Born In: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Born On: 20/08/1916

Passed Away In: Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada
Passed Away On: 14/05/2011

Katherine Agnes Cockwill (nee Jaszan)
1916 – 2011
The world dimmed on Saturday, May 14, 2011, when the light that was Katie Cockwill flickered and went out. Katie was born on August 20, 1916, the sixth child of twelve to William and Helen (King) Jaszan of Hudson Bay Junction, SK. Her father worked on the railroad and homesteaded a farm three miles west of Hudson Bay. The first eight children were all girls so Katie and her sisters worked like men on the farm. They broke the land by hand, farmed with horses, raised cattle, tended huge gardens, and fended off the odd wayward moose or bear. (Katie has a snapshot of a grizzly bear in a neighbour’s grain bin.) Katie and her siblings attended the old brick school in Hudson Bay. All twelve children would walk a wagon trail to school (no roads then), and when the trail was drifted in, they walked three and a half miles down the railway track to town. Katie and her family loved dances at White Poplar School. When she first met Gordon Cockwill at one of these dances she immediately told her sisters, “He’s mine.” She and Gordon married in April 1935 and Katie moved into Gordon and his dad’s sawmill in the bush on the Fir River. Katie had a four-year-old son and a baby on the way in 1941 when Gordon joined the armed forces and was posted overseas. The sawmill fell into ruin during the five years Gordon was gone so when he returned, he became a Conservation Officer. Katie bore three more children when Gordon was posted in Peesane and then Hudson Bay. Katie then moved with Gordon to Carrot River in 1960, Buffalo Narrows 1966, Cumberland House 1969, and finally Prince Albert 1972 where she lived independently until 2009. Katie was an active member of St. Patrick’s Anglican Church in Hudson Bay where she sang in the choir, and in the Legion Auxiliary of both Hudson Bay and Carrot River branches serving as president of each. She loved to curl and did so into her seventies. Her knitting prowess was legendary and many curling teams wore sweaters hand-knit by her. She volunteered hours of knitting for the IODE well into her nineties and many children in Prince Albert wore the thousands of mittens, toques, and slippers that rolled off the ends of her knitting needles. Katie’s love of traveling took her to Australia, most of Europe (especially her mother’s hometown in Kent, England), the western US, and numerous trips across Canada.

Katie was predeceased by her husband Gordon in 1991, daughter-in-law Carol in 1997, son-in-law Don Friedt 2007.

Left to mourn Katie are her sons Howard (Phyllis), William (Florence), Robert (Heather), and daughters Patricia Friedt and Judy Hermus (Ted); her twelve grandchildren Richard (Cathy), Glen, Robin (Tasha), Erin, Brady, Kim, Dean (Dannielle), Adrian (Kim), Jared, and Scott; her 10 great grandchildren Courtenay, Jackson, Ireland, Katie, Samantha, Caitlin, Chase, Reese, Tyler, Paige and one on the way; her beloved younger sister Isabel Herrod of Meadow Lake, SK, sisters-in-law Terry Jaszan of Creighton and Hazel Bloxom of Abbotsford, B.C.

A Memorial Service and lunch for friends and family will be held on Friday, May 20 at 12:00 noon at River Park Memorial Chapel, 301 River Street West, Prince Albert, SK. A private interment for family members will begin at 10:15 am at River Park Memorial Chapel.

Katie’s family wishes to thank the staff at Parkland Place in Melfort, SK, for the kindness and care they showed towards Katie during her brief stay with them. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Katie’s memory to the Lung Association of SK. Family and friends may send email condolences to www.riverparkfuneral.ca. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the care of Don Moriarty.

• Date : 2011-05-14 06:00:00
• Location : Melfort, SK