Mary Louise Rostad

ROSTAD, Mary Louise

1928 – 2021

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mary Louise Rostad, age 93, on September 9th, 2021, at Designated Supportive Living (DSL) of the Coronation Hospital. She died peacefully in her sleep.

Mary grew up on a farm near Armada in Southern Alberta with her parents and 7 siblings. Mary described herself as the “spoiled” baby of the family, but she always worked hard and strived to do her best. Education was very important to her and the family, and she managed to complete high school, taking Grade 10 by correspondence, catching the train to Milo every week for Grade 11 and finishing Grade 12 in Calgary. After high school she moved to Edmonton to attend U of A and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1949. In 1950 Mary became a Lab Technician, working for a few months in Calgary and then in Saskatoon at the Veterans’ Hospital.

Mary met her future husband, Edward, in 1946 at a Bible Camp in southern Alberta. It was love at first sight. After this first meeting, Mary and Ed exchanged many letters and got to know each other slowly while they completed university degrees and pursued their careers. Shortly after Edward was ordained as a Lutheran minister, Ed and Mary married on August 25,1951. Mary then embraced her role as the preacher’s wife and was a very busy homemaker and mother of their 7 children: 2 sons and 5 daughters. During their marriage, Mary and Ed moved often as Ed accepted callings at churches in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories. It was a challenging time caring for all the children and adapting to new homes but throughout all the years, Mary was steady and supportive and worked nonstop to create a wonderful home for her family.

After Ed retired from the ministry in 1990, Mary and Ed lived in Calgary until 2004 when they relocated to Edmonton. In 2006, Mary suffered a major heart attack but that would not hold her back. Over the years she also suffered from mobility issues but despite her health challenges she enjoyed a rich and fulfilling life constantly surrounded by loving family. Mary and Ed were both very happy to move to DSL at the Coronation Hospital in July of 2019. Finally, they were coming home to a farming community where their frequent visits to the Thacker ranch and numerous family gatherings were the highlights of their lives. On August 25th, 2020, Mary and Ed celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary but sadly did not make it to their 70th as Ed passed away on December 29th, 2020. Mary was such a special person. She was a great listener and loved hearing the details of her children’s lives. Always supportive, positive, and encouraging, she taught everyone how to see the brighter side of things. Mary was an expert lefse maker (Norwegian flatbread) and always had to taste the first piece with a cup of coffee to make sure the batch was good enough and didn’t need to be thrown out. She was an avid reader and needed to have an extra book ready to go if she finished one. When cataracts were interfering with Mary’s ability to read she bravely went ahead with 2 surgeries in December of 2020 and February of 2021. The surgeries helped and reading was so much easier after that.

Mary touched the lives of those who knew her, she was kind and gentle but strong and sometimes stubborn. If she said “No!”, she meant it and that was the end of the discussion. The bottom line was that she was an exceptional woman and lifted the spirits of all who had the pleasure of knowing her.

Mary was predeceased by her husband Edward, son Dale and all her siblings: brothers Joe, Lloyd, Jack, and sisters Betsy, Molly, Adeline and Tommy. Mary was the last of her generation and will be sadly missed by her family and all who knew her. Her legacy lives on in her family.

Mary is lovingly remembered by her son Keith and her 5 daughters, Terryl (Rea), Faith (Claudia), Wendy (Norm), Jolene (Wayne) and Jeaniene (Rodney); 7 grandchildren, Jens, Jennifer, Michael (Susan), Ben (Adan), Kyle (Roxanne), JJ (Hilary) and Emery; 2 step grandchildren, Scott (Gina) and Bram (Nicole); 4 great grandchildren, Kayleigh, Theo, Avia and Zoey; and 3 step great grandchildren, Noa, Asher and Eva. Mary is also lovingly remembered by her nephews and nieces.

A Private Family Funeral service will be held at the United Church in Coronation, Alberta on Monday September 27th commencing at 1 pm.   For those not attending in person, please note the link below for Livestream access to the service.

Mary’s family would like to express their deep gratitude to the staff of DSL Coronation Hospital and Dr. Shenouda who provided such loving and attentive care to Mary in the last couple years of her life.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Lutheran World Relief, 600-177 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0W5 or to the Coronation Health Foundation, Attention-SL3, PO Box 500, Coronation, Alberta, T0C 1C0.

Condolences may be sent or viewed at www.coronationfuneralhome.ca. Arrangements in care of Coronation Funeral Home, Coronation, Alberta. Phone: 403.578.2928.