Maxine Smith (nee Thompson)

Maxine Smith (nee Thompson) was born June 21, 1943, in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, and was the youngest of five siblings. The family farmed in the Gravelbourg area and then moved to Bateman when Maxine was still a child. Attending school in Bateman, the teacher used to send Maxine home during recess to have something to eat because she was so tiny! Although she ‘grew up’, she never stopped being tiny and forever needing stools to reach things in cupboards – to the endless good-natured teasing of her family. Nobody that knew Maxine would underestimate her because of her size however; she may have been short, but she was also feisty and strong-willed, always accomplishing what she set out to do.

Maxine eventually left home to attend the Regina Teacher’s College, which would allow her to fulfill her dreams of a career working with children. Maxine loved kids – from teaching young grades in Glen Bain, Halbrite, and Midale, to raising her own children, to working as a Child Development Worker for Manitoba Social Services, to providing respite care to special needs children and their families in Spy Hill, to running a daycare in Regina – children delighted her. Even when at her most ill, a picture or video of one of the kids would make her light up and smile!

Maxine passed peacefully on the morning of Saturday, July 16^th in Regina, with her beloved husband Ian at her side – just as he always has been for their nearly 60 years together. Maxine and Ian met through Maxine’s sister when she and Maxine took pity on a couple of boys away from home and invited them over for supper. Ian asked Maxine to go to a dance with him that very night, but when the dance was cancelled, they instead drove around for hours just talking and enjoying each other’s company. They had no idea at that time that they were both headed to the same Teacher’s College; it was fate - they arrived at school and were placed in the same class! They married two years later, on August 21, 1964, and began an adventure together that would see them happily raise their four children and eventually welcome six grandchildren and then five great-grandchildren.

Mourning along with Ian are son Richard, his wife Tammy, and their kids Jason, Mel (Melanie), and Amy (Regan) Mohr, Jason’s children Austin and Hailey, and Amy’s children Tegan and Rye-Rye; son Cory, his wife Joy, and their kids Natasha (Alan) Worfolk and Jordan, and Natasha and Alan’s son Logan; daughter Linda; son Trevor and Trevor’s son Jordan Louis, as well as many others in both Maxine and Ian’s extended families. Maxine welcomed her daughters-in-law like they were her own, and always had a smile and a chair for a visit with any of her children – but of course, nobody could hold a candle to the grandkids when they arrived!

Coming from a large family meant that there were also many siblings, in-laws, ‘out-laws’, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and cousins that were a special part of Maxine’s life and who were as loved as immediate family, and her door was always open for their visits. It was often a big group at the weekly ‘Sunday Supper’ with various members of the family coming by to celebrate events or birthdays, or just to pass the potatoes and share the week’s news. There was an even larger group for Boxing Day suppers, when the tables took up the whole living room and everyone had a tight fit filing into place before tucking into the amazing feast prepared by Maxine and Ian for absolutely anyone that could attend. It was Maxine’s nature to surround herself with family and friends, feed lavishly, laugh often, and love unreservedly.

Maxine generously gave so much of herself to all of us. Her students and her childcare kids remembered her long after they left her classroom or her house, and she always had funny stories to share about the latest antics of one child or another. Everyone in the family has some of her ‘fancy work’; the blankets or pillowcases or tablecloths thoughtfully chosen and lovingly embroidered for our homes. She was a loving wife, a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and a genuinely happy and lovely person to have in our lives. We will all miss her terribly.

The family will have a private interment in Bateman, SK.