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Elizabeth Kathleen Mercier (nee Ryan)

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Mercier

September 7, 1930 – January 6, 2021

Elizabeth Kathleen Mercier (Betty) died gently and peacefully at her home of over 50 years in the foothills to the southwest of Calgary on January 6, 2021.

Betty’s life began in Vanguard Saskatchewan, the eldest of two daughters of Jack and Clare Ryan. In 1942, the family relocated north to Hudson Bay Junction, Saskatchewan, where Betty and her sister Patricia grew up. Both were brilliant young women. Betty completed Grade 10 piano and achieved academic excellence in all school subjects. At 18, Betty went to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon to study commerce, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1951. While at the U of S, Betty was an active Newman Club member and, through frequent bridge matches and other club activities, she met the tall, handsome basketball player, Joseph Mercier, and many lifelong friends. Betty worked as an accountant in Regina for a year following graduation.On August 16, 1952, she married Joe, beginning their union of over 62 years.

Her honeymoon year with Joe was in Fort Norman, Northwest Territories, where Joe’s brief career as a teacher began. Returning to Saskatchewan a year later for the birth of their first child, the young couple’s life only got fuller and busier. In Saskatchewan Betty gave birth to the four eldest of her eight children, Peter, Daniel, Margaret, and Joseph. In the depth of a Saskatchewan winter in 1957 with Joe’s oil patch career taking off, they loaded their four children, Joe Jr. only six weeks old, into a VW Beetle and relocated to Calgary, Alberta. In Alberta, Betty gave birth to her four youngest children, Jeanne, Thomas, Robert and Barbara. Through the 50s and 60s, Betty and Joe raised their active and energetic family. They partook fully in the natural beauty and bounty of Alberta, from their first home purchase and immediate expansion on 37th Street SW, to a year in Jasper Place in Edmonton, to a weekend cabin built on a raw quarter section near Cremona, to an introduction to ranching on a section of land west of Millarville. Finally, in 1968, they moved to Windrift Ranches Ltd., a working cattle ranch near Red Deer Lake, their home for the remainder of their lives.

As a rancher, Betty’s job was the hardest by far. She prepared countless daily meals from scratch for her ranch hand children and husband, hosted hundreds of gatherings and events with family and friends, raised chickens and turkeys, made and mended clothing, helped work the cattle and horses, knit socks, mittens, sweaters and toques, helped pull calves, fenced, gardened, drove tractors and trucks, baked thousands of loaves of delicious bread, kept the ranch books and made sure bills were paid promptly. She provisioned the home and ranch, made urgent trips to Calgary for machinery parts, cooked over an open fire on pack trips and pioneered computerized ranch bookkeeping and accounting.

Through all of this, she also ensured her children were comfortable, properly dressed and fed, and excelling in school, sports and extracurricular activities.While not evident from her demeanour and nature, Betty was a fighter and always looked after her mental and physical health. At 50 she began jogging seven kilometers a day, five days a week along country roads near the ranch. She ran until, at age 70, one of her hips was replaced and she toned things down to long daily walks. Betty bravely and silently survived two bouts of cancer surgery and radiation treatment, the last when she was 87. Never complaining or seeking sympathy, she struggled through the heartbreaking loss of her son, Daniel, in 2005 following his two and half year battle with stage four cancer.

Betty was the rock-solid foundation for Joe and her children. This quiet, intelligent, determined woman empowered all her children to graduate from university, launch professional careers and raise families. Betty is fondly remembered by 29 grandchildren and 19 and counting great grandchildren. Deeply spiritual and a devout Catholic her entire life, Betty was predeceased by her father John, her sister Patricia, mother Clare, son Daniel, husband Joe and grandson Nathan.

Due to Covid restrictions, a private family service will be held. Services will be available for friends to view on January 15, 2021 at www.snodgrassfuneralhomes.com.

Betty’s family wishes to recognize and thank her primary care givers throughout her final year, Sonya and Clarice, and all the kind, gentle and skilled staff of Calgary Elder Care and Alberta Home Care.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the Sheep River Health Trust (11 Cimarron Common, Okotoks, AB T1S 2G1), an organization Betty and Joe Mercier supported throughout their lives in the foothills.

Additional information and condolences email inbox are available through Snodgrass Funeral Homes in Okotoks (www.snodgrassfuneralhomes.com or 403-938-3111).

 

 

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