March 4, 1934 - June 28, 2021
Our beautiful Mom, Maxine Grace Langford (Ferris), died recently. She was an incredibly strong woman, stronger than anyone I have ever known. She was also a soft, gentle, reserved, and funny woman; a little naïve sometimes and yet so very wise.
A survivor and trooper extraordinaire. She was my hero, a person with amazing grit, a truly wondrous soul. She lost two children, her first born and only son, Dean (25 years old) and her oldest daughter, Dawn (16 years old). How she managed to heal, to survive, to live her life fully after these tragedies is beyond me.
She has lost many people she loved through the years; it tends to happen when we live a long life. She was 87 when her life expired here on earth.
She grew up in an area of Alberta called The Coal Branch. This region consisted of many little villages. To name a few there was Sterco, Cadomin, Luscar, Mercoal, and her tiny hamlet called Coal Valley.
My Granddad worked in the coal mines there after serving our country in World War Two. They resided in Coal Valley until the coal mines shut down in the early 1950's. They moved to Vancouver Island, (Campbell River) after my Mom graduated from her high school in Edmonton in 1952. She had lived here, (Campbell River) a year when she met a fellow named Ken Langford and fell madly in love. It was her sister Deanna who introduced them to each other.
Like many couples back then they got married very young. Mom had just turned twenty and Dad was nineteen. My Dad went to her father and asked for Mom's hand in marriage so they were happily married in March of 1954. In jest and fun over the years we used to blame my Aunty Deanna for her part in the making of this crazy family. They stayed in love and 'in like' until my Dad died five years ago. Up until Mom fell in 2015 he had been looking after her as she had a major stroke when she was just seventy one.
Dad was so good with her and what I loved about the two of them so much was their ability to laugh together and simply grin at each other no matter what was happening in their lives.
Now and for many years I have been her oldest daughter, Deanna, and she has two more lovely daughters, Kathy, and Karen. She considered my husband, David, her son too. She also has many family members such as her sisters, Shirley, and Deanna. And dear friends like Ruby and Johanna.
She loved her grandchildren, Connie, Kevin, Joshua, Ken, Sarah, Dyllon and Zackary. Her great grandchildren, Alyssa, Tristin, Kaitlyn, Hayden, Mira, Isla, Mason, and Sawyer were her little treasures.
Mom and Dad tried many new things through the years. Some for entertainment, some for silly fun but always to learn and keep on learning. Mom spent a lot of time on the back of my Dad's motorcycle. She loved to cruise with her man and they went on many motorcycle road trips. This, of course, didn't begin until their children were mostly grown and gone.
She loved to bowl and did so for most of her adult life. She had to fit all her interests in between working full time which she did since we were in grade school. Before that she was up to her neck in diapers, runny noses, slobbery kisses, and noise. We were and are a loud family! That didn't stop her from taking on other people's kids. Kimberly, our cousin was almost our sister. A friend of mine moved in for a couple of years because she had nowhere to go. That was my Mom, a loving, kind and incredibly good mom.
Our house was full, overflowing sometimes, with all of our friends. And she and my Dad made them all so very welcome. Mom loved to knit and crochet. She was an expert cross stitcher. If she was sitting she was usually doing something. And she loved to write. Poems, stories and in her journals. I have years of her journals with me and when I read them it feels like she is still here with me. She will always be with me and my sisters.
Mom did not want a service so Kathy, Karen, and I will take our Mom's ashes with our Dad's ashes and scatter their ashes together into the ocean they both loved, as Mom requested.
With all our love,
Deanna, Kathy, and Karen.