Obituary of Dolores Louise Pelzer

Dolores Louise Pelzer died on Thursday, April 4, 2024 two days before her 91st birthday. Dolores was predeceased by her husband, Walter in 1990; parents Edmund and Elsa Becker; and brother Dennis Becker. Dolores is survived by her daughter Barbara Schentag; son Cameron (Deborah) Pelzer; and grandchildren Patrick and Reid Schentag, Tia (Frank) Coutts, Daniel (Chelsea) Mayes and Brett (Brie) Pelzer. She also leaves to mourn her sisters Patricia Stamford and Donna Baker; sisters-in-law Hilda Pelzer and Marie Parker; and brother-in-law Ted (Luba) Holtby as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. On Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, 2015 4^th Ave. N., Regina, SK. For those unable to attend, a livestream may be found at youtube.com/watch?v=aorWQtOblBE. Donations in memory of Mom maybe made to Mount Olive Lutheran Church Memorial Fund and/or the Canadian National Institute for the Blind

Dolores Louise Baker Pelzer

April 6, 1933 to April 4, 2024

How does one share the essence of our Mother, Sister, Grandmother and Friend? Every individual is special in many different ways and stages of life. Here are some special memories of a life well lived. Dolores Louise was the first-born child of Edmund and Elsa Becker. She was born on April 6, 1933 on a farm on the eastern edge of the Rural Municipality of Lipton. The family resided there before purchasing land in the Wyber School District in the Rural Municipality of Tullymet. Siblings Patricia, Dennis and Donna followed and the family unit was complete. 

The language spoken in her childhood home was a Low German dialect. Dolores and her many Ukrainian and Polish neighbours learned to speak English for school. She was about seven years old when she started her education at Wyber School. She loved school and the friends that she made there, many who lasted her whole life. Our mother was studious her whole life and developed a love of reading and learning that played a role in many of her later accomplishments. 

Her childhood featured the usual things common to rural Saskatchewan in the depression. Long walks to and from school, herding the cows home from the pasture, gathering wood and carrying water to help her parents were the norm. Of course there were fun things to do as well. She loved her dog, Buddy, and always kept a special love for our pet dogs as we grew up. As a child, playing games and special candy making (when parents were away), filled her spare time. Her younger brother, Dennis, had a special knack for helping in candy making (with spoons stuck fast in the candy) as his adoring sisters recounted often.

Later, the family moved to another farm south of the Village of Lipton where the children attended High School and a house in the village became the family home. Mom loved High School and relished the study of sciences and French. The local curling rink was not too far from their home Mom took up the sport with great enthusiasm. She told of how, as small as she was, that she put both feet into the hacks in order to have strength enough to propel her rock down the sheet. She often told us of one curling event where her scarf fell off while she was sweeping in front of the stone and how disappointed she was to have “burned” the rock, taking it out of play and hurting her team. Hard memories are difficult to overcome sometimes!

She had wanted to become a nurse but was shy of the required mathematics grades to go to Nursing school. Instead, she opted for another career path and attended Balfour Technical School. She learned typing and short hand skills for work in the Department of the Attorney General. Today that would be the Ministry of Justice in the Government of Saskatchewan. She was very pleased to have worked there and spoke of her many co-workers and friends often, particularly Adena Ollinger, who remained a close friend for over sixty years.

In 1955, Mom married her love, Walter Pelzer, and they enjoyed 35 years together. They were devoted to one another completely. Mom switched careers to become a farmer’s wife, homemaker and mother to Barb and Cam. Dad was supportive of her many interests despite her affinity for the nuisance Canadian Thistle in which she saw a beauty rarely seen by others, let alone a farmer. She wore many hats: cook, baker, laundress, nurse, seamstress, draftsperson, landscape architect, horticulturalist and home school teacher when Cam was ill in Grade One and homework supervisor later. After she obtained her driver’s license, she often travelled to purchase parts for needed farm repairs. Then she still somehow found time for reading, curling and bowling, playing Scrabble, volunteering her time for the local Lipton Arts Council and the local history book projects.  

She also was an accomplished artist. She learned oil painting and was skilled in knitting, crochet, cross stitch and petit point. Despite inheriting rheumatoid arthritis from her father and macular degeneration from her mother, she pushed through these challenges with determination and was still able to produce many beautiful pieces that we treasure today. 

She stayed on the farm for a few years after Dad passed until deciding to sell the land and move to Regina to be nearer to her children and grandchildren. We loved having her closer to our families as they grew up. She transitioned from her very large farm yard to a sizeable corner lot with a 4-level split home. Her house in Uplands was the site of many family gatherings and was the place for her grandchildren to enjoy special overnight visits. She also enjoyed every opportunity to babysit/host her “grand-dog Jodie” who gave her much amusement.

She overcame the Regina gumbo to grow a large vegetable garden and fostered many lovely flowers and plants. It's kind of hard to remove the farm girl from the farm it seems. While she made many friends in her new neighbourhood, she was also independent and brave enough to drive long distances to visit friends.  

Mom and her sister-in-law Mary Parker, travelled to visit Pelzer family in Germany in 1997. Mom brushed up on her language skills and the proper High German dialect to better converse. She enjoyed meeting more family members and developed lasting kinship with them. She made many telephone calls to keep up with family and reciprocated as hostess to many on their treks from Germany.

Arthritis took its toll on her knees and the time came to transition to condo style living. Mom found new friends, and a closer relationship with cousins who lived in the same building! New knees meant she was finally able to live a pain-free 'near' life of leisure....... eventually. We say 'near' because she would often come to our homes to help us with various tasks that we had going on or spend time with the grandkids and attend various activities in which they were involved. She always kept herself busy.

Vascular dementia made the struggle to keep up the pace of independent living hard for her. In the summer of 2020 Mom moved to Ashton Manor Personal Care Home and lived a happy life in their care. Unfortunately, Mom acquired Covid 19 in the fall of 2022. After a month in hospital, she needed a higher level of care and moved to Elmview Extendicare Residence where she received wonderful care and attention for the remainder of her days.

Our Mother was, by appearance, a small and diminutive woman. In reality, though, she was a strong, devoted, capable and caring individual. She stood out in the crowd not only because of her red hair (of which she was very, very pleased to have passed on to two of her grandsons) but also because her name was spelled "DOLORES" as opposed to the more common "DELORES". She was intelligent and a thinker who challenged herself to learn new things. She championed the value of people, their need for fair treatment with dignity. These are characteristics her children strive to emulate. She was passionate about politics and worked to make a better world in the ways that she could. She was kind and caring, and last but not least, she was a woman of great faith and trust in her Lord and Saviour. One of her last special moments with Barb was singing the hymn "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine" (by Fanny Jane Crosby). Even though she was unable to remember us like previously, she could remember and sing that hymn in that moment. She knew the comfort that her Salvation brought to her; her sins forgiven. 

Rest well....