HELEN WILHELMINA MCCASKILL (HILSENTEGER)

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HELEN WILHELMINA MCCASKILL (HILSENTEGER) Passed away Wednesday, August 8, 2012, at the Seven Regions Health Centre in Gladstone at the age of 97 years. She was born on April 4, 1915, at Mayrowne, Saskatchewan. Helen's Russian-born parents immigrated to southern Saskatchewan from the Ukraine in 1902, and were amongst the last Canadian settlers to begin their new lives in sod huts. Helen was raised amongst five brothers and sisters and left home for the city when she was 17. She led an interesting life as an early telephone operator, a supervisor in a munitions factory during the Second World War and, most proudly for many years, as a nurse at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Regina or St. Paul's in Saskatoon. She met and married Ken McCaskill in Saskatoon in 1954, and thereafter began her new life in Gladstone, Manitoba. Helen became an active and dedicated member of the Gladstone community for almost 60 years. She was an incessant volunteer well into her nineties and encouraged others to do the same. She was an energetic, iron willed, and daring individual. Even to the age of 97, she loved to go flying with her son in an open cockpit aircraft. She will be missed. Helen is predeceased by her parents George and Rosina Hilsenteger, her sisters Margaret, Kaye, Mary; and her brother Tony. She is survived by her husband Ken, her son Brendan (BJ) and wife Cheryl, and her brother George who is about to celebrate his 100th. It was with regret that she missed the party. The funeral service will be held at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Neepawa, Saturday, August 11, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, she requested that donations be made to her favorite charity, the Gladstone Community Benefit Fund c/o The Town of Gladstone, Box 25, Gladstone, MB R0J 0T0. Clarke's Funeral Home, Gladstone in care of arrangements. www.clarkesfuneralhome.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 11, 2012