Freda STORM

ENGSTROM, Freda - passed away peacefully on December 8, 2007 in Sussex, New Brunswick with her eldest daughter Karen Strickland at her side. Freda lived a long, full life of joy, happiness and the love of family and friends. Beloved wife of David Engstrom, she made a warm and inviting home with him for over 60 years, living most of her life on a farm in Kipling, Ontario, after a childhood further north in Shillington. Loving mother of Karen (Bill Strickland), Andrea (Ron Leuchter), John (Irene), Elvie, Charlene (Thierry Boyer), Valerie (Tom Smith), Rudy (Jim Hayward) and Carrie (Bob Thibault), Freda kept her children happy with her apple and blueberry pies, her quilts for them that they treasure, her warm interest in all their joys and challenges, and her great intellect and creativity that, along with her husband, David, made for a lively, always interesting home. Freda's grandchildren loved their time at the Engstrom family farm, each one with a favorite story about Grandma and Grandpa. She was the dear grandmother of Jeremie, Sarah, Shane, Tanis, Cindy, Debbie, Tyson, Lyndsey, Jason, Teagan, Zackery, Nicholas and Lorne (predeceased), and cherished her blessing of great- grandchildren Chad, Kimberly, Matthieu, Gregory and Emma. Born in 1922 to George and Annie Storm, whom she greatly admired and loved, Freda was a young adventurer with her five sisters (Edith Yerkie, Madeline Rozell, Alta Engstrom, Audrey Coulis and Verda Carmichael), often camping for days by the Driftwood River and fishing in a dugout canoe. All of her adult years, Freda was very active in the Kipling and Warren communities, serving as the first President of the Kipling Women's Institute of which she was a member for 50 years, as a long-time leader of the 4-H Club for girls, as a major entrant and later judge for the Warren Fair, as a teacher of sewing and quilting at a local college and involvement with the Horticultural Society and the PTA. Freda pursued many creative interests, including painting and poetry, with showings of her work locally. Selections of her Northern Ontario poems were published, and she gave readings in Los Angeles and Sussex. After 55 wonderful years in Kipling, Freda lived in Restoule with her son John and his wife Irene at their beautiful lakeside home for a year and then lived out her remaining three years with her daughter Karen and her husband Bill in the lovely countryside outside Sussex, where she was made very welcome by their many good friends. Freda was much loved and will be sadly missed. A gathering to celebrate her life will be held next Spring in Kipling. Donations in memory of Freda Engstrom can be made to the Canadian Diabetes Association. 10931876