Obituary of Nels Deward Andrew CHRISTENSEN

March 17, 1923 – Standard, Alberta
November 15, 2020 – Calgary, Alberta

Deward Christensen passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 15, 2020, after living a long and youthful life of 97¾ years. 

He was born in a one-room house on the family’s prairie farm at Standard, AB and attended the South Valley one-room schoolhouse where he received nine years of textbook education. Deward grew up working on his father Otto D. (OD) Christensen’s dairy and grain farm. As the oldest of four children, he had more responsibilities than his siblings for daily chores such as feeding and milking the cows.  As a young adult, he decided to leave the farm and move to the big city of Calgary, AB (by 1946 the population exceeded 100,000) where he worked in the construction trade and Ogden rail yard throughout the late 1940s and 1950s.

In 1960 Deward was hired on with the City of Calgary as an equipment operator where he worked for twenty-five years before retiring in 1985. During those years he drove the city streets mile after mile with sanders, snow ploughs, sweepers, and trucks, to help keep the streets clean and well maintained. With his long tenure there, he worked into a senior role and had the privilege of driving any new pieces of equipment purchased by the city.

Deward become a member of the Masonic Lodge in 1945 and was an active member until the 2010s. He was also a member of the Al Azhar Shriners and during the 1990s was a member of the Mounted Patrol with his horse Goliath. With the Mounted Patrol, he participated in the Calgary Stampede parade and many other parades in Western Canada and the North-Western United States. He and Goliath were once proudly dressed as extras for a Japanese movie that was filmed near Banff during the mid-1990s.  Deward wore a Royal Canadian Mounted Police dress uniform with the red serge tunic and blue breeches with a yellow stripe.

Deward pursued other hobbies with passion during his younger years and during retirement. He bred award-winning Persian cats and collected model trains; once building a huge model train layout that took up most of his basement. In the 1970s he purchased a 1940s era diesel bus that had been converted into a motor home, which was before commercial motor homes existed.  He took family members on tours including his parents, Marie and OD, with whom he travelled to visit the oil sands in Fort McMurray, AB.

Deward overcame all his life’s challenges with dignity and grace.  He will be remembered as a kind and gentle person who was always appreciative of the care and things given to him by others. He was a hard worker who was well-known for his healthy appetite. As a boy, his mother would bake him his own pie as a birthday gift, which he would enjoy all by himself.

He ended his days in a one-room suite at Carewest George Boyack in Calgary, AB where he was happy and received awesome care during the last days of his life. Prior to that he also received amazing care at the Whitehorn Village Retirement Community in Calgary, AB where he lived for over six years and the Rosealta Lodge in Camrose, AB where he lived for several years before that.

Deward is survived by his sister-in-law Allison Christensen (Billy), as well as several cousins including Clifford Sanden, Howard Christensen, Eddie Reiffenstein, Denis Reiffenstein, Pat Verhegge (nee Reiffenstein), Catherine Gregory, Margaret Gibeau (nee Gregory), Ralph Gregory, Barbara Shoemaker (nee Gregory), Theresa Adams (nee Gregory), Gilbert Gregory, and Ron Gregory; and ten nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father OD Christensen, mother Marie J. Christensen (nee Reiffenstein), younger brothers, Oliver D. Christensen and Wilmer Edward “Billy” Christensen; and younger sister Elvera Ross (nee Christensen) and her husband James Ross.

A Private Family Memorial will be held in Deward’s honour. His ashes will be spread with his brother Oliver’s ashes on the former OD Christensen lands southeast of Standard, AB.  In lieu of flowers, if family or friends desire memorial tributes in Deward’s name may be made directly to the GRAND LODGE OF ALBERTA A.F. & A.M. HIGHER EDUCATION BURSARY FUND COMMITTEE, of Calgary, Alberta, www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/7764 with CRA Registration Number 107447153RR0001. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Deward’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com.

In living memory of Deward Christensen, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES, Chapel of the Bells, 2720 CENTRE STREET NORTH, CALGARY, AB T2E 2V6, Telephone: 403-243-8200.