TIllie Breuer

These are Tillie’s own words; a piece she wrote to introduce herself to the church family at Good Shepherd Lutheran, Lethbridge.

I was born in Fox Valley, SK on the first day of spring in 1935. Premature and weighing only 1 pound I was not expected to live. I am the third child in a family of eight. At 3 years, we moved to Hatton SK, a ghost town now. We attended the Lutheran Church for Sunday School in the morning and the Pentecostal in the afternoon.

At age twelve we moved to Medicine Hat where I attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and was confirmed. My first job was pulling weeds in an onion patch for a Chinese gardener on Saturdays and in a greenhouse pruning tomato plants. Later I worked Saturdays at Safeway stocking shelves and then in the produce section which I enjoyed.

I was accepted in the Manitoba School for nursing at 16 and graduated at age 20 with the Silver Medal for the Province of Manitoba. At age 20 I married my first husband but divorced after 10 very challenging years. In this marriage my 1st child was a son who passed at 9 months due to cystic fibrosis. A year later I had a daughter (a gift from God) who now lives in Lethbridge.

My nursing career took me to the five western provinces. My favourite was University Hospital in Saskatoon, SK. After seven years on my own I met my second husband in 1971. We had 29 years together. He passed March 17, 2009. In 2010 I went on a cruise with Logan Lake church members as a standby. When the winds blew and rocked our ship, it was only God who could calm the waves.

In 2011 I decided to move to Lethbridge as my health was failing. During my nursing career it was difficult to attend church regularly so when I retired I did. I decided to join the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd and Irene McIntyre was my first contact and mentor as pastors were changing. Then Pastor Tom helped me grow spiritually. As a student playing baseball, tennis, volleyball, gardening, reading autobiographies and attending church were my favourite things. One of my many encounters was with a Jewish lady, born in Egypt who gave me the book, ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren stating, “This is you. Read it and keep it.’ I did and recommend this book to all Christians.

Now I’ll be 84 next month. I have many chronic health challenges but I’m very happy and at peace and very thankful to God for all these days. God is good and His mercy endureth forever: Thanks be to God, Psalm 118. Music is very important to my faith and my favourite hymns are: Abide with Me; There Will Be Peace in the Valley; You’ll Never Walk Alone; Who Am I; and We Call on Him. In the Sweet By and By was my dad’s; When the Saints Go Marching In’ was mother’s and Amazing Grace was my late husband’s. I often sing I am so glad that Jesus loves me to myself or others if they feel down.

An obscure fact about Tillie Breuer: Yesterday (when I was young) I made cookies out of mud and baked them in the sun and ate them.

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Tillie Breuer, (nee Scherer), age 87, passed away on May 6th, 2022 at St. Michael’s Health Centre.

Tillie was born in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan on the first day of spring in 1935. She graduated from the Manitoba School of Nursing and her nursing career took her to all the western provinces where she made homes in Winnipeg, Brandon, Medicine Hat, Edmonton, New Westminster, Kamloops, Saskatoon, Higgins Lake, and Buffalo Creek before retiring to Logan Lake. After her husband passed in 2009, Tillie relocated to Lethbridge, quickly making many friends, being active in TOPS and attending the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.

Tillie was driven to work hard all her life. She was a kind and gentle soul who was very family-oriented. She relished annual extended family reunions in Maple Creek or Medicine Hat. Time spent with her daughter, grandsons and their families was a treat – meals on every special occasion or simply just to make a special occasion, accompanied by several games of Scrabble. Music, church and faith were always important lodestones in her life.

She is predeceased by her son Brent Yakiwchuk, husband Otto Breuer; her grandson George Dyson, and her siblings Betty Lentz, Herb Scherer, Reuben Scherer and Lena Risk.

Tillie is survived by her beloved daughter Mavis (Ian) Dyson, grandson Eric (Amber) Dyson and great granddaughters Eliza, Vanessa and Nora Dyson, great grandson Tyreik Cardinal, her granddaughter -in-law Kate Dyson, step-daughter Vera and grandsons Alexander and Gregory and families, brother Russell (Marg) Scherer and sisters Verty (Fred) Nelson, Rebecca (Bob) Goudreault and numerous nieces and nephews.

We would like to thank the staff at Lethbridge Regional Hospital and St. Michael’s for care administered with sensitivity and respect.

A Memorial Service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday May 19th, 2022 at the LUTHERAN CHURCH OF GOOD SHEPHERD, 2406 – 11th Ave S., Lethbridge, Alberta.  Tillie will be interred in Redcliff, Alberta.

In lieu of flowers, a donation in Tillie’s name may be made to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd: https://www.lutheranchurchofthegoodshepherd.com/about/donate or the Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/m/8546/donation.

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