Winifred Mary Drever (nee Strande)
May 12, 1924 – January 6, 2010

Winifred Mary was the youngest of five children born to Sven and Nancy Strande. She was born on May 12th, 1924 at the homestead, the same as her four older siblings were. That homestead, southeast of Maple Creek is now owned by Bob and Brenda Purves and that is where they live. Mary attended the local Moorhead Country School until high school years when she went to Piapot and boarded with Mrs. Roen. Upon completing her high school she then took a steno course which allowed her the opportunity to work at the CIBC bank in Piapot. It was while working in Piapot that Mary met Willie Drever, the second oldest of Bill Drever’s eight boys from the Skull Creek area. They met at a dance, Willie was working for Eugene Eckart at his welding shop in Piapot and Mary at the bank. Willie later enlisted into the Air Force. Willie and Mary were married in December, 1943 in Piapot and then moved to Deseronto, Ontario where Willie was working with the RCAF as a Link Trainer Instructor.

In the spring of 1946, Willie and Mary moved back to the Drever farm. The next year they moved Dolf Breland’s (pronounced Berla) house from the Johnson place just north of Joe Hurst’s into the current yard site north of Harold and Vi Bethel’s. It wasn’t long and they had the house set up, chicken coup, sheds, etc. The Drever boys worked with each other on buildings so it didn’t take long to get the farm site established. It was a lifestyle that Mary really enjoyed and talked about with fond memories.
In the fall of 1948 on August 14th a daughter Carolyn Margaret was born and on August 28th, 1954 a son James William was born.

Mary and Willie had a strong sense of community and were involved with all the local Skull Creek activities. They were part of building the skating rink and later the curling rink, the local telephone company and the local fund raisers. I along with Carolyn, Jim and others were fortunate in being able to grow up in the community and have all the advantages of a skating rink, curling rink, 4H and being part of the different community events. Life on the farm was not easy for the wives, once when Willie was away Mary spotted a bob cat on the corral sizing up her chickens, she grabbed the 22 rifle to fire a shot and scare it away, then on second thought decided to see if she could hit the cat. She shot and the bob cat fell off the corral rail and laid there. Not knowing if it was dead and Willie not being home she phoned Howard to come and confirm the kill. She had indeed shot it right between the eyes and it was most certainly dead. Now this achieved two things. Number one it proved that Mary was a good shot and you didn’t mess with her chickens and number two it supplied renewed fodder for Harold Bethel’s enriched tales of bobcat sightings in the Skull Creek Rink area that he would relate to any of the women like Greeba Drever or Dorothy Eccleston who might have to walk home after one of the late draws at the curling rink. Harold would always get the reaction he was looking for plus it was great entertainment for the rest of us.
Mary and Willie had a good farm and they worked hard. I remember Dave and Willie bringing in a custom land breaking outfit from Calgary. This huge rotary tiller was something not common in the area. Dad and Merton Scott took us down to Willie’s east field to watch this machine and I can remember Willie standing there telling us that it worked good but it sure didn’t like rocks.
In the late 60’s there were some good farming years. You weren’t getting rich but doing alright. It was the same for Mary and Willie. Carolyn and Jim had moved on from school at Manville to Tompkins and then on to high school in Gull Lake. Carolyn had actually graduated in 1967 and was working in Swift Current. Life was good, however circumstances change. On November 19th, 1970 Willie died from lung cancer, which was devastating for Mary, Carolyn and Jim. It sent a shock wave through the whole community, as Willie was only 55 years old when he died.

Everyone tried to help out, but there was a lot of work to be done. Mary and Jim stayed on the farm until 1975. Mary bought a new trailer from Joe Hurst in Medicine Hat and moved it into the Cypress Trailer Court in Maple Creek. She lived in that same trailer until last year when she purchased a house and moved into Maple Creek. In later years the trailer was showing some wear and Jim would come from Calgary, take his Mom to Medicine Hat and show her some of the newer trailers. Mary appreciated him coming to Maple Creek, enjoyed the day in Medicine Hat but had no intention of upgrading trailers. Jim would shrug his shoulders and say “what can you do?” Mary rented the farm in 1975 and still continues to do that.
When Mary and her dog Twiggy moved to Maple Creek, Carolyn had married Rod Cooledge and they had moved to Wasa (near Cranbrook, BC) were Rod worked in forestry until his recent retirement. Carolyn worked primarily in tourism. Jim had gone to Calgary to SAIT to train in printing and newsprint, he still resides in Calgary where he teaches graphic arts at SAIT.
Mary’s friend Vi Bethel was already living in Maple Creek as Harold had died in 1973. Mary and Vi volunteered to do hair at the Cypress Lodge for over 7.5 years. They would always meet on Saturday to go shopping or browsing in the different Maple Creek stores and garage sales. Mary was quite active in the United Church. It seems different to look over at the choir today and not see Mary. She was not a quitter, once she decided to do something she stuck with it through thick and thin.

In 1978 my parents, Morley and Ruth Wagner moved to Maple Creek. Mary and Mom were always together. Dad was always looking for some place to go so he was the chauffeur and they did numerous trips to Havre, Great Falls, Medicine Hat or where ever they wanted to go. Mary and Ruth were always involved in some type of community work, history books, the Jasper Centre, the Lodge, Terry Fox, Cancer mount, Alzheimer’s Association, if you needed volunteers they were there or would get some for you. Irvine Lewis told me that when they were recruiting new board members for the Jasper Centre in his words “they were a hard pair to say no to”.

Whatever was going on in town they made an effort to be there and support it plus made no bones about informing the rest of us that we should have been there too. It always amazed me that they would be telling us about something, usually at the Jasper Centre that we should be supporting and when you did show up at it they were surprised to see you. I hadn’t realized that it was optional.
Mary would occasionally complain about the people that would not slow down coming past the trailer court. She didn’t know what their big rush was all about. As it turned out Mary bought a new Pontiac Grand Prix car that for all intent and purpose is a sports car. One of the first trips was with her sister Olga to Regina for a medical checkup. Mary took her new car and mentioned that they made good time going and coming home. Along the way Olga kept asking her “How come we are passing everyone?” Mary didn’t know she was barely doing 90, 10 kilometers per hour less than the speed limit and the majority of the highway was 4 lanes so it was no big deal. When she got home she had the car back at the garage and asked the mechanic to check the speedometer as it seemed quite fast driving around town. The mechanic took one look and said you know this is set on miles per hour not kilometers per hour. So Mary and Olga had done a trip to Regina averaging over 90 miles per hour and she had been cruising around town at 50 miles per hour. She absolutely could not believe she had done that and took a lot of teasing about it.

Every evening, weather permitting Mary would come to Mom’s and they would head out on their walk around the town. People would join them en route, I know my Uncle Lyle and Aunt Phyllis Wagner would join them, I remember hearing of others like Isabel Gordon, Marci Cole, Martha Weiss, Muriel Kuntz and others who were part of the walking gang. Lyle says the route was 3.4 miles with a stop at Walter and Gwen Coles for a water break. When they got back to Mom’s they would relive all that happened along the way. The witty comment Jim Fairweather had made when they went by, who was back home from vacation, who was gone on vacation, who’s was not feeling good, who’s kids were not feeling good, it was like every walk was an adventure of its own. You would sit there and listen wondering how there could be this much information gathered in simple walk around Maple Creek. People would ask me about something happening in Maple Creek and my answer was always “Well according to Mom and Mary it’s this but you might want to get a second source.”

Mary was not a big fan of winter, cold temperatures and ice. Part of it was the fact that they could not do their walking. Lynn Needham tells of a time when there was a lot of ice and it was starting to melt and was getting wet. You could not stand up on it, so Ruth and Mary were out walking as usual and came to this icy part of the street, Mom got down on her hand and knees to attempt to cross the ice. Mary was watching and laughing when they looked up and saw Lynn. They both thought this was hilarious and Lynn got out of his vehicle and helped them across the ice.
Another Mary and Ruth incident as told by my daughter Stacey, was when she stopped in at Mom’s and both Mary and Ruth were both quite alarmed as they had forgotten about the Alzheimer’s meeting they were supposed to go to. She loved her flowers, gardening, digging in the dirt as she called it. Spring, summer and fall were seasons she liked; winter was not high on the list. There were a few winters when Mary did escape the cold with trips to Hawaii and southern Texas with Bob and Queenie Milne. She always came back excited about the holiday and the warm weather. I know she would have gone on more trips if health would have allowed it.
No one who was ever around my parent’s house could ever forget the card games they would have in the evening. They were actually quite noisy, the laughter the cheers the swearing. You would have thought it was a high stakes poker game but alas it was a Rummie game for nickels. The four main players were Mom, Mary, Dad and Uncle Lyle. A few months ago Rhonda and I were visiting Mary in the hospital. Rhonda had mentioned to Mary that maybe she should look into some of the assisted living places in Maple Creek so she would have someone nearby. I commented that usually there was a common area where you could play cards. Mary’s answer was that she hadn’t played cards since Dad died, tried it a couple times but it wasn’t the same. I figured since Dad died in 1995 there was no point in trying to convince her to take up card playing again.

In 1995, when Morley died, Mom and Mary among other things also lost their chauffeur. Lyle Wagner stepped in and was there for all the medical appointments in Medicine Hat or Swift Current. He continued even after Mom died to take Mary to appointments up until Carolyn and her husband Rod Cooledge moved back to the Webb area. Carolyn stepped up to help her Mom. She was there for Mary and I know Mary certainly appreciated it and was very thankful that Carolyn was there.
Mary was also very proud of her son Jim and his accomplishments. She talked very highly of her grandchildren and always liked it when they came to visit. It’s unfortunate that the grandchildren never had the opportunity to know their Grandpa Willie as he was genuinely a great person and I know Mary felt that way too.
Mary had over the years survived a number of major medical hurdles, removal of a kidney, breast cancer to name a few. She was a survivor, but time was taking its toll.
In recent weeks, Mary had started reflecting back to what she called the good times. When Carolyn, Vi, Rhonda and I moved Mary into her room at the Cypress Lodge, we realized that the room was the same room Mom had. We thought this might upset Mary but it didn’t, she just smiled and said “Ruthie and I will have some pleasant dreams tonight.” When Mary was in Regina in preparation for surgery, she was quite worried and asked Carolyn “What does your Dad think of this?” Carolyn wisely answered “Oh he knows about it Mom.” and that made her feel better. I think the time had come where she was tired of the pain and the suffering and wanted to be with Willie and her friends and relatives that had gone before.
She was a good friend to many, some are here today, and some have gone before. Her dedication, commitment and volunteering spirit was unsurpassed. She has a place in history that will not be forgotten. She will be missed.

Mary is predeceased by her parents Sven and Nancy Strande, husband Willie Drever, father in law and mother in law William Sr. (Bill) and Lilly Drever, brother Olaf and sister in law Minnie, brother Harry (Bud) and sister in law Grace, sister Olga and brother in law Glen Perrier, sister Signe and brothers in law William Jennings and Anthony Hudec, niece Joyce Rauch, brother in law John Drever, brothers in law and sisters in law Howard and Doris Drever, Henry (Hank) and Doris Drever, Ernest and Kay Drever, brother in law Austin Drever. Mary is survived by daughter Carolyn Cooledge and husband Rod, son Jim Drever and wife Debbie, granddaughter Stephanie Pesklevits and husband Graham, grandson William Cooledge, granddaughter Paige Drever, great grandchildren Alexa, Julia and Gunner Pesklevits, brothers in law and sisters in law Ralph and Greeba Drever, Dave and Mary Drever, sister in law Sybella Drever along with numerous nieces and nephews.