Obituary of Roxane Margaret Fayant

Roxane passed away on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.   Funeral Service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 at Wellsprings Victory Church, 1625 Montreal Street, Regina, SK.  A full obituary will follow.

Roxanne Margaret Fayant

Cousin Roxy was born to Dorothy and Edward Fayant on April 7, 1967 in Balcarres, Saskatchewan. Her god parents were Uncle Billy Fayant and Aunty Margaret Desjarlais aka Aunty Girlie. Roxanne had four children: Lacey-Mae, Mikey John, Stevie Ray, Renee and one grandchild Elizabeth. She was a sister to Stan, Kathy, Rick, George, Pat, Wesley, Donald, Dennis and Darcy. She was a God Mother to Kenny and Faith. She had numerous nieces and nephews that she treated like her own children. She had some close friends growing up in Abernethy that she cherished: Shelley McLeod-Fayant, Denise Hitchens, Bobbie Jo Fayant, Michelle Desjarlais. Roxy was a proud Métis woman who cherished her family and had a fondness for the Qu’Appelle valley. She brought laughter, love and quick wit to any family gathering along with the gift of her boisterous spirit.

Roxy had a generous heart and would give the shirt off her back if she had too. She was a hard worker and found her love for construction work as she followed in the footsteps of her father. I remember how I admired how she broke societal norms by becoming a construction worker and removed barriers for women to get of the gender roles of work. She enjoyed working with her brothers and sisters and spending time with family on the weekends. The sheer fact that Uncle Ed and Aunty Dorothy’s kids could work with each other, sometimes live together and still spend every other weekend together is a testament that their family was raised to be close and that legacy of Aunty and Uncle lives on today. She worked with her family to build one of the first red river carts that would later carry her Grandma and Darcy to their resting place in the Lebret cemetery. She could swing a hammer to build a shed and later in the day if she felt like it would bake a cake. That is how skilled she was in her daily life.

Roxy was fierce when she had to be but gave people grace when she felt she needed to. The closeness of her sisters was unparallel to any other best friends around. Pat, Rox, and Kat were close growing up and I loved watching them become teenagers. They made life look like so much fun in the small town of Abernethy but known to us as Fayantville. Whether it was tobogganing down a coulee, having a wiener roast on Sintaluta grid, BBQ with the family at Katepwa, swimming at the main beach in Katepwa or ice fishing with our dads we all learned to be outside. Some of the games she invented with her siblings were hilarious: “push off the edge”, “swing the pillows”, “blind man’s bluff”, “ Little girl who breaks the chair”, “flyer jets”, “can you swim?” and so on. All types of games that required either you are running away from some type of exciting danger or some critical thinking of how to avoid captivity. It was an adrenaline rush for sure and this just showed how her mind was always creating.

Roxy was very fit and had the strength of a man. I always remember her “biceps were jacked up” she was so strong physically. Renee remembers how she loved to work out and try to get her to lift weights or do the workouts with her. Rox enjoyed freaking people out and showing them how she could stretch her leg as high as the fridge. She enjoyed participating in the Dragon boat races. One of Pat’s fondest memories was being in the front of that dragon boat when they won a medal. Rox loved the physical challenge of Dragon boat racing and continued to enjoy it with Cousin Kathy too. Stan remembers how crafted Rox was in her skills of working with nun chucks. She always challenged herself to try new things and stay physically fit.

One of Renee’s favorite memories of her mom was how crafty she was. Rox was an artist. She could turn anything into art. Rox loved baking with Aunty Dorothy and took it to the next level of artistry making a cake that looked like Lebret Church and then made cupcakes with the stations of the cross for the church bake sale. She even enjoyed the intricacy of making the little numbers on the crosses of the cupcakes. The care, the patience and creativity that Rox had was impactful and meaningful. Rox began working with chain mail. Chain mail is the name of armor consisting of small metal rings linked together to form a pattern to form a mesh. It was used by military and Knights at one time. I am sure Rox would describe it more colorful than that. She is the only one I know that had the patience and interest to work with the small metal rings to create art pieces for her family like a guitar strap for Stevie. Stan remembers she was working on a hood, vest and glove. She even showed her nephew Noah how to do chain mail so the art would carry on in the family. One of her chain mail art pieces is the watermark in the remembrance card.

Rox’s love of music was ingrained in her since the family jam sessions at Uncle Ed’s shop across the tracks in Abernethy. Rox learned how to play bass and found her love for music surrounded by family. That passion led her to be the first female in Saskatchewan to be a sound technician for Live Wire which is a huge accomplishment. Again, another barrier she removed for women in the music industry. Also, one of her favorite artists was: Stevie Ray Vaughn who Rox named Stevie after. A fitting name as Stevie is now part of Dave and the Divers. She was a proud mom as she loved to listen to Stevie play even if it was a 3am request of waking him up. He would comply because how do you ever say no to your proud Mom? Roxy loved to dance, laugh, and party. She knew how to work hard and play hard too.

            When her grandbaby Elizabeth was born Rox’s heart belonged to Elizabeth. She was one proud granny and spoiled her to no end. Stevie smiled when he shared that memory of his mom being the proudest granny and that Elizabeth got whatever she wanted from Rox. I imagine that seeing Elizabeth smile brought so much healing and joy to Rox that all the love Rox gave to her grand baby comforted her for some of the losses over the years that she suffered. Her life was not easy and at times she really struggled but it was her family, her kids and her fighting spirit that kept her here with us.

Another joy of Rox’s would be the Saskatchewan Roughriders. She always had her face painted up whether she was in the stands or with the family watching the game on the television. Aunty Dorothy’s family is known to be the biggest fans of Rider Nation. Roxy lived her life in a celebratory mode when she was with family. I say this because if she was comfortable around you, she was never one to shy away from being cheeky and just laughing at life along the way. She would be the first to poke fun of some of her life decisions and I admired her courage and strength to be authentically Roxy. I still hear the song Roxy Roller today and think of her Abernethy days…how cool it was that there was a song named after her is what I thought growing up.

Music is how our loved ones who have passed connect with us. Rox knew this and I felt it yesterday when I was editing this portion of the eulogy when the song Roxy Roller came on the radio in my office. I instantly knew it was her making a connection with me, thanking me, acknowledging that she is okay, and she is watching over us. I sent the video of my experience to Pat and Kathy in sheer awe of how the power of spirit works and how Rox is connected to all of us even after her time on earth is over she is here in spirit. Especially in her favorite genre of communication which is music. Play those songs that remind you of her and I know she will be there with you listening to the songs whether it is Stevie Ray Vaughn, CCR, Bay City Rollers or the next time you are listening to Dave and the Divers know she is there enjoying the songs with you. Let her love of music be a place where you heal from losing her and connecting with her in heaven.

Rox had some great puns when navigating life through humor. She wore Stevie’s sunglasses and then coined the infamous Corey Hart phrase: “ I wear my son’s glasses at night” or during karaoke with the family she would say “ you know the Rankin Family? We are the Fayants We are the Even Rankers”. There are so many memories we all share about Rox and I know those stories will stay alive on earth as she has joined family that has gone before her. She is reunited with her Mom, Dad, Papa Wayne, Darcy, son Mikey, her Fayant and Desjarlais Grandparents. I am sure she walked into heaven with her infamous moustache prop ready to share her love with heaven. In closing, in the words of Stevie Ray Vaughn--- Rox you will always be our “Pride and Joy”. Love Your Family.

Rest in Peace Cousin.