Obituary of Hildegard Gertrud Colvin

Hildegard Colvin passed away on September 25, 2023 at the age of 90. She wasn’t surprised. Too many things had been going wrong from the neck down.

Born in Gerra, Germany, Hildegard chose nursing as her profession, specializing in pediatrics. When asked, ‘Why did you want to work with children?’ she always said, ‘Sick adults are a pain in the neck.’

In the mid 50s, in a scene worthy of a cold war movie, Hildegard sewed her documents into her suitcase and got herself out of East Germany. A spirit of adventure led her to immigrate to Canada, where she eventually settled in Regina. Her first impressions of the country were, this is very cold. And flat. And cold.

Just as her nursing career was taking off, she met a rancher near Regina Beach and was persuaded to trade in her duty shoes for garden boots. She raised three children while taking care of a huge garden and a hundred year old house. In those early days, cash flow was a bit of a problem, but mom could squeeze a nickel until the beaver shrieked for mercy. She never met an empty margarine container she couldn’t repurpose. She was the queen of recycling and reusing before it was cool.

Hildegard moved to Regina with her husband George after their retirement. A series of health challenges slowed her down, but she persevered. After George’s death in 2015, Hildegard moved to Luther Riverside Terrace in Saskatoon. She is survived by her children, Ian (Grace) of Toronto, Barb (Brent) of Saskatoon and Karen (Dean) of Ottawa as well as her grandchild Maggie.

A private family celebration of life will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Hildegard’s memory may be directed to the Saskatchewan Heart and Stroke Foundation (Heart and Stroke)