Thanks to Dustin for sharing this eulogy and the interview that he had with his grandma a year ago. (I added pictures to the eulogy and am having trouble adding the interview so look for that later.)
-I am Dustin Halvorson, grandson of Viola and son of Hartley, it’s an honour that grandma asked for me to give her eulogy when today came.
It is very hard to try
comprehend all that grandma has seen in her days. Born on June 8th
1917 the world was a different place.
November
26 – The
National
Hockey League is
formed in Montreal as a replacement for the recently disbanded
National
Hockey Association.
The
average house was $6,313
Average
car was $360
Average
wage $720 a year
-Grandma was born 12 years
after her next oldest sister Beatrice, she had 4 sisters and one
brother. Since grandma was so much younger than her siblings, in her
early years she grew up with her nieces and nephews as friends.
 |
| Ben and Gina Johnson Family Beatrice, Signe, Dorma, Helma Horace, Ben, Gina, Viola |
 |
| Norris, Viola, Darlene, Myron, Hartley |
 |
| Viola on her 95th birthday with Myron, Betty, Hartley, Louise, Darlene, Herb |
-Growing up Grandma was a
daddy’s girl working around the farm. The work ethic and skills she
acquired at a very young age never left her and allowed her to always
excel at everything she did, from sports, work, community involvement
and of course painting.
-Grandma knew how to herd
cows, milk them and gather eggs, and was also known for being a great
gardener. To put it simply, she would be able to get away with not
needing today’s big grocery stores one bit. That is very
impressive. As Auntie Darlene and I discussed, it is just amazing to
think of the work that was done in Grandma's day to feed and clothe
families.
-Darlene also shared
memories with me of how Christmas and Easter the family got new
church clothes from the Sears or Eaton’s catalogues. In the
pictures looking back the Halvorson family sure did dress well!
-Grandma loved sports.
Especially baseball, she was a Star Pitcher for Tenold school’s
softball team. More on this all star baseball career to come.
-Grandma and Grandpa both
drove the school bus and enjoyed all the students they met over the
years, it also gave them something to do all winter.
-Grandma loved giving to
the community. She worked for the ELW for many years. Darlene still
runs into people who remember grandma’s contributions including
being president of the club for 4 years. She taught Sunday school and
spent much of her life dedicating time and effort to the church.
There was lots of fun involved, writing and acting out skits!
-In retirement grandma
broke her hip, this caused her dreams of travel to come a little
short, but definitely gave her paintings, writing and crafts more
attention, especially once grandpa Norris had passed.
-One of grandma and
grandpa’s best memories was driving a Model A deluxe coupe pulling
a Bolar trailer. They went through Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. One
of grandma’s favorite pictures of Norris was from that trip that
hung in her room. To imagine that many miles in a model A. How far
that would of seemed at that time. They really were adventurous.
-Speaking of cars, it is
no secret that there is a love for cars that runs in the blood of
this family. That all started with Grandma and Grandpa and all the
friends they made through antique car clubs.
-My dad said we can’t
forget how much grandma loved music. As a little girl growing up in
the dirty 30’s she didn’t get to take piano lessons as she had
hoped, but she did get to learn how to play violin thanks to Great
Grandpa Johnson taking her to lessons each Saturday. Grandma was an
entertainer with her skills, and she even had her own backup singers.
When entertaining guests and family she would play the mouth organ
and have her little terriers sit and howl beside her. If you are old
enough to remember this moment I am sure it still brings a chuckle, I
know it does for Hartley.
-Grandma has deep roots of
community involvement around Torquay, not just all of what we have
touched on already, but also working very hard on the Torquay History
book called “Our Prairie Heritage” this actually lead to Grandma
and Irene Halvorson being on CTV to advertise the book.
-Also, did you know
grandma won the contest to name the Torquay building known as
“Village Pride”? There is no surprise that name would come to her
as she had so much pride in her work and passed that on to all of us
today, to be very competitive and proud of what we have and can do.
She was always a great inspiration to all of us to always do our best
at what we do.
-My dad recently was
helping the Johnsons farm and was working the land that grandma grew
up on and it made dad think back to the days where grandma would of
been a little girl growing up. He claims that is where the best
tasting tomatoes were grown in the south east of the province!
-Grandma loved living in
Trinity Towers, she had the church on one side and the CO-OP on the
other. This made things very convenient, so even with a bad hip, she
was very independent! No matter where Grandma lived we knew she
instantly would make new friends, her sense of humor and laugh always
so contagious and stories that had you hanging on the edge of your
seat. That and who doesn’t like having a hard worker around to help
whenever possible!
-I always enjoyed going to
see grandma at Trinity Tower. I love to spend time on the golf
course, and part of that is because it seemed growing up that every
Masters weekend for the Sunday final round was spend at Trinity
Tower with the Zirk’s to watch the tournament with Grandma. Maybe
it is fitting that she passed this past weekend during the Masters.
She would of had a great view for the final on Sunday! And how about
an Aussie winning the tournament for the first time ever! Maybe her
Australian great grandson’s visit on Easter weekend had grandma
helping from heaven!
-IT was a special day, and
I told Travis, Darlene’s grand son, it was special to be in a room
with a 26 year old man, his grandma in her 70’s and her mom in her
90’s! That is a rare event, but I know a very special one to Travis
and all of Carol’s family in Australia along with Darlene and her
family.
-In grandma’s later
years I always enjoyed our visits, just hoping to hear a great story
or two that I could have as great memories for once she passed. The
only message I always repeated to her was to think of how busy the
world is because of her. She said, but I am not doing much, just
sitting in bed! I said GRANDMA, your kids are very busy people, they
each have their own families filled with talented hard working
people, some of them now have kids that are busy as well. Think of
all of the relatives we have, it all started with you! That means you
are a very busy woman!
-For a small town farm
girl who grew up with the basics, she did pretty well attracting
visitors from all over the world! She had visitors like Todd Johnson
from Norway make efforts to come visit her along with the Aussie’s
as I mentioned.
-One of my brother and my
last visits with Grandma we made sure to take advantage of a
beautiful sunny day. The nurses didn’t want me taking grandma out
of her room as the hospital was on lock down. I sweet talked my best
to allow us to take her out for just a bit. Then I asked her if I
could get her ice cream and pop to enjoy! They gave me an inch, I was
taking a full mile if I could, I thought this might be my last ice
cream cone with my Grandma! I am not letting a nurse get in our way!
So I Asked grandma what kind of pop she wanted, she said, it doesn’t
matter as long as there is a good FIZZ! She ended up asking for a
Sprite, so think of grandma when you have a Sprite next! Once we got
settled outside we had a chance to just relax and hear stories.
Because of my radio career I always had a passion for interviewing
people. I thought why not record grandma’s comments so when today
came, we all could get one more visit in than expected.
I am so honored to have
spoken today. I couldn’t be prouder of my grandma and all that she
has created and taught. She has been so special to so many people and
been such a great constant for all of us to count on for a laugh,
visit and love.
We can all look forward to
visiting after the ceremony and hearing more great memories that we
get to continue to share for many years ahead of the legendary Viola
Halvorson.
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