Kimmett, Lorraine
Kimmett,Lorraine
February 16, 1928 – June 9, 2022
Mom went home to be with Dad on Thursday, June 9 after waiting over 30 years for their reunion. Grandma Lorraine (MAMMA!) had completed special photo albums chronicling all of her grandchildrens’ lives and her creative work was done. Great Grandma had put together gifts, cards, and notes for her four precious great grandchildren and visited with her two youngest just one week ago in her Cochrane home. She said “I will be going soon,” and that is exactly what she did on her own terms and timeline. Mom never wanted to live anywhere other than her own house and she walked out her front door and down the steps with the paramedics after a fall in her kitchen just a week before she passed away in Canmore Hospital.
Mom was born in Torquay, Saskatchewan, the seventh child and second youngest of Gunnar and Anna Tannas. She often joked that Ma and Pa had so many children that they ran out of names so she never got a middle one! Her childhood was spent moving multiple times in Saskatchewan and Alberta attending school and working in Grandpa’s retail store and farming ventures. One of her fondest memories was riding horses to school. In the late forties her family settled in Rockyford and Standard where she met a dashing young fellow who had returned from WW2. William Eugene (Bill) Kimmett and Lorraine Tannas were married on October 2, 1949. They resided in Calgary where their first child Rhonda Darlene was born in 1951. The young family moved back to Standard to run the Banner Hotel and added son Kelly William in 1955 before moving to the Kimmett farm near Strathmore in 1957 where their family was completed with the birth of Russell Brian in 1959.
It was a great life on the farm and Mom’s house, yard and garden were always spotless. She was a tireless worker and an incredible cook who was very proud of her Norwegian heritage which was often expressed in culinary delights that she made such as rullepolse, lefsa, spice eel, ebelskiver, Christmas cake and the house clearing lutefisk. Neighbors who helped with major farming events such as branding always looked forward to Mom’s spectacular meals and desserts. Mom loved creating and crafting and won many prizes at the Nightingale Women’s Institute for her crocheting, knitting, sewing, baking, pickles and preserves. As her children grew she loved attending their many sporting events and later on encouraging their attendance and graduation from the University of Alberta with all three convocating with degrees in Pharmacy. She never got to finish high school but she was fiercely proud of her children and later all seven of her grandchildren obtaining university degrees.
In the mid seventies Mom and Dad retired from farming full time and were able to travel, going on trips to Hawaii, Panama Canal, Alaska, the Caribbean and cruising around Canada and the U.S. in their motorhome. They became grandparents in 1981 with the birth of Lindsay Leigh followed by Taylor William, Kelsey Bryn, and Reid Matthew. The kids loved visiting the farm and Mom and Dad helped out with babysitting and the various pharmacy businesses. Mom lost the love of her life in August of 1991 and moved to Canmore. As she said “I wait for him to come home and he doesn’t so I can’t stay on the farm anymore.” Mom had to learn how to make it on her own becoming a strong, independent, determined, (might we say stubborn!) single woman. She travelled extensively in the nineties going on trips with Rhonda to Switzerland, France, Italy and travelling with the whole family to Puerto Vallarta in 1995. A highlight was a Baltic cruise with Rhonda and Kelly’s families in 1998 where she got to tour around her beloved Norway. A second wave of grandchildren from Russ and Angela began in 1994 with the birth of Hunter Storm followed by McConnell James and Carly Rayne. As they grew older Mom travelled with Russ and Angela’s family to Belize, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, Maui and Costa Rica. She also enjoyed many happy days at Rhonda and Russ’ cabins on Columbia Lake and Flathead Lake in Montana.
Mom loved her Cochrane home and worked diligently to keep it spotless (dust never had a chance) and tended to her tomatoes and flower beds. She enjoyed family gatherings and loved becoming as she so aptly put it, “I am GREAT” in 2016 with the birth of great grandchild Charlotte Lindsay followed by Simon Kellen, William Jack, and Elle Irene.
Lorraine is survived by her daughter Rhonda (Drew) Wilson and sons Kelly (Dianne) and Russ (Angela), her grandchildren Taylor (Jocelyn) Kelsey, Reid (Leslie), Hunter (Kate), McConnell (Meagan) and Carly and her great grandchildren. She is also survived by sister in laws Dorothy Farrell and Dorothy Kimmett and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her beloved husband Bill in 1991 and her precious eldest grandchild Lindsay in 2008.
A private family graveside service took place on Sunday, June 11 and the family asks in lieu of flowers to just be kind and do something good for someone today in her name. Arrangements were handled by Mountain View Funeral Home and condolences and memories may be passed on to the family at https://www.sharingmemoriesadmin.ca/preview/mountainview/lorraine-kimmett/87156
Sincere thanks to the staff at Canmore Hospital for their compassionate care for Mom in her final week. Mom said’ They are all very nice to me.”
“When I go, don’t learn to live without me, just learn
to live with my love in a different way. And if you
need to see me, close your eyes, or look in your
shadow when the sun shines. I’m there. Sit with me
in the quiet and you will know I did not leave. There
is no leaving when a soul is blended with another. When
I go, don’t learn to live without me, just learn to look for
me in the moments. I will be there.”
Bye Mom, we love you.