEMETERY.
IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, IF FRIENDS SO DESIRE, DONATIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED TO THE ALBERTA CANCER FOUNDATION 1331-29 ST. N.W. CALGARY T2N 4N2.
ARRANGEMENTS IN CARE OF VULCAN FUNERAL HOME, DIRECTORS. PHONE 1-485-2633.