Date of Birth: November 7, 1929
Date of Death: May 10, 2018
Mildred Hazel Johnson (nee Polvi ), resident of St. Paul Lutheran Home, Melville, Sask., and former long-time resident of Neudorf, Sask., passed away Thursday, May 10, 2018 at the age of 88 years.
Hazel Mildred Polvi was born on Nov. 7, 1929, to Johan Edward (Ed) Polvi and Lillian Kristhna Jarviluoma (Jarvi), the 11th of 14 children. She was always known and called by her second name, Mildred.
Mildred attended Convent Creek School with her siblings until the age of 16. The school was two miles from their home, and for the most part, they would walk to school every day; occasionally they got a ride when one of the brothers hitched up the horse and wagon, but according to my aunt, that was rare. As children, they grew up speaking Finnish, but when they
attended school, they were expected to speak only English. Many times they were punished for speaking Finnish by having to write on the blackboard or in a scribbler, “I must not speak Finnish in school” or, on rare occasion, with strap or yardstick across their hands.
Chewing gum was a luxury, and mom would tell us how they would save a piece of gum for days, over night on the bedpost, the flavour long gone but the ‘chew’ still there.
After Mildred finished school at age 16, she worked different jobs. She and her sisters, Helen and Helvi, worked as hired girls, moving to the home of the family hiring them for a designated period of time and doing whatever task was expected of them. This could include cooking, cleaning, child care, or it could also be farm chores such as milking cows, tending the pigs and chickens, gathering and cleaning eggs or working in the garden. She would later work in Moosomin in the hotel kitchen helping to prepare food by peeling potatoes, chopping carrots, etc. She also worked in Regina, although we are not sure what she did for work there.
We have been told that mom and dad met for the first time at the Whitewood Summer Fair in the summer of 1947 or 1948. Mildred married Earl Edward Johnson, son of Eric Anton Johnson and Elizabeth Bodil Anderson, on Aug. 28, 1949, at a small ceremony followed by, a reception held at her parents farm. They built a house on their
homestead in the Clayridge District, north of Whitewood, and they farmed there until the spring of 1954, when they left the farm due to the excessive wet years and poor crops. Earl would work for the Sask. Wheat Pool, and subsequently they lived in many different communities before retiring – Davidson, Beechy, Secretan, Chaplin, Dubuc, Parkman, and lastly, Neudorf in 1967.
Upon retiring, they purchased a home on Pierson Street in Neudorf. Together they raised a family of six children, 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and one great- great-grandchild.
The family always lived a simple life; a family of eight, (two parents and six children, plus when grandpa came to stay) lived in a three-bedroom house. Every summer the whole family would vacation by going camping with a tent and tent trailer. Later, in the 1970s, our parents bought their first cabin at Crooked Lake, and much of our summers were spent at the lake. Many happy family occasions were hosted at their cottage, and it became a kind of tradition.
Mildred enjoyed spending time canoeing at the lake, and in the winter, she remained active by snowshoeing, as well as cross-country skiing.
In the mid 1970s to the early 1980s, mother worked part-time as a care aide for the local home care. When our brother, Rodney, became very ill in the late 1970s, both mom and dad made many personal sacrifices in order to help care for him until he was able to regain some independence.
Mom was extremely active and had many interests and many talents. She could sew just about anything, and she went through three different sewing machines while sewing clothes for her family. She was also a talented and accomplished artist, but she did not start to draw or paint until she was in her 40s. She continued to paint right up until she moved from her home in Neudorf to Melville.
Mildred was an avid gardener and was very knowledgeable when it came to plants. Her front and back yards were filled with flowers, bulbs, shrubs, vegetables, fruits and berries, and herbs, all of which thrived. She canned fruit, made jam and jelly, froze vegetables, and baked delicious breads, both loaf bread and traditional flat bread. She had a vast knowledge of flora and fauna and was happy to share that knowledge with anyone who asked.
Mom loved to ride her bicycle, go for walks, go hiking, climb the valley hills and to explore the lush, green coulees at the valley base. She shared these walks with her children, her grandchildren, her sisters and many of her nieces and nephews. So many of the qualities and talents that mother possessed – her love for plants and gardening, her sewing abilities and quilt-making skills, her artistic abilities, which were expressed through her paintings, and so much more – these things have been passed down to her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren because mom took the time to instill these interests in us. We honour her by valuing the things she valued.
Mom loved to travel and she and dad did a lot of travelling together, including some very distant locations. When dad was unable to travel any longer, mom continued to travel with her siblings and her two sons.
A very important part of Mildred’s life was her faith in Jehovah God. She was baptized as a servant of Jehovah and as an advocate for truth in the 1970s. Her faith and her love for God would remain of foremost importance in her life. Even as Alzheimer’s disease took its toll, you could see that her Bible was always out on her tabletop, the pages dog-eared and the spine worn from years of daily reading; in fact, she wore through many Bibles over years of daily
reading.
Mom moved to an apartment in Melville in 2007, and in 2009 to Heritage House. In 2010 she moved to a private care home in Yorkton and to her final home, St. Paul Lutheran Home, Melville, on Feb. 18, 2011, where she quietly passed away in the early part of the morning on Thursday, May 10, 2018. She had battled Alzheimer’s disease for over 11 years, and her family and loved ones faithfully tried to be with her as she did, while watching the woman they so loved and admired disappear and leave them long before she would actually die.
Mildred was predeceased by her husband, Earl; her son, Rodney; her parents; most of her siblings, many brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews.
She will be very much missed by her children: Carol (Dennis) Waldbauer, Neudorf; Patricia (Lindsay) Gabel, Foam Lake; Blair Johnson, Winnipeg, Man.; Gail (Mark) Wilkinson, Beaumont, Alta.; Cheryl (Perry) Hollinger, Neudorf; grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchild: Tara (Wayne) Haas, Colin Waldbauer, Kevin Waldbauer, Shannon (Mark) Buchberger, Ryan (Heather) Johnson, Justin Gabel, Laine (Lee) Knuttila, Shawn (Heather) Gabel, Brette (Jon Nicolaou) Gabel, Troy Wilkinson, Eric Haas, Chase Haas, Fern Gabel, Soren Gabel, Levi Gabel and Delilah Haas; her sisters, Helen Jackson, West Vancouver, B.C., and Norma Pahkala, Rocanville, Sask.; her brother, Blair Polvi of Rocanville, Sask.; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and many, many friends.
Our family will hold a private memorial service at a later date, with interment in the New Stockholm Lutheran Church Cemetery in the Stockholm district.
Our family would like to thank the staff at St. Paul Lutheran Home for the care they provided to mom during the time she spent with them.
Arrangements are entrusted to Matthews Funeral Home, Melville.
