Mavis Bueckert enjoys a blessed life

By Joan Janzen

KINDERSLEY – Mavis Bueckert has been living happily at the same address in Kindersley for the past sixty years. The 93-year-old took some time to share memories from her long and happy life, which began in July 1932 when she was born in a little log house on her parents’ homestead near Kelvington, Sask. At the time, her parents had no idea this baby, who weighed less than five pounds, would go on to live such a long life.

Mavis’ father was a WWI veteran, and her mother was a war bride from England. “When I would complain about something, I would stop and think about my mother, who came from England and ended up sewing under the light of a coal-oil lamp,” Mavis recalled. It must have been challenging for her mother, who only had vision in one eye.

93-year-old Mavis Bueckert enjoyed a short walk at the Kindersley Walking Trail on a beautiful fall afternoon. Photo by Wilma Verhaeghe

A photo of Mavis in her late teens at a fishing lodge at Portage la Prairie, where she worked as a cook. She is pictured with her employer’s granddaughter.

Her mother moved to Canada from England, where she had enjoyed many modern conveniences that she did not have at the homestead, including running water, a sewing machine, and electricity. Mavis was number six in a family of five girls and four boys.

She remembers her aunt sending clothing and apples from Ontario to help during the years of drought. “We lived on what we grew on the land and what we caught,” she said.

The family moved to Porcupine Plain, and then to Weekes, where they farmed 160 acres. At that time, veterans were given land for $10, which they cleared and then had to pay back.

“As kids, we made our own fun,” she remembered. She and her siblings would climb trees, shoot slingshots, and cut down a tree to make a merry-go-round using the tree stump. And at Christmas time, Santa came to visit on a dog sled.

One of her fondest memories was when her dad took the family on a 65-mile-long trip from Weekes to Kelvington with a horse and wagon. “It took us a week to get there, a week to visit, and a week to come back. That was a really good trip. We camped under the stars. We cooked over an open fire. I’ll never forget it. I was 11 years old. We slept under the wagon, and others slept in the wagon.”

Mavis attended a one-room school until Grade 8. She still remembers the names of the four teachers she had throughout those years. The teachers would be invited to the students’ homes for a meal. “They would tell the parents how their kids were doing rather than send out report cards,” she explained. “I wasn’t the best student; I was a wiggly girl,” she chuckled. “I’m still a person who doesn’t sit very long.”

She continued taking Grades 9 and 10 by correspondence and later found seasonal employment as a cook at a fishing lodge at Portage la Prairie. The men at the camp were from the U.S.

“They had fish for breakfast; sometimes they had fish three times a day,” she recalled. “But I refused to cook the fish eggs.”

She continued to work for farmers during seeding and harvesting in the Quill Lake area, and later worked for a farmer at Vulcan, Alta., before working for the Elliott family at Flaxcombe, Sask., where she met her husband, Isaac Bueckert. The couple had four boys and moved to Kindersley in 1965. Their new home was built in 1944 by Cecil Ditson, a long-time Kindersley resident, and for fifty years Mavis enjoyed having the same neighbours living next door. She’s lived in that house ever since. Sadly, Isaac passed away prematurely at the age of 61.

Eight years later, Mavis married Bill McGifford, and they enjoyed life together for nine years before his passing. Now Mavis has nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her twin great-grandchildren live in Dubai and recently paid her a visit.

Mavis had an unexpected turn of events in her life when she reconnected with Peter Tompalski. “I hadn’t seen him for sixty years,” she said. “We were married for nine years.” Peter passed away on November 1, 2018, at the age of 101.

This senior lady continues to enjoy being part of Clearview Community Church, always has a puzzle in progress, and was making a pumpkin chiffon pie for Thanksgiving. “My life hasn’t been an easy life, but it’s been a blessed life,” she said.