Obituary of Norma Delyle Lindenbach

Norma Delyle Lindenbach (nee Koch) was born on August 28, 1929 at the General Hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan to Frank Joseph Koch (born in Edenwold) and Magdalena (Lena) Koch (nee Sauer) (born in Hednesford). Norma grew up on the family homestead (west half of Section 15) 3 ½ miles south of Edenwold, on the grid road to Balgonie. When Frank sold the farmland they moved to Edenwold to establish FJs Meat Market and the family lived in the house beside it. Norma attended school to Grade 11 in the little red brick schoolhouse in Edenwold. For Grade 12, she attended Luther College in Regina and lived with a married couple on Victoria Avenue. Norma studied nursing at Regina College for 1 semester prior to moving back to Edenwold to help at the family butcher shop. Back in Edenwold she became reacquainted with Ernest (Ernie) Lindenbach and on July 14, 1951 they were married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Edenwold. They rented an apartment in Regina for the summer and then moved back to Edenwold and lived with her parents. In 1952, Kim was born and in 1955 Russell was born. In 1957, they bought a house at 901 Elphinstone Street and moved into Regina. Jackie was born in 1957 and Sandra was born in 1964. In November of 1963, they bought Mohl’s Red & White store with Frank and Lena (which eventually became known as Lindy’s). After school ended in June 1964, the family moved to Edenwold into Gerald Frombach’s house and in February 1966 they moved into the Reichel house where Lori was born in 1967. They lived there until 1968 when they contracted a house to be built on Brewer Street. Norma designed their house and when looking at all of the detail and thought she put into it, one realizes that she missed her career calling. Norma and Ernie lived in their house, raised their family and ran Lindy’s until Ernie passed away on December 26, 1988. Norma kept the store going, but it was too much for her, and she sold it a year later. Norma lived in Edenwold until the spring of 2014 when she moved into a condo, at the Atrium, on Rae Street in Regina. She did not quite get a chance to settle in and enjoy the city life before her health started to deteriorate to the point where she was admitted to the hospital and then to the William Booth-Regina Wascana Grace Hospice. Norma had many interests in her life. Her family and friends were her biggest passion and they brought her great pride and pleasure. She had always wished that she would have had siblings and she always wanted to have a big family. Norma was happy to be part of Ernie’s large family of brothers and sisters. She was pleased to become a Grandma many times over and finally a Great Grandma. Her huge yard and gorgeous flower pots kept her busy and she looked forward to every spring when her ornamental crab tree bloomed beautifully in the front yard and to the winter when her Christmas cactus sported its delicate blooms. Norma enjoyed reading and she had books and magazines on every topic imaginable – cities of the world, royalty, gardening, cooking, health, money matters, design, travel, organizational projects, you name it. She skipped curling teams at the Edenwold curling rink and at bonspiels in other towns and this kept her active in the winters into her late 60’s. Norma loved to listen to classical, polka and German music, but the sweetest music was the sound of the family’s chatter and laughter around her. Her toe was always tapping to the music she loved and she itched to get up and dance. Playing cards, especially Shang and Bridge, at the Senior’s Center or around someone’s kitchen table kept Norma in change as she was often lucky and won. Visiting people over a meal at the Edenwold and Balgonie Seniors birthday suppers was something she looked forward to every month. The Saskatchewan Roughriders (and the CFL) counted Norma as one of their biggest fans (she started going to games in the 50’s). The Lutheran Church and all of the activities she participated in and supported gave her great comfort and purpose. She was proud to come from Edenwold and to serve the community during various events and activities over the years. Norma was a long time patron of Regina Globe Theatre, the Regina Symphony Orchestra and other local community drama productions. Norma was a wonderful wholesome cook. She made strudel with the many pails of apples from her trees and rolled thousands of her famous delicious sour cabbage rolls over the years. She used to like to entertain and host dinner parties where she set a beautiful table with all of the fixings. She was a collector and enjoyed finding treasures at garage sales, auctions or stores. Norma was organized and had lists and cross lists of things. Norma wanted to try new activities and to keep on learning so over the years she took classes like sewing, quilting, aquacize and some offered at the College Avenue Senior’s Extension Program. Norma loved to explore and travel and she has visited 10 provinces, 43 states and several countries around the world such as China, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Panama, plus many others on her 3 trips to Europe. Norma and Ernie loved to jump in the car to visit family on weekends or go for a drive to check out the crops. Except when she was schlepping around, she always looked put together and had a real knack for matching outfits and accessories. Norma was blessed with beauty and beautiful hair. Even when she was laying in the hospice bed for weeks, she could run a brush through her hair and it would look great. At the end, when she was told of her terminal diagnosis, Norma remained calm and she bravely accepted that her time was up in this world. She spent her last days at the Regina Wascana Grace Hospice and was taken care of by the compassionate and friendly staff there. During this time Norma was surrounded by family, friends, love, laughter, compassion, tears, stories, memories, confessions, support and life. She made it so easy and gave those of us left behind, a great gift. We will miss our Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Mother-in-law, Aunt, cousin, neighbour, friend and our community member. Norma was very sad to see people in her life go before her; her mother Lena (1990), her father Frank (1972), her husband Ernie (1988), her infant brother Kurt (1938), her daughter-in-law Anita (nee Wickenheiser) (1993), and many other family and friends. Norma is survived and will be remembered by: her son Kirk Kimberley (Frank) and his wife, Yolanda (nee Klootwyk) and their children Christina and Ryan; her son Russell and his partner Rosalie Barrios, and his son Curtis and wife Crista (nee Chaba) and their son Gavin and other Son Ian and fiancée Maggie Smith and their son Greyson; her daughter Jacqueline (Jackie) and her children Alena, Aria and Aaron Horowitz; her daughter Sandra Taylor and husband Cam and their children Sierra and Benjamen; her daughter Lori-Anne and Roland Kroon and her daughters Enya and Anika; her sister-in-laws Vangie Wilson, Ella Lindenbach, Eda Lindenbach and Dorothy Martin; her God children Roberta Ekberg, Harvey Koch and Brent Albus; and many relatives and friends. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Canadian Cancer Society, The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan, Regina Luther College, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Edenwold or Wiiliam Booth-Regina Wascana Grace Hospice. Visitation for family and friends will be held at Speers Funeral Chapel, 2136 College Avenue, Regina, SK on Friday, December 26, 2014 from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Norma’s Celebration of Life will be held at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3510 Queen Street, Regina on Saturday, December 27, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. The interment will be earlier at the Edenwold Cemetery at 11:00 a.m.