SHIRLEY GERTRUDE JOHNSON

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SHIRLEY GERTRUDE JOHNSON (nee COOPER) Peacefully, on Thursday, January 12, 2017 with beloved family at her side, our mama went home. It was far too soon for all of us, but her work here on earth was done. Born on February 1, 1936 in Steep Rock, Manitoba, Shirley Gertrude Cooper was one of ten children to William and Ida Cooper. She is survived by sisters, Joyce and Gladys, and predeceased by her parents and siblings, Ruby, Agnes, beloved brother Hugh, Ann, Alice, Wilma, and beloved sister Jackie. Our mom was a tomboy, and preferred outdoor chores rather than working indoors with her mom and sisters. She would gladly chop wood for the stove, or haul water from the well. She loved to hunt and fish with her dad and brother Huey, and she skipped school many times to go fishing on her own. At sixteen, Shirley went to Norway House and taught school for a year, then moved to Winnipeg with her big sister Jackie. She found work at Great West Life. Together they had many adventures in a city full of all ethnic varieties, and were well cared for by neighbors and friends. After a time, she took a job teaching in Lundar, Manitoba, at Swan Creek School. She married, and raised her five girls in Lundar. Left to carry on her memories are daughters, Brendice, Colleen (Peter), Kathi (Rick), Jodi (Myles), and Michelle; ten grandchildren, Jackie, Brendon, Ashleigh, Sean, Casey, Jill, Dustyn, Sydney, Erica, and Noah, and nine great-grandchildren, Jessica, Charlee, Joshua, Madeline, Flynn, Emma, Gwen, Loevah, and Grayson. Life would begin a new for our mom when she reconnected with her first love. Boyfriend and Girlfriend in their adolescent years, they ended their relationship because they were separated by water. In the summer of 1986, our mom married Lindberg Johnson of Reykjavik, Manitoba. Shirley became a proud cattle rancher's wife, and she loved to bake, garden, knit, birdwatch, nurse sick calves, and cheer on Lindy's senior ball team. They were always excited to have the family come out to the farm and stay over. In 2001, Lindberg and Shirley retired from ranching and moved to Winnipeg. They loved being closer to their children and grandchildren, as well as Lindy's baseball team. Lin and Sherle were always together. Shirley was predeceased by Lindberg on January 17, 2012. Our mom had many jobs in her lifetime. She taught school, sold autopac from the basement of our home, drove a school bus, and volunteered as an ambulance driver. She was also a medical receptionist in both Lundar and Winnipeg clinics. But what she enjoyed the most and what she did the best was being a mother. Our house was a gathering spot for all of our friends when we were growing up. We had an open door, and everyone was welcome. Most of our friends called her mom, too. She was a brownie leader, she built us igloos and tepees, she was a snow sculptor, a lover of Christmas, and a snowmobiler who spent endless hours taking kids for sleigh rides. She took kids by the van load to skate in our dugout in the piggery. She would load up our van to take kids to the shrine circus, a concert, or the Ice Capades. She taught our friends as well as us, to sew and knit. She told great stories and had a wonderful imagination. She loved the water, and she loved Lundar Beach. She loved poetry and literature, and she never stopped learning or trying new things. She loved the casinos in later years, and enjoyed going there with her daughters and friends. Our mom selflessly turned our small town childhood into a great adventure that we will always and forever cherish. Cremation has taken place at Mosaic Funeral Home. Shirley and Lindberg's ashes will be buried together in the family cemetery in Reykjavik in September. Goda Nott Elskan

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jan 21, 2017