Mrs. Theresa Geraldine Patterson

November 16, 1921 - January 6, 2020

Our sweet Mom went to be with angels on the morning of January 6 at the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, at the grand old age of 98 years. Her Epiphany was to go the Light after a brief illness. Theresa is survived by her loving husband, Ed Poffenroth, also 98. Mom and Ed got married in May of 2014, after the great flood of 2013, so they had five great years together. She is also survived by her four children: David (Felicity), Louise (Eldon), Anne (Chris), and Don (Jill); grandchildren Ian (Illisha), Cathy (Steve), Mathew, Christa, Lindsie (Denis), Erin (Lawrence), Claire (Michael), Kelly (Otgo), Jamie (Nara), Tanya, Michael (Chelsey), and Jennifer; Great grandchildren Atlas, Hannah, Orion, Josie, Kian, Roanan, Gavan, Mateja, Healy, Michelle, Thomas, Levi, Wyatt, Maya and Ashton; her niece Dorothy (Keith), and sons Dale (Karen), Randy (Brenda), Rick (Pam), and children Riley, Evan, Anna, Claire and Keira; David Gant; and her sisters Jeannine and Lauren. Theresa is predeceased by our Dad Arthur Patterson, to whom she was married for 66 years, great granddaughter Cassandra, her sisters Lois and Fay, and brother Harvey. She was born in Bassano, Alberta, to Royal and Janette Burrows, where she grew up with great gardens and the joys and sorrows and discipline of farm life. When she married Dad in 1941, she took up farming alongside Dad, raising cows, horses, pigs and chickens, driving the tractor and the team, and tending her garden and her 4 children, Grandma Edith and Dorothy, with the same devotion. In 1960 the University opened in Calgary, and Mom was there in her new Volkswagen on opening day. She went on to teach Grade 3 at Red Deer Lake School for 18 years, and still greeted all her former students by name until the end of her life. Theresa was always devoted to her community and her neighbours, her church, the Ladies Guild at Christ Church, the Millarville Hort Club, the Centennial Peony Bed and Gardening Under the Arch. Mom was Secretary-Treasurer of the Millarville Races for many years, calculating the odds at the Pari-mutuel Betting by hand. She and her Mom Janette, her sisters and daughters took on feeding the judges at the Priddis and Millarville Fair for over 50 years with their famous lunch of baked ham, salads and homemade pies. The judges came as much for the lunch as for the judging! Her life has gone from the Roaring 20's through the Great Depression, World War II, to the Space Age and beyond. Her kind of grit and devotion and talent and loving values will not pass this way again. Memorial Donations can be made in her name to the Anne Vale Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Millarville Hort Club, c/o Sheila 403-931-3989. At Mom's request, a Celebration of Life will be held for her at Christ Church Millarville in July 2020, when the peonies are in bloom. To send condolences and view Theresa’s Tribute Page please visit www.lylereeves.com . Caring for the family is Lyle Reeves Funerals of High River (Craig Snodgrass) 403.652.4242.