Myrtle Lillian Eng

On October 29, 1998, Myrtle Lillian Eng (nee Lofstrom) passed away peacefully at Mackenzie Place, Grande Prairie, at the age of 92 years.

She is survived by her three loving sons: Ralph of Victoria, Norman (Jennie) of Grande Prairie and Allen (Ronna Jevne) of Edmonton; six grandchildren: Brian, Marvin (Christie), Karren (Albert Schultze), Catherine (Brian Kienzle), James and Barbara (Martin Bonthoux); 10 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.

Myrtle was predeceased by her loving husband, Einar; infant son, Vernon; grandson, Wayne; six brothers and one sister. She will be fondly remembered by family and friends.

The family wishes to express their appreciation to the staff at Mackenzie Place who are so loving and caring of their charges. Residents of the Grande Prairie district are fortunate to have such a facility.

Myrtle was born in Kinistino, Sask. on December 29, 1905 to Jonas and Maria Lofstrom. She was to become "Mom" to many, a pioneer of the Peace River country, a staunch Canadian, inordinately proud of her family, a lover of music and stalwart in the face of adversity.

She became a Mom to her brothers. Myrtle, on the same day, lost her mother to cancer, and an older brother to pneumonia. Since she was the only girl, she had the responsibility of looking after the home, milking 15 cow, and cooking for her father and five brothers. Myrtle had just turned 17 at the time.

She became Mom to her own family. She married in 1928 to Einar Eng, a grainbuyer who had recently lost his wife to cancer. Einar brought to the marriage two young boys, Ralph (five) and Norman (three), his mother lived with the family until her death 15 years later. Myrtle and Einar had two boys, Vernon in 1929, who died at the age of 13 months of meningitis, and Allen in 1932.

She became Mom as well as grandmother to her son's children at various times during her life. She was much a grandmother as an aunt to her nieces and nephews. She took great interest in their well being and was concerned for their happiness and success. She loved them all.

As it was for all our pioneer ancestors, the thirty's was a time of many challenges. In 1930 the family came to Grande Prairie to file on and "prove up" a quarter section in the South Wapiti. Einar returned to Saskatchewan to provide an income.

They returned to Beatty in 1931 and then in 1935 they all came back to the South Wapiti. Arriving at the time of the great flood of 1935, they were amoung the settlers who have had to have their vehicles pulled through the flooded roads by horses along Lesser Slave Lake. During the next 5 years they were back and forth between Webster during the winter where Einar bought grain and homesteading in South Wapiti during the summer.

The war saw the family in Ontario from 1940-42. The worked at the Fleet Aircraft in support of the war effort. In 1942 the family returned to the Peace River Country and Myrtle, Einar, Norman, and Ralph went to work on the Alaskan highway. The arrangement with the Government of Canada and U.S.A. was that during the construction of the highway, the highway and two miles on each side was to be considered US territory. On one occasion when Myrtle was in charge of all the kitchens at camp 49 (Fort St. John) a new Officer Commanding arrived at the camp. He decided that a Canadian flag should not be flown along side the U.S. flag., Mom, who before, had never really noticed or thought about the flags immediately became aware of the Canadian Flag was not flying. Her response was to go to the camp commander and inform him that until the Canadian Flag was flying again - no one was going to eat. After a number of communications from the camp to Washington, D.C. to Ottawa to Washington and back to the camp the flag went up.

In Myrtle's own words "Following the war my husband bought grain for a period of time, and we had a restaurant in High Prairie. It was a big job, but I kind of enjoyed it. I guess it was the way I was raised, always feeding people, I loved to cook".

Myrtle and Einar sold the cafe in 1956 and went to work as cooks at various oil drilling sites in the Peace River Country. Einar died January 5, 1959. Myrtle worked for awhile after and then moved to Grande Prairie, and lived with her son, Norman and his children, Karren and Wayne.

Myrtle was a life member of the OORP, having been a member since 1947. She attended the Grande Prairie Chapter for many years.

Music was an important part of Myrtle's life. She was an organist at the local church in Beatty, Sask. Einar was also a musician who had played in the Regina Symphony Orchestra. With Einar she was active in the formation of a small orchestra in Beatty and an active member of the local theatre group established under their direction.

Myrtle struggled with her health for a large part of her life. In her own words "I have seen a lot of sickness in my time. I think of a sick body like a machine with a part that's not working just right. That doesn't mean the machine is no good. You just take out the broken part and the machine is repaired. Once, when a doctor asked me about surgeries, I said, 'Do You want to hear about all of them?' When I finished he said, They didn't leave a darn thing for me to remove." In her last years she had a mastectomy because of cancer, an intestinal resection, a sudden loss of sight, and a finally a loss of hearing. The machine finally could not be repaired any more. So we say goodbye to Myrtle Eng's body, but not to her memory.

Funeral service will be held on Monday, November 2, 1998 at 2 p.m. at Oliver's Grande Prairie Funeral Chapel, 10005-107 Avenue, Grande Prairie with Pastor Lew Wiegel officiating.