Communityobituaries

Obituaries: Gordon Richard Berry

1925 ~ 2021 (age 96)

Gordon Richard Berry was born on March 8th, 1925 to John and Anna Berry. He was born in Loverna. At six months of age, he moved with his family from Grandpa’s homestead to the Taylor farm house where he lived for another 95 years.

Gordon joined a family which included 2 older brothers- George born in 1918 and Norman born in 1921. A fourth son, Edgar came in 1930 followed by the last sibling- another son Mark in 1936.

John was concerned about education of his sons so he was instrumental in starting and building a little one-room school house near the farm. Gordon recieved all of his formal education and lived long enough to enjoy the 100th anniversary of its beginnings.

He was a born farmer. He loved to work the land- rising with the dawn to get on his tractor to get out into the fields. 4 a.m. was his usual starting time. Even when he was well into his 80’s, he still enjoyed getting up early and checking the cow herd in the spring. He just loved to see the new calves.

A poem written about the 1942 threshing crew by Erling Berg, portrayed his work ethic.

“Fourth comes Gordon, fast and smart

Hes the last to finish and the first to start

A dear old team called Peggy and Trigger

Hauls his loads that are way the bigger”

Dad farmed with his father on the home farm. In 1950 a pretty young women named Marion Tuttle came to teach at Antelope Park School and soon Gordon and she were married. (it seems to have been an occupational hazard of the time for pretty young school teachers to marry a local young bachelor)

A son, Brian, blessed their union followed by a daughter Beverly, another son Greg, number three son Alan, and lastly number four son Kent.

Dad worked hard to provide for his growing family. His mom and dad retired from the farm when Gordon and Marion married. It was still fairly rural when they were first married- primitive roads, no phones or electricity, coal and wood cook stove. A local poet, Pat O’toole, wrote of travel to Loverna from his farm near the Berry’s this way

“The way in those days to Loverna, boys

was rough and crooked and slow

just think of it then in the winter time

With a wagon, oxen and snow…

Waddling up hill and down

And after hours and hours of this

We glimpsed the lights of town”

Loverna was about 10 miles away from his farm. Dad farmed with his son’s Brian and Alan for the rest of his working life. He suffered a heart attack at 68 but it barely slowed him down and he recovered fully. He was never on any medication of any kind until he was in the manor at age 96 He was certainly strong and healthy, although he lost much of his hearing and sight as he got older and certainly suffered from that. Marion suffered from serious health issues as she aged and Dad lovingly cared for her and kept her at home as long as he possibly could. He was a selfless and caring husband.

Dad continued farming into his 80’s with Brian and Alan. He loved gardening and grew beautiful flowers every summer and remained concerned about what was going on into his 90’s always feeling bad about not being as useful as he felt he should be. Mom passed in 2010 but with Brian and Alan’s care, dad was able to remain in his familiar old home until December 2020 when his health declined to the point of hospital admittance and transference to Heritage Manor. Unfortunately this happened during the covid lockdown so he was completely bewildered by it all and didn’t even know where he was or how he got there. When discussing it with us later he told us he thought someone had found him wandering in a ditch somewhere and brought him to the home. He was beautifully cared for there even though he longed for his old home, he became content. It was a relatively short sojourn, as god called him home on October 9th, 2021, thanksgiving weekend. A big thank you from the rest of Dads kids to Brian and Alan for their loving care of dad for so many years.

Dad was a christian who loved god and his fellow man- he was generous, kind, humble and hard working and could calm a crying baby when nothing seemed to work.

Loving son, caring and faithful husband, a wonderful father to his 5 kids and father in law to Gene, Nora and Paula, proud grandfather to Kimberley and Courtney, Justin, Peter, Matthew, Hannah, and Sarah. He set a good example for us all and we will miss him greatly but are very happy he is safely at home.

Services
FUNERAL SERVICE
Friday
October 15, 2021
1:00 PM
Loverna Community Hall
Loverna
Loverna, SK S0L1Y0

Donations
Heritage Manor Ladies Auxiliary
c/o Prairie Rose Floral & Gifts, 400 Main St. Kindersley, SK, Kindersley SK S0L 1S0

For more information contact; Barb Finley at 306-430-7733, Trina Messer at 306-460-8931, or Barb Hawking at 306-460-8349

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