Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Wintersgill and McDougall families of Baljennie and the Battlefords on the recent passing of Maralyn Wintersgill.
Maralyn McDougall came to Baljennie in 1965-66 to teach at her first school along with Pat Lapshioff, as Baljennie School was made into a two-room school in 1961. In 1966 Maralyn married Edward Wintersgill. They have a family of three children, two sons and one daughter.
After she got married she went back to teaching and the school was changed back to one room. After classes, Maralyn would teach music lessons. She taught our daughter Elaine how to play the piano and to read music.
The Baljennie Multiple 4-H Club started up in 1979 with Eileen Snyder the club general leader. Maralyn was helping lead the club and went on to become a key leader for district 4-H in beef and grain. She also helped with the ceramic, crafts and sewing, as she was a skilled artist, who designed and created a good number of 4-H design and slogans.
Maralyn served as the club general leader for 10 years and organized the multiple component of the regional show each year. It was a busy time for the club, as there were at least 30 members with many different categories for them to enter into.
She helped design and put together floats for the parades in the Battlefords. She had so many good decorating ideas. 4-H stands for hands, heart, head and health and her heart was in the club. The club slowly folded and joined the Eagle Hills 4-H Club.
She became a member of the Baljennie Community Club and was a leader for a few years. In 1979, the club decided to gather local history and family history. I worked with Maralyn and Joan Rayner and we put in many long hours getting letters out asking for family history. These were compiled into Baljennie Reaches Far history book. Copies sold out fast and we could have printed more.
She also painted a mural shaped like the province of Saskatchewan to be put on the community club wall. Maralyn then got a job in Battleford with a senior, handicap, health store called Sage. She was there for a few years until the store closed. She moved back to the farm.
Maralyn had a dream mind to build a little replica church like the old St. Bridget’s Anglican Church that got hit by lightning in July 1952 and burned to the ground with all records lost. It stood in the church grounds next to the cemetery. Her dream came true, as in 2012 Maralyn and her husband Edward built the little church in their storage shed and moved it to the cemetery to where the old church stood. It was small as only four to six people could fit in the church at one time. There was a grand opening on Oct. 7, 2012.
After some health problems, she passed away in the Battlefords Union Hospital. Burial is at the St. Bridget’s Baljennie Cemetery with no funeral held. She will be missed deeply by all.
Sympathy also goes out to the Muzyka family of the Battlefords on the recent passing of Harry Muzyka of Hafford. He attended Eagle Hills School, then married and moved to Red Cross district near the old Porter elevator. They raised a family of seven children, sold the farm and moved on to a various other jobs. He was a member of the Battlefords Central CB Radio Club for many years. He once lived in Speers and moved on to Hafford where he passed away. A funeral was held in Speers.
Some of the harvest is still on hold in areas. Where it’s dry enough to combine, machines have been going as much as possible. A lot of grain will have to be dried. It has been chilly for many days and nights. Not enough warm sunshine, which is badly needed. There is the odd snow flurry just to get things dampened down again. Now we are into October there is still hope of dry harvest weather. With the frost most gardens have come to an end.
Thanksgiving weekend is coming up, so I would like to wish all my readers and the newspaper staff a good Thanksgiving.
