| Notes |
- Birth Registration:
Weeks, Hazel Belle, Female, Born at Tillsonburg, Mar, 03, 1905 AFHS Reg. is 227453 -07
Death Registration:
Hazel Belle Wilkie
Date of Death: Dec. 13, 1987
Female
Age: 83 years
Place of Death: Calgary, AB
Widow
Source: Vital Statistics, Province of AB, Reg # 87-08-012622
Obituary:
Hazel Belle Weeks was born March 3, 1905 at Tillsonburg, Ontario. At a young age she came with her parents to reside in the Bulwark district. She attended school at Knob Hill. On December 13, 1926 she was married to Andrew Wilkie. Their union was blessed with three children - 2 sons Allan and Richard; one daughter - Heather.
Hazel loved her family and home, she was a good wife and mother. She held a keen interest in her community and church. She was the Sunday School Treasurer, then Sunday School Superintendant at Knox United Church for 15 years.
She worked for a time as collector for the CPR dray business of Andy's, as a clerk for Joe Bain in his Furniture and Appliance shop, chef at Paintearth Lodge and then Matron of Paintearth Lodge from 1962-1974 when she retired.
After Andy's passing, she came to live in Calgary with her daughter Heather. She moved into Shouldice Lodge for a few years, and when her health was deteriorating, she moved to Bethany Care Centre Calgary in 1981.
Hazel was predeceased by her husband Andrew June 18, 1976, her son Richard February 24, 1981; one brother George and 3 sisters - Elsie, Clara and Pearl.
She is survived by her son Allan (Mollie) of Kingston, Ont., their children Deborah and Kevin; her daughter Heather (Dennis) Williams of Calgary, their children Darryl, Bonnie and Colleen; her Daughter-in-law Peggy (Allen, Wilkie) Brown and her daughters Janice and Jacqueline of Castor, 2 brothers Ross Weeks of Stettler and Omar Weeks of Kelowna; many nieces,nephews, and friends. Also one great granddaughter Jena .
Interment at Castor Cemetery.
Cause of Death - Complications of femur fracture, Parkinsons Disease.
Eulogy of Hazel (Weeks) Wilkie by Fred McHenry
Picture, if you will, 1906 when a small family abandons its efforts at tobacco farming in Tillsonburg, Ont and winds its way West to seek better fortunes in Alberta. Gazing at the stars as the covered wagon approaches their perspective homestead near the hamlet of Bulwark is a tiny one year old girl, Hazel Weeks.
Some four years later, she looses her mother in childbirth leaving her father with the unenviable task of raising a family of seven. It is a tough life in the lean-to shack where the children rapidly learn to fend for themselves. It is through this experience that Hazel develops a resourcefulness, which will support her well in later life. She walks daily barefooted the five miles to the Knob Hill School but his only in the better weather of summer for obvious reasons. Out to work at the tender age of 12 year, she is hired full time three years later as a domestic maid by an English family, the Belchers. It is they who train her in a much more sophisticated lifestyle - one of silver tea services and cutlery and a uniform of a quality that she had never experienced before.
Into Hazel's life comes Andy Wilkie, a tough Scot, a former coal miner, who has taken to delivering fuel to the rural areas surrounding the town of Castor. The relationship blossoms into one which is close and permanent. The year is 1926 and the wedding date is set for December 13, a date which is Andy's birthday and one which ironically was last Sunday when Hazel parted with us and this world. Married on a Saturday and back to work on a Monday, there was neither time nor the wealth for honeymoons in those days. Settling down in a two-room house, they had greater aspirations, moving ultimately to their pride and joy, a beautiful home overlooking the creek in a superb natural setting on the outskirts of Castor.
With a fervor for the quality and wellbeing of their community, Andy and Hazel develop an insatiable urge to participate and contribute; from construction of the curling rink to organizing bonspiels to development of the Elks playground. They are often the catalyst which solidified community support. To them it is more important to fund a community project than it is to afford a new dress or enjoy a vacation. Truly, they believe in a Castor community based on support one for another and all together.
And as they take pride in their developing family, Allan, Richard and Heather they instill in them the values, which they share with each other. They choose their friends not on the basis of what the friend can do for them, but rather what they can do for the friend. From the crusty Dr. McCartney to the lowliest CPR labourer, they choose their acquaintances not based on outward appearance, but rather on the quality of the inner person beneath the skin. With a strong bond to her United Church, Hazel has an innate faith in people which is unshakable and she is rewarded by their corresponding faith in her.
Easy going by nature and down to earth in her approach to life, Hazel tends to be the unflappable Mother and wife. She is one who can take the time to enjoy nature surrounding her and on the other hand an industrious mistress of her kitchen which had few equals for excellence.
If there is one disappointment in Hazel's life it is that of missing out on the opportunity for education; with an instinctive tendency for caring for others she would have been a natural in the nursing profession. But the opportunity comes in a different form; a chance to work at the Painearth Seniors Lodge in Castor. Unsure of her abilities when she is chosen as the Matron of the lodge, she demonstrates to herself and to others her willingness to succeed. She is a person who believes that the elderly can and do enjoy each other together in a setting where they do not become a burden on the younger generation. At the same time she believes in the respect and the need of privacy in one's own room. These are the fundamentals which she preached as a Matron, fundamentals which created an atmosphere of caring and self-support. Truly this becomes one of Hazel's greatest achievements, one in which she can take a great deal of pride. This is the success which is implicitly expressed in the fact that her retirement is delayed three years beyond the normal age of 65.
There is no doubt that Hazel's sense of caring and concern for others is evident in her later years in Shouldice and more recently in the Bethany. If I was to describe the Hazel whom I have known and grown to enjoy for over half of my lifetime, I would have to say it in three simple words
"humble, accepting and caring".
Of those seven brothers and sisters of the Weeks family who had to fend for themselves on the Bulwark homestead there remain Ross who lives in Stettler and Omar in Kelowna. Of Hazel's children, Heather, who has cared for her so faithfully is with us today, but Allan was not able to travel from Kingston, Ontario. There is no doubt that Hazel took great pride in all her grandchildren as she watched them grow and mature.
Darryl, Bonnie and Colleen
Kevin and Debra
Jackie and Janice
And her great granddaughter, Jena
Think back; the one year old on the wagon trek West, the barefooted school girl, the young wife and mother and the Matron who had a strong penchant for caring. Hazel brought to this world much more than she took from it and the world is a better place for her having been part of it.
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My Scottish "Wilkie" Family
1905 - 1987 (82 years)
Occupation
