Obituary of Viola Kathaleene Beach

Viola passed away quietly and peacefully at the Morris General Hospital on Christmas Day at the age of 80 years old. She is survived by her husband of 29 years, Wayne Beach; her daughter Bonnie Dreger (husband Ron) of Morris; three grandchildren – Travis, Tashia and Natalie (husband Chris Wall); and two great-grandchildren – Zeila and Maverick. She is also survived by Wayne’s daughters: Leslie Shearer (Bruce), Judy Boyachek (Dick) and Debbie Durand (Gerry), as well as 6 grandchildren – Stacy (Jamie), Kim (Kal), Mark (Heidi), Bryan (Jen), Kevin and Chris, and 7 great-grandchildren. Viola was predeceased in 1976 by her first husband, Robert Wesley (Wes) Love of Elm Creek; 6 brothers – George McDougall (Connie), Percy McDougall, Allan McDougall, Bill McDougall, Clyde McDougall (Frieda), and Neil McDougall; 2 sisters – Marion (Les McKinnon) and Jean (Ralph Webb); as well as her parents, Dan and Helen McDougall of MacGregor, Manitoba. Viola was born and raised in MacGregor, Manitoba and was the youngest of 9 children. She graduated high school in MacGregor and attended Normal School. She began her teaching career at Wingham School, a country school district NW of Elm Creek, Manitoba. Here she met and married Wes Love, a widower who had retired from farming and was now custodian of the school and a bus driver. In 1963 they adopted a baby girl and Vi quit her teaching job to raise their family, but continued to substitute teach and help Wes out with some of his custodial duties. For recreation they enjoyed camping and playing cards with neighbours, as well as local dances, whist tournaments and picnics. They had a huge garden at Wingham and spent a good part of the summer picking and canning. Vi was a great cook even though she was extremely modest about it. In 1972 they moved into the town of Elm Creek and Wes became custodian of the high school there. In 1976 Wes passed away, and Vi took on cleaning jobs and a part-time job at the local post-office sorting mail in the mornings, while raising her teenaged daughter. This required her to take the reins of the finances, and for a woman of her generation, she enjoyed the challenge of saving, investing and budgeting that was required of her at that time. In 1986 she married Wayne Beach. During their courtship and marriage, they loved taking drives in the countryside of southern Manitoba, as well as playing Bridge, camping and fishing. They also took a special trip to England in 1997. This was a relationship which mutually enriched their lives and resulted in a long-lasting marriage. Vi’s interests included reading, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, music (particularly classic or show tunes), and theatre. She also loved a beautiful full moon and often would comment on the “harvest moon” in the fall. As per Viola’s wishes, the funeral and burial will be private and held on Monday, December 28th, 2015 at Morris Funeral Home. Interment will be held on the same day at Elm Creek Cemetery. The family wishes to thank the doctors and staff of Morris General Hospital for their compassionate care for mom over the past year. We would also like to thank the multitude of specialists and health care personnel who have been part of mom’s life and care in the past 12 months, from Red River Valley Health District, to Boundary Trails, to Health Sciences Center to Cancer Care Manitoba - everyone treated mom with respect and compassion and it is greatly appreciated. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Cancer Care Manitoba and/or the Red River Valley Palliative Care (Morris General Hospital, Box 519, Morris, MB R0G 1K0).