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Obituary for Emily Dorothea Hewitt
HEWITT (KELLY), EMILY DOROTHEA
MARCH 3, 1922 – APRIL 18, 2019
Emily Dorothea Hewitt (nee Kelly) passed away peacefully at her home in Cranbrook, BC on Thursday night, April 18th, 2019 at the age of 97.
Mom was born in a small farm house near Spy Hill (Rocanville district), Saskatchewan on March 3, 1922 to parents Arthur George Kelly & Alice Letitia Kelly (nee Gough). She attended Hamona School, 4-1/2 miles away. Walking to school, she would often run, never opening a gate, but delighted in jumping over the barbed strands. She loved horses and would sometimes gallop on her horse bareback, standing up! Riding to school in the winter, icicles would hang so long from the horses nose, that they would often hit the ground.
She lived as a devout Christian who endlessly gave of herself to others — content with never a complaint. She had a great heart for the underprivileged and always sought to bring a smile to everyone she met.
She often said she had a better childhood in the hungry thirties than many kids growing up today. She loved reading books all her life. She loved reciting poetry, playing the piano and drawing. Her favourite hymn was “It is no secret what God can do. What He’s done for others, He will do for you.”
As a young woman, Emily was a “Van Girl”. She drove an Eva Hazel Sunday School Mission Van thousands of miles, often over non-existent prairie roads through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. She later worked as a nurse’s aid at Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg, at various nursing homes and at a T.B. Sanatorium.
She met her husband John Ellis Hewitt near Taber, Alberta. They were married on her parent’s farm near Welby, Sask. on October 30, 1954 and soon after moved to Winnipeg. In 1969 they moved to her husband’s family home in Fernie, BC with their four sons. After raising her family, she kept active as a volunteer and going to garage sales; she loved flying down Fernie’s hills on her bicycle into her 80’s! Her husband passed away in 1989. In 2000, she moved to Cranbrook and attended Cranbrook Alliance and later the Salvation Army. She continued riding her bike and later pushing her walker to the mall, seeking to brighten everyone’s day.
John (Jack) and Emily had four sons: David (Debbie), John (Ingrid), Mark and Paul. She was very proud of her four grandsons: Nathaniel, Morgan, Allan, and Ryan and keenly followed their lives. She was the third of seven children: Kathleen (Norris) Ashe, Hugh (Mabel), Emily (John) Hewitt, Maurice (Bella), Margaret (Bill) Kingdon, Sheila (Bill / Jim) Brydon-Gibb, Terrence (Delta). She is survived by her four sons, sister Sheila, sister-in-law Delta Kelly and many Gough and Kelly cousins, relatives and friends.
She was very pleased to be a descendant of Uncle Viscount Hugh Gough (Ireland) and was very close to her grandfather Hugh Henry Havelock Gough who lived in her family’s home in his later years.
With great sadness we will miss our mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, cousin and friend. She is at rest with her Heavenly Father.
Matthew 25:21 KJV
…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 11:00 am at the Cranbrook Salvation Army with Major Kirk Green officiating. Interment will follow in St. Margaret’s Cemetery at 3:00 pm in Fernie. Condolences may be left for the family at www.markmemorial.com.
