Obituary of Gwen St. John

February 17, 1932 - Saint Boniface, Manitoba

April 5, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta

The click of Gwen’s knitting needles was silenced on Friday, April 5, 2024, after a long and feisty battle with Parkinson’s Disease, at the age of 92 years.

This crafty, curious, and canny lady will be missed.  She was famous for the baby sweaters she knit for new arrivals of family and friends, the afghans she knit as gifts, her eager interest in current and world events, and her knowing glance, generally delivered with a slightly arched eyebrow and a sly, barely-there smile.  She never met a craft she wasn’t willing to try. Gwen saw much of Canada, and the world, as she and Ross moved around for his work with Air Canada, from Winnipeg to Vancouver to Toronto (Milton) to Montreal (Beaconsfield) and, finally, to Calgary, where they retired. She enjoyed planning and planting her flower gardens every spring. Her greatest adventure was traveling to Australia with Ross and Irene to connect with a cousin living there she had never met.  She relished every picture, video, and story about her great-grandson Gabriel, her greatest joy in her final years.

She is survived by daughters Irene and Kim; Kim’s husband, Barry Pike, and their sons Richard (Catherine), Greg (Lori), Steve (Jenn), and Matt (Mandy); her ‘surrogate’ son Rob Hume and his boys, Thomas, Kevin, and Patrick.  She was predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Ross, and her parents, Harold, and Ada (nee Severn) Hatch.

In keeping with her wishes, there will be no service – to honour her memory make something for someone you love. 

If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Parkinson Association of Alberta, 120, 6835 Railway Street S.E., Calgary, AB T2H 2V6 Telephone: (403) 243-9901, www.parkinsonassociation.ca.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Gwen’s family here.

In living memory of Gwendolyn “Gwen” St. John, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Crowfoot, 82 Crowfoot Circle NW, Calgary, AB T3G 2T3, Telephone: 403-241-0044.