Date of Birth: July 25, 1953
Date of Death: June 12, 2026
Ferne Louise Ward of Saltcoats, beloved wife of John, passed away peacefully at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre Friday, June 12, 2026, with her family by her side. She was 72 years of age.
Ferne Louise Ward was born July 25, 1953, in Kamsack to Henry and Sarah Braun (nee) Thiessen. She was one of 14 siblings. Ferne started school at the age of six and attended many schools throughout her childhood. She lived a short time as a teenager with her sister in Calgary before moving back to Saltcoats.
Ferne met John Ward in the summer of 1972 in Saltcoats and married May 5, 1973, and shortly after they moved to Flin Flon, MB. In April of 1974 they welcomed their first son Kevin and few months later lived in Winnipeg as John was attending electrical school. Shortly after they returned to Saltcoats in July of 1976. They welcomed their second son, Rick. They lived a short time in Ebenezer before moving to Churchbridge and in October of 1980 they had a daughter named Julie. They returned to Saltcoats a few years later after their house was built and have lived there ever since.
Ferne was a devoted wife and a homemaker and while busy caring for three children she was also co-owner of her husband’s company Wards Electric. She enjoyed many things such as camping, gardening, and canning but most of all the outdoors. She had a deep passion for flowers but her favourite one of all was Sunflowers. She also loved sitting on her deck and watching the hummingbirds feed and waiting for the Purple Martins to come back yearly to build their nest. She had a love for country music; there wouldn’t be a day when visitors came over that you wouldn’t hear it walking in. She even got the pleasure of seeing some of her favourite singers in concert, but Alan Jackson was the one she enjoyed most. John and Ferne took pleasure in camping at Madge Lake every summer.
Her greatest gifts of all, besides her love for John, three children were her nine grandchildren; she would light up every time her grandkids came to visit or when they went to see them. As grandparents John and Ferne would be found at mostly all special events of their grandchildren including sports events, Christmas concerts, birthday
parties and Graduations, and so on. She also took deep pride in the yearly town-wide community garage sales. She would make sure it was all perfectly organized and had help from her family and had received many compliments from a lot of people.
Ferne was predeceased by her infant brother; her parents Sarah and Henry; three brothers George, Ken and Ron, and her nephew Bryan Cross.
She leaves to mourn her passing her loving husband of 52 years John; her two sons Kevin (Heather) and children, Liam, Jesse and Evan; Rick and his sons Christian, Samuel, stepson Lucas; and daughter Julie (Clint) and their children Adam, Sierra (Ceejay) and Chelsea; her sisters and brothers-in-law, Jean (Herb) Cross, Lorrie (Dale) Olm, Rose (Ken) Ward, Marianne (Ray) Miller, Vicky (John) Stelmaszak, Violet (Scott) Taylor and brothers Terry, Rob (Loretta), Gord, and sister-in-law Colleen Braun. She will be dearly missed by her family and friends and everyone who knew her. Her family would like to express their gratitude towards the nurses and doctors that showed exceptional care for her at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre, Cindy, Jessica, and others.
Baileys Funeral Home has been entrusted, Cremation has taken place, and a private family service will be held at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to The Canadian Cancer Society.
