Katharine Dyck (nee Wolfe)
1927 – 2015
Mom was born on August 23, 1927 to John and Tina Wolfe close to Plum Coulee, MB. She had a special relationship with her Dad because both liked to tease and laugh. She attended the Plum Coulee School till the age of 14. Being an only child she was required to help at home. She helped in the kitchen and also with outside chores and trucking during harvest time. When possible she would walk to town to visit with friends or go for coffee at the local cafe where she also worked for a time. In 1945 she met the love of her life. They had a long distance relationship for some months when Dad went to B.C. to work in the lumber camps. On June 9, 1946 Mom was baptized upon the confession of her faith in the Plum Coulee Bergthaler Church. On September 26, 1948 Dad and Mom were married. They moved into an old 2 storey house just south of Plum Coulee and began farming with her parents. In March of 1952 they were blessed with a son, Douglas Bruce. The following year they moved into a brand new house closer to town on her grandfather’s land where they lived until 1990. In December 1956 they were blessed with a daughter, Karen Colleen. Mom was kept busy with all the household chores, raising two children, along with taking care of a yard, garden and milking cows. They sold milk and cream to people in town and shipped cream to the local creamery. Mom did find time to enjoy some curling in the winter and also got involved with the 4-H as a leader for a number of years where she helped teach me to sew. She later joined a “neifereine”, the Grimsby Mission group, which she was a member of for many years. She also enjoyed helping out at the Coulee Thrift Store for numerous years. After the children were both married and gone from home Mom and Dad took a number of trips by car, bus, train and also flew to Hawaii. These trips took them to the east and west coasts and as far south as Florida and into Mexico. In 1990 Mom’s mother passed away and Dad was having more health issues so they moved off their beloved farm and into her mother’s house in Plum Coulee, where they lived for a year. They moved into her former uncle’s place for a year while a new house was being built on her mother’s yard. In 2000 Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and thru this they also discovered that she had pulmonary fibrosis. She recovered from the cancer but not the fibrosis so in 2002 they moved to Cedar Estates in Winkler. They had not lived there quite a year when one of the sprinkles malfunctioned and destroyed most of their furniture and their place. A corner unit was still empty and they were allowed to move in there while the other unit was being repaired. They liked it here much better and so they just stayed in this apartment. Mom had 10 very good years after her diagnosis but the fibrosis started affecting her more and more to the point where she needed a walker and oxygen when she walked, and then 24 hours a day. In December of 2013 when Dad had his fall and could no longer be at home with Mom she slowly became less and less mobile and more and more tired. She had home care in four times a day. These last few months were difficult for her as it became increasingly harder for her to breathe and to even make it to the bathroom. On October 26 we took her to the ER at Boundary Trails Health Center but they sent her home with some medication. She did not improve so on November 7 she was admitted to the hospital. They gave her different medication which didn’t seem to help. Mom was so tired of fighting for air that her wish was to go home to be with her Lord and Savior. On November 17th she was moved to palliative care and on November 21st she peacefully went to her eternal rest.
She leaves to mourn her passing her husband, David J. Dyck, two children, Doug Dyck and wife, Pearl Braun-Dyck, Karen and Isaac Froese;three grandchildren, Melissa and Curt Wall, Sonya Froese and Chris Driedger, Scott and Elisabeth Froese, five great grandchildren, Kennedy, Sawyer and Journey Wall and Zachary and Dawson Froese. She was predeceased by her father in 1975 and her mother in 1990.
Funeral service was held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday November 24, 2015 at the Plum Coulee Bergthaler Mennonite Church with interment at the Plum Coulee Cemetery.
Mom we love you and will miss you but you are breathing freely now and that is our wish for you. If friends so desire, donations may be made in Katharine’s memory to the Canadian Food Grains Bank.
Wiebe Funeral Home, Winkler
In care of arrangements
wiebefuneralhomes.com