Obituary of Mildred Ariel JOWSEY

July 23, 1935 – Estevan, Saskatchewan
August 31, 2020 – Calgary, Alberta

Mildred Jowsey of Calgary, AB, passed away peacefully on Monday, August 31, 2020 at the age of 85 years.

Mildred Ariel Jowsey was born on July 23, 1935 in Estevan, Saskatchewan at the height of The Great Depression. She was the precious only daughter of Laud and Violet Bergreen and a granddaughter of true Canadian pioneers. She grew up in numerous communities in Saskatchewan as her father was a grain buyer and moved frequently.  Notably, they lived in Hazenmore, Francis and Glenbain.  She was very fond of her pet cats and dogs. As a young child, she loved to stroll her cat in her doll stroller. She enjoyed many memories of her pet Pomeranians and the tricks her daddy taught such as teaching them to play hockey with a flipped over empty tuna can. She left home at the age of sixteen and attended Central Collegiate in Regina before enrolling in nursing at the Regina General. She had wished to become a doctor at the time, but women were encouraged to take teaching or nursing, as was the custom.  In so doing, she blazed a trail for her cousins Phillis Bergreen and Donna and Anne McKillop, who followed in her footsteps and who all trained as she did at the Regina General.

She met the love of her life John at the Regina General. Their meet cute was a tennis match. They were engaged on Valentine’s Day and married August 17, 1956. They had a honeymoon road trip to Yellowstone National Park and toured through the Columbia Valley to Portland. John started his general practice in Semans, SK, where he founded the Semans Tennis Club and commissioned their clay courts. Unfortunately, there was not much time for tennis for these newlyweds as they were busy establishing a new medical practice and Mildred provided nursing assistance. They subsequently moved to Winnipeg where Mildred private duty nursed and John studied for his post-doctorate training in Orthopedics Surgery and worked at the Shriners hospital. While money was scarce in these early years, Mildred economized and her growing family never wanted. They enjoyed many trips to the Winnipeg Zoo and the public libraries. Following Winnipeg the family moved to Regina, SK, and then on to Aberdeen, South Dakota and settled in Yorkton, SK, where Mildred managed John's burgeoning Orthopedic practice. She developed a patient-centric practice and always ensured John's out of town patients were carefully accommodated into his schedule.  She modernized all parts of his practice, including the medical filing system, and pioneered computerized billing. After sixteen years and 16,000 patients, she and John wound-up the practice and she co-ordinated the sale of it, the office, the home and organized their move to Edmonton.

With a smile and a “That is a really beautiful blue coat you are wearing” or some other complementary comment, Mildred would make friends. She would often tell her family of a story “The strangest thing happened today… I was at the … and I saw this … and I met the most interesting person...”  She would learn many personal details about her new friend. The friend didn’t know they had just fallen for her charms and now was in for an adventure be it joining her book club, quilting club, or just coffees served with gales of laughter. She always sent Christmas cards and at times would send over two hundred of them and received enormous amounts of them in return. She maintained friendships from grade school and even grew a friendship her parents had into a multigenerational friendship spanning three generations and two provinces. Once you were a friend, that was it, you had a friend for life. 

Mildred was always a very voracious reader and instilled a love of reading to all of her children. She was a big supporter of the public libraries and formed many, many book clubs. She was always eager to share a good book. She was fond of the classics such as Charlotte Brontë and could still enjoy a modern thriller. She loved words and loved her daily crossword puzzle challenge in the paper. She was a lifelong long learner and was invited into the P.E.O. Sisterhood in Aberdeen, SD, where the ladies would meet and expand on their learning. Likely the P.E.O experience inspired her to help organize and co-found the Edmonton Life-Long Learners program through the University of Alberta. She loved attending ELLA classes and in true Mildred’s style, she extended her study of lessons from ELLA's art history classes and transformed it into an art travel group. She organized their many trips as they toured the art galleries and took in the sights in Chicago, Boston, New York, and San Franciso.

Mildred adored babies, she loved them so much she had five of her own. In particular, she loved the sweet smell of a baby and its pure innocence.  She loved to sing and coo to the babies and teach them to form words with their mouth and was famous for singing the ever-popular “There There Song” sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle. Mildred always wanted the very best for her family and insisted they all take piano lessons in addition to a myriad of activities musical, cultural and athletic; you name it, they did it. She would have her twelve grandchildren for sleepover visits and would make a game and take them on mystery tours where she would take them to a museum or the science center or on a road trip adventure. She always had a little gift to amuse the younger ones and enjoyed them at whatever stage they were at. She was proud of all of their accomplishments.

Mildred was a much-loved daughter, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her memory will always be cherished by her family and her many friends. 

A private Celebration of Mildred’s Life will be held. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Mildred’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com.

In living memory of Mildred Jowsey, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis and Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.