| Notater |
- With sadness, the family of the late Agnes Hansen, announce her passing at the Norquay Health Centre on November 24, 2023, at the age of 94 years.
Agnes was born February 21, 1929, on the Johnson homestead to Lars and Laura (Fischer) Johnson. She was one of nine children including Oriole, Gilbert, Helen, Olive, Lars, Albert, Orville, and Norman. Her only surviving sibling is Gilbert who resides in Winnipeg and will be celebrating his 99th birthday at the end of the year. Agnes said many times that she just had to live longer than Gilbert, but at 94 years and 9 months she left her earthly home.
Growing up, Agnes attended and excelled at Swan School. She helped out on the family farm, which had an impressive herd of Holsteins, of which 14 of them were milked morning and night. She had fond memories of her and her mom singing hymns at the top of their lungs while milking, and there was always a line of cats waiting to have milk squirted into their eager mouths.
On rainy days, the two of them could be found in the attic going through old letters written to Laura by her dad, Fredrick Fischer. Being that Laura was a midwife and helped prepare bodies for funerals, the girls were often left to prepare the meals, feed the chickens, and of course milk those cows. It seemed the brothers thought those chores were beneath them.
Agnes met Walter Hansen shortly after his return from WW2 and in July 1947 the two were married. They were blessed with Laura, Wallace (passed away at 13 years old), Dale and Lars (passed away at 64 years old). The most retold stories from their childhood was when Laura at the age of 2, under the not so careful supervision of her father, fell through the hole in the hayloft into the manger of a very surprised cow, when Dale at the age of 4 was caught smoking and had to receive a serious talk on the swing set, when Wallace at the age of 9 brought home a shoebox filled with snakes that was later discovered in a closet, and when Lars at the age of 4 was chosen to be sent out in a winter storm to pick up milk from the store because he was smaller and closer to the ground.
From the age of 5 years, Agnes started knitting and crocheting which always gave her extra spending money and a real source of pleasure. Even when she would go visiting, that bag of yarn and needles followed her. As kids, the table and sofa held all that yarn and her favorite question whenever we went some place was "could you pick me up some yarn?" Sometimes we would sneak into the city and never tell her, as looking for a certain brand was time-consuming.
Each year she knitted slippers for the grade two classes in Norquay and Wetaskiwin, where her oldest granddaughter was teaching. When she went to the Norquay Lodge in 2019 she made even more slippers saying, "when I die I need to make sure those grade 2 kids have slippers!" She left behind 90 pairs to be handed out.
Agnes was always described as a hard-working person when growing up, which was valued as an important character trait to have. So, it only seems fitting to mention her jobs: clerk at the Norquay Drug Store, janitor at the Norquay School and Credit Union, presser at Saskatoon Dry Cleaners, maintenance & cook for the Department of Natural Resources. She also owned and operated several small businesses including the Dari Dip and A&L Catering.
When Walter died in 1970, she purchased the Dari Dip and shared numerous fond memories with the many people who supported her. One day an adult came for his usual cone and remarked that it tasted funny. Her quick reply was, "did you brush your teeth today?" Another time a teacher asked her to put more ice cream in the cone, her reply, "I don't tell you how to teach, so don't tell me how to make an ice cream cone."
She was a proud grandmother to Lorin, Laurie, Chrystal, Lyle, Lars, and Gordon, great grandmother to Christopher, Mark, Leif, Lauren, Reagan, and Kenna, and great great grandmother to Ezra and Chloe providing endless love and support to all! This took the form of delivering delicious cakes to school shaped likes bunnies or elves (without the fancy cake pans they have now), buying sporting goods or the "newest" fashions, buying numerous tickets for all the different fundraisers (she once bought 12 magazine subscriptions), providing money for gas, groceries, and rent during university and all of the other important milestones and events in their lives. If ever there was a need, they simply had to call Grandma. Most importantly, she kept track of everyone, calling frequently, listening attentively, sharing funny stories from her past and being an important part of all of their lives! Grandma was the "glue" that kept the family together!
Agnes will be dearly missed, however, her love of family, her amazing sense of humor, her cooking tips, her love of cards, the songs we shared, and her stories will live on in those of us whose lives she has forever touched.
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