Irene Josephine (Jordan) Schindler

Irene Schindler (nee Jordan) was born Jan. 19, 1925 in the Rhein, Sask. District and passed away Sept 7, 2018 at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre.

She is predeceased by her son Vernon, her husband Herbert, her parents Jacob and Elizabeth Jordan and sister Audrey Vlahovich.

Irene is survived by her son Calvin and wife Carolyn, grandchildren Erik and Martine (Gabriel) and great grandchildren Indira and Adelaide.

As a very young girl her family moved to the Runnymede district where they homesteaded at the northern edge of the Duck Mountain Valley.

One day her Dad took her to the neighbour Whurl's place to stay for the day. Later when he returned to take her back home he explained she now had a new baby sister, Audrey. This was a surprise to her, but what a wonderful surprise - a real live doll.

Irene spoke only German at home and learned English when she started school. She attended Memorial School in "the valley" where she learned her 3 R's completing grades 1 through 8. Her favourite subject was arithmetic.

Irene married the love of her life Herbert and had their first son Vernon in 1941. Unfortunately Vernon died within his first year. In 1943, they had their second son Calvin born exactly 2 years to the day after Vernon was born.

Although Irene and her husband both spoke German, Irene's version was low German while Herb's was high German. Thus German was spoken in their house only when Calvin was not to understand - like what to get him for Christmas.

Irene had a very busy life. As a young woman married to a farmer she was involved in many activities - like raising a family, milking the cows 2 times daily, growing a garden, canning the garden produce, sewing and mending their clothes, doing the laundry by hand on a scrub board all the while keeping the house going. Fall would bring threshing crews that needed morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee and cinnamon buns or cabbage buns followed closely by dinner in the evening. While this was happening, the cows still needed milking, the chickens feeding and the pigs slopping.

After Calvin graduated high school and went on to university, Irene started working at McLeods and then at Eaglestone Lodge. By midlife she decided to complete her GED and then enrolled in hair dressing school in Yorkton. She became a hair dresser and managed her own shop from her home in Kamsack for 30+ years but still found time to have a large garden, many flowers and grow vintage tomatoes for seeds for the McKenzie seed company.

Vegetable gardening and growing flowers inside and out provided her with hours of enjoyment. There is no doubt she had a "green thumb" when it came to plants.

Irene always found time to actively volunteer in her community. She was active in the Kamsack Horticulture Society and volunteered with the Hospital Auxillary. Church was an important part of her life and she enjoyed singing in the choir and working with the CWL (Catholic Women's League) and attending evening prayers.

Music was always a love of Irene's and she enjoyed dancing whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Irene always kept her hands busy. She could be found knitting mitts and slippers and even a sweater for her great granddaughter. Crocheting, needle point and sewing gave her hours of pleasure and she created many quilts - some from discarded blue jeans, others from discarded men's ties and many from crocheted yarn squares stitched together. Her love of flowers and particularly roses could be seen in the many colourful needle point roses she had framed and on display all over her home.

Donations can be made in her name to the Kamsack Hospital Auxiliary.  

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