Anita Foster (Esbensen)

July 1931 – August 2023

Mom was born in St. Walburg on July 17, 1931.

It was a difficult birth and as a result Mom grew up as an only child. She was, however, surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins and her maternal grandmother as she grew up in St Walburg.

Mom’s mother, Grandma Esbensen (Ireland) came to St Walburg from Manitoba and Grandpa Esbensen immigrated from Copenhagen Denmark.

Mom was raised in a home with quite proper European values and attitudes. After graduating high school, Mom went to the U of S in Saskatoon where she studied Home Economics and then attended Normal School to earn a teaching certificate.

Her first teaching job was in Edam. This is how Mom and Dad met. They were married in July, 1954 and moved to Bolney. Dad built a house for them while working as a Sask Wheat Pool agent and Mom taught school. Beverley (1957) was born while the family was in Bolney.

In 1957, they both gave notice to their employers, withdrew their pension contributions and moved back to Edam as owners of the local John Deere/Plymouth dealership. Brian (1959) joined the family and then Glen (1961) was born. Kevin (1966) completed the family just as we all moved into the new house Dad built two doors down from the Arena.

Mom was kept busy as co-owner and CFO of Foster’s Service while also being very involved in the community.

She was a Guide Leader, 4H Leader, substitute/term teacher, member of the UCW, and she worked with home care. Mom also found time to curl and square dance. Of course, raising four very busy kids is also quite a time commitment.

Keeping us fed and clothed (Mom made most of our clothes for many years) and at practices and lessons on time was pretty much a full time job in itself. She also cut our hair, and that of some family friends.

After John Deere moved away from small dealerships and Foster’s Service had to close, Mom and Dad went “full on entrepreneur”. Mom was the CFO and dispatcher for J R Foster & Sons Trucking as well as dispatcher for the excavating branch of their business. Mom and Dad then bought or built, operated, and eventually sold, a paint and wallpaper store, an insurance agency and a dry cleaning business. In most of these businesses Mom did the majority of the “paperwork” and Dad was involved with operations.

Just at the end of the Foster’s Service era and all through the trucking/excavating period, Mom also was a farm wife. Though she didn’t operate farm machinery or regularly care for the livestock (except for looking after the brooder house), she was the chief gardener and poultry processor. Again, Mom served as CFO for the farm operations.

Mom and Dad finally sold their businesses and retired in 1995, though Dad occasionally helped Kevin with the dry cleaning business. Dad passed away in 1999 (72) after a battle with cancer. After retiring, Mom felt the need to keep busy so started walking, a lot. She often made a three mile round trip into the Seniors’ Club for coffee. She also became a regional representative for the Provincial Senior Citizen organization. This involved travelling to meetings all over the province. Mom really enjoyed visiting these areas and meeting new people.

Mom lived on the acreage at Edam until wrist and shoulder injuries, and balance problems, made it too difficult to live there by herself.

In 2011, she moved into the Turtle River Lodge in Turtleford. With the help of the wonderful homecare staff, Mom lived at the Lodge until moving to the Red Deer Nursing Home in Porcupine Plain in June of 2021.

We are all so grateful to the staff at RDNH for the way they cared for Mom (in so many ways) over the last two years.

The staff assured us, on many occasions, that they enjoyed working with “Sassy” and we know how much Mom enjoyed the playful kibitzing with them.

In early summer this year, Mom developed a respiratory ailment. The staff provided exceptional care for Mom but the illness progressed and she passed away, with family present, on August 3, 2023.

Mom was predeceased by her parents, all her in-laws, Dad and her youngest son, Kevin. She is survived by three children, twelve grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 PM, August 19 at the former United Church in Edam. Memorial Donations could be made to the Canadian Cancer Society.

• Date : 2023-08-03
• Location : Porcupine Plain, SK