Late career in Saskatchewan

The years passed quickly. The children grew up to our pleasure and they were a big help to us. We sent Marianne to Rosthern to the high school there, and then she took teacher’s college in Saskatoon and became a teacher. The Bill went to Rosthern for Grade 11. In the next year, the doctor determined that Willi had cancer and would need an operation. That was hard for both of us. It was difficult to grasp that it was true. He had his operation on April 23, 1958. There was no hope for him. However, after a while he came home, but then went back to the hospital. When Bill graduated from Rosthern, he was in the hospital but could attend the graduation. Our only son wanted so much to have his father in attendance at his graduation. He was very weak but his attention was there throughout. Then we took him back to the hospital. 

That winter, Marianne had finished teacher’s college and Willi had found a position for her for the coming winter. When Bill came home, we took Willi home from the hospital. But his abdomen could fill up again. Then we would take him back to the hospital so that he could be drained. This would provide some relief. However, most of the time he was at home.

One morning he felt quite good. Outside our children were building a self-feeder. He went there and sat for a while with them. It was a very nice day. When he came in, he asked if I would beat up an egg with sugar and add hot milk to it. I did that and he enjoyed it. He said, “I’ll drink that frequently.” At dinner he sat with us. Then he said, “If I could only eat as you do, and could go to work, there is so much to do.”

In the evening, Pastor Peter Ratzlaf and his wife came from North Battleford. He went to the living room and greeted them cheerfully. I noticed that he was very tired. Then he lay down on the sofa and talked for a while. I asked him if he was very tired and did he want to go to bed. He was immediately ready to do that. The Ratzlafs said goodbye and left. The children went to bed, but I stayed with him. Suddenly, he looked very sick to me. He didn’t sleep. He said, “I feel so full.” Towards morning he said that he had such pain. Our doctor, Dr. Krag, was in Ontario on holiday. Peter and Agnes Martynes, Willi’s brother and sister-in-law were also away. When the children were up, I called our doctor in Saskatoon, Dr. Peters. He said he would send out an ambulance. So Willi said goodbye to each of our children, and I went with him and took him to the hospital. Then Peter and Agnes and Mary (Gerhard’s widow) and Willy, her son, came to see him. Willi spike with them in a clear voice. When they were all gone, I stayed with him. He fell asleep soon after. I then went to Pastor Wilhelm Wienses and told him that Willi was in the hospital and asked if I could come to them if I wouldn’t be allowed to stay in the hospital. They lived quite close to the hospital and I went back. I planned to stay the night with him, we had a private room. Around 11 o’clock, he got an injection. Then the nurse came and wanted me to leave. I didn’t want to. But she came again and again and said she would call immediately if there was any change. Finally, I went to the Wienses. Then at 3 am, the call came for me to come immediately. Mrs. Wiens said she would come with me. I asked him at once, “Do you have pain?” It took a while before he answered and his voice was very weak. He had been given an injection and the pain was less. He took my hand and looked at me with meaningful eyes. At 6 o’clock, I noticed that he was unconscious. And at 6:30 am, he stretched out and his breathing stopped. His soul had left. The nurses took him away. I went to the Wienses. I took the bus and went home. I told the children myself that Willi had died. Very sadly, we drove to Peter’s and told them also. One could have expected it but when it came it was still unexpected.

The funeral was in the church in North Battleford. Pastor Peter Ratzlaf gave the funeral homily.  The church was full. It was a long funeral train that followed the hearse to the Ruddell cemetery. Willi’s sister, Helen, had come from Toronto, and mother was also with us. The funeral meal was at Peter’s on the farm and many guests had come. Then our family went again to the cemetery. So many beautiful flowers had been placed on the grave. Bill went to get Art Martynes with his camera. He took pictures of the family at the grave. Then we drove home. Helen came and stayed with us for a week,

Again one had to return to the present. There is no standing still. Marianne had her first teaching position that winter in Eigenheim. Bill was in first year university in Saskatoon and Sigrid was taking Gr. 11 at Rosthern Junior College.

The house that Willi and I were planning to build in Saskatoon was not ready that fall. Bill and I rented a flat. On Dec. 15, 1958, on Bill’s birthday, we moved into the house. It was still far from ready but that winter the building was finished. In the spring, the basement flats were built in. We paid for that house that year. Now we had a home in the city where the children could all come home.

In the summer, we worked the farm that was still giving us a good income.

Marianne went to university and furthered her education. We had two students for room and board (Les Pauls and Arnold Voth in the basement) and a couple in the apartment. In this way, we farmed for a further six years. Until Bill had gone to Saskatoon University for four years and two years in Toronto where he took Business Administration. During this time, Marianne had completed her studies and was working in Saskatoon. Sigrid had one year of university and then entered the nursing program at St. Paul's Hospital. It was three years before she graduated in 1965.

P.S. Agnes (Classen) Martynes passed away in Saskatoon, Sask. in 1984 at the age of 81.