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 Irene Ferne Hoffart 1931 ~ 2010 Irene Ferne Ballman, known to everyone as Ferne, was born on November 3, 1931, in the farmhouse at Milestone, Saskatchewan, where she and her six siblings grew up. She was the third child of Charles and Janet Ballman. She attended school in a small, local one room school house for several years until it closed and she was bused into Milestone. She went on to take nurses training from the Grey Nuns at Grey Nuns Hospital in Regina. This was an era when the young women in training all stayed in dorms which were part of the hospital facility, and could be called out for emergencies at any hour of the day or night. She met my father Joe Hoffart, as his nurse, when he was admitted for surgery at this hospital. They were married on August 11, 1953. The first two or three years of their marriage were spent on the farm at Minton, Saskatchewan where they farmed in close proximity to his bothers. Very shortly after Anne, the second child was born, they moved to Regina, as Joe was having severe back pain. Ferne did not go back to nursing, but stayed at home raising her family. After living in two different locations in Regina, they moved back to a farm, near Bengough, Saskatchewan in 1964. The last of eight children, Mike was born there. Ferne had many passions. The first she had was baking. She could bake bread and buns to rival the best bakery anywhere, and she taught this to all of her daughters. In the last several years she spent on the farm, she even developed the art of baking bread with true whole wheat, using a small flour mill my parents purchased to grind our own wheat. It was her interest in health and healing, from her nurse’s training, plus the knowledge she had learned from the voracious amount of reading she did, that lead her to another passion - that of health food. She was, to my knowledge, one of the first people that found the common packaged and processed food we so often enjoyed to be lacking in many of the essential nutrients we needed. To that end, she decided to fortify the diet of her family with the natural foods that she had determined we needed. I’m absolutely sure that none of us will ever forget her famous “pep-up” There are not words yet invented that can describe the taste of that stuff. Mom also used her nurses training to bandage and heal the numerous cuts, bruises and sicknesses that are a part of everyday life on the farm. Another one of mom’s passions was sewing. She loved to buy cloth and patterns and create clothing for her family and loved ones, and taught every one of her daughters the art of sewing. In later years, after losing their third child, Gordon, in a truck accident they made the decision to follow two of their older children north to Dawson Creek. They sold the farm and moved to this area in 1981. They bought property out at Arras, and following their faith, attempted to build a home for unwed mothers. It was not to be. They did however get to spend countless hours with their grandchildren as they grew up, and for that, all of us will fondly remember many times spent on “the farm”. Ferne is predeceased by her husband Joseph; son Gordon; parents Charles and Janet Ballman and her youngest brother Wayne Ballman. She is survived by seven children; Melvin (Heather) Hoffart, Anne (Oliver) O’Reilly, Joan (Richard) Gray, Linda (Noel) Granger, Rita Hoffart, Martin Hoffart, Michael (Corinna) Hoffart; nineteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren. A funeral service was held on August 26, 2010 at the Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church. Father Michael Anyasoro officiated. Interment followed in the Brookside Cemetery, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Expressions of sympathy in memory of Ferne, may be made by donation to the 'Knights of Colmbus' c/o Notre Dame Parish 908 - 104 Avenue, Dawson Creek, British Columbia V1G 2H7. |
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Dawson Creek: (250)
782-2577 Serving Fort St. John |
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