Obituary of Madeleine Wilkinson

Madeleine Wilkinson 1935 ~ 2012 Eulogy for Mother Marie Madeleine Wilkinson (Dion, Sergent, Rosler, Gunsolley) was born May 24, 1935, in Granby, Quebec. Her parents, Rev. Adolf Sergent and Marie Rachel (Lacroix), saw an ad in a Quebec newspaper, advertising Caucasian babies for adoption, at a Catholic home for unwed mothers in Granby, Quebec, and there they found their baby Madeleine. All Madeleine knew of her birth parents was that they were Catholic, young and un-married. On her adoption form was the name Dion, the surname of her mother or father. Madeleine wondered about her birth parents for as long as she knew she was adopted, and often spoke with family and friends of tracing her natural family. Sadly this did not happen before she passed. Madeleine lived with her parents in Montreal, and grew up the "Apple” of her parent’s eye as an only child, and had a very good childhood that wanted for nothing. She had a love for animals, dolls that looked like babies, music and playing balls. Madeleine also enjoyed horseback rides at the stables on Mount Royal, she briefly took ballet lessons, which was the fire that started her passion for dancing, and big French Canadian Christmases with all the trimmings. This was important to Madeleine as in one of her journals was found this Line; I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! In 1946 Madeleine’s father, Rev Adolf, who was a Polish immigrant to Canada, received news of his niece in a concentration camp in Poland, who was the only surviving member of her family. Adolf packed up Madeleine and wife Rachel and they began a journey, by boat to try and rescue his niece and bring her back to Canada with them. The family lived in war torn Warsaw, Poland and Switzerland, while negotiating Kazia’s (Jean Cottam) rescue (in 1947) and immigration to Canada, until their return to Canada aboard the HMS Batory in January 1948. Madeleine often spoke of her time in Europe as both an exciting and sad times, with the beautiful city of Warsaw torn apart, and in ruins, but also of the riding lessons with a Colonel P.O.W., on Polish Arabian horses, while there. When living in Switzerland, a country Madeleine loved, she was introduced to dairy goats, another animal which would become a part of her life in later years. Once back in Montreal, Kazia who was 16 at the time and a very well educated girl, was enrolled in school for her higher education. However Adolf decided to move his family West to BC in 1949. Kazia decided to stay in Montreal to complete her education, and did not move West with Madeleine and her family. Madeleine kept contact with Kazia for a long time, but lost contact with her over the years. This was the only experience Madeleine had of living with a sibling, and Madeleine referred to her as her "Sister”. The family moved to Dawson Creek, on May 23, 1949, with Rev. Adolf officiating at several small Anglican churches around the Dawson Creek area. He also travelled around the province to officiate at other small churches. Madeleine being a very gregarious friendly person, quickly made several friends in the Dawson Creek area, including the Gunsolley family, mother Lucille, Daughters Marguerite and Marion and sons William (Bill) and Ray, which would turn out to be her lifelong friends. Madeleine’s father bought her a black pony named "Inky” and she had the pony entered to go in the Dawson Creek parade one year. As a prank Bill Gunsolley, and his friend, snuck up to the pony the night before, and cut off a large portion of its tail hairs! Madeleine was so angry she got the hat Bill always wore, and flung it up onto a barn roof, but their friendship would always remain. Madeleine’s father had a friend in Montreal, who had a young son who needed work. Adolf invited the friend’s son to come to BC where there were lots of opportunities for work, and to stay with them until he found a place of his own. Well Maurice Rosler was a dashing young man a little older than Madeleine, from the "City” and knew all about music, and how to dance! Madeleine soon set her sights on Maurice and they were married in Dawson Creek, in 1953. Madeleine and Maurice lived on 98th street, first in a tiny house without running water or an indoor toilet, then across the street to, 520- 98th st, the home Maurice built for the blossoming family. Maurice worked as a milkman delivering milk for NADP. Their first daughter Anne was born, June 23, 1954, followed by son John November 18th 1955. Maurice and Madeleine had also opened their hearts and home to fostering children as needed in the Dawson Creek area. Soon came 2 darling, sisters Jeannie, (born October 28, 1954) and Karen, (born December 17, 1955), 4 and 5 years of age. Unlike the other children that came and went, Jeannie and Karen stayed in Maurice and Madeleine’s family and became a permanent part of it. So at just 24 years of age Madeleine was in essence raising 2 sets of twins! Shortly after the arrival of Jeannie and Karen, on May 15th 1960 Madeleine gave birth to 2nd daughter, Esther. Big sister Jeannie took immediate control over the care of Esther, and on November 30, 1963 Madeleine gave birth to her 3rd daughter Celia making this a young family of 8. While living in Dawson Madeleine had her children enrolled in dance lessons, and she and Maurice square danced, and participated in musical theater productions such as Brigadoon. Madeleine’s mother Rachel passed away in 1955, and her Father Rev Adolf eventually remarried his second wife Mary, to everyone’s surprise they had a son David shortly after. Adolf and Mary then adopted a baby boy named Mark, and Madeleine had 2 brothers! Maurice and Madeleine moved the family to the brand new town of Mackenzie, BC in 1966. Maurice worked as a Millwright while living there. The stay in Mackenzie was short lived and about 18 months later, Maurice packed up and moved the family South to Squamish, BC. There they bought a big old house on a half acre lot, with century old trees for climbing, and lots of room inside and out for the children to run. The 4 eldest children being so close in age, were a very tight knit group and often plotted "Things to Do” together. One memorable adventure was the one night Maurice and Madeleine were in the living room watching TV, when they heard a tap tapping sound on the main picture window. Maurice got up to see where the noise was coming from, he pulled back the curtains and looked out to see three sets of feet hanging down from the top of it! Rushing upstairs Maurice and Madeleine discovered three of the four eldest siblings hanging from the upper floor window sill by their fingers! When asked about what the heck they thought they were doing the reply was simple; "We just wanted to know what it would be like to hang out of a window by our fingers!” It was a good thing Madeleine and Maurice were young, because these types of antics kept them busy as parents! They lived in Squamish in the big house, until their divorce in 1969. Madeleine was left with a big house and children in Squamish, and worked at odd jobs to feed and clothe her children after the divorce. She travelled around the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, and heard via her lifelong friend Marion Boyd (Gunsolley) that job opportunities might be better for her if she moved her family back to Dawson Creek. So in 1971 she moved her family back to Dawson Creek, to the Grandview area. Madeleine was also interested to hear that Marion’s older brother Bill Gunsolley was still single and living in Dawson Creek. She’d always had a childhood crush on Bill with his blue eyes and curly hair, and they soon were dating after all those years. Bill and Madeleine purchased a house at the south end of Dawson on, 119th Ave. Bill bought Esther and Celia ponies to ride and then on February 28th 1973, Bill and Madeleine expanded her large family with another son, Lee William. Life was good and yet Madeleine and Bill not wanting Lee to grow up alone, without a close sibling, had a second son, Lance Irvine, on January 22, 1976. Later that year they made the decision to sell the house on 119th, and they purchased an acreage in the Landry area, East of Dawson Creek. It was here that Esther and Celia could have horses, and Lee and Lance had room to run and play and grow. It was also the place Madeleine was able to breed, raise and exhibit her herd of Alpine and Nubian Dairy Goats. She got the whole family involved, and her goats won many awards and Championships at the local exhibitions. Showing and handling the Dairy Goats, resulted in Celia joining 4-H and becoming the 4-H queen, travelling to Vancouver to the PNE, where she was awarded the Gold Medal for judging. The boys soon grew old enough to have Motor Bikes and had unlimited room to ride. On March 17th, 1984, Bill and Madeleine were married at the Mormon Church in Dawson Creek. Here Madeleine had formed some good friendships, particularly their neighbours the Wheat family, Charlie and Carolyn, and their many children. Bill worked as a contract Lineman for BC Hydro for most of his working life. It was a very good paying job that allowed him to take good care of the family and farm. However the job was very hard on Bill’s back and he became less and less able to work. Taking the reins again Madeleine decided to look for work, after being a homemaker for 34 years. To have more than a minimum wage paying job, she soon realized she needed to upgrade her education. There was a demand for Long Term Care Aides in town and Madeleine, being a lifetime caregiver, thought that would be a career she would enjoy. So at 51 years of age, Madeleine enrolled into the Resident Care Aide course at Northern Lights College. She completed the course, and also obtained the First Aid, CPR, and Safety tickets required, and at age 52 (1987), re-entered the work force as a Dietary Care Aide at the Rotary Manor in Dawson Creek. She worked tirelessly at this job for 12 years, until her retirement, and supported her family and farm. Sadly as the children, grew up and moved away, Madeleine and Bill grew apart, they separated and later divorced, but remained good friends. Madeleine continued working at the manor, and moved to a small house on 117th Ave. She started attending Singles dances and it was at one of those dances, her last love Gene Wilkinson, would waltz into her life. Madeleine and Gene shared many things in common and were soon dating. They of course both shared a love for music and dancing, dressing up in vintage clothing and exhibiting Gene’s vintage cars at car shows and parades. They were members of the Vintage Car club, the Historical Society, and volunteered for many years delivering Meals on Wheels to house bound people, around Dawson Creek. They also had a mutual love affair with Christmas and the season, decorating house and yard, and sharing the holiday with family and friends. Madeleine had always wanted to go on a winter "Hot Climate” vacation and so she and Gene went to Mexico one winter, and really enjoyed that trip. This started their traveling "Bug” and many vacations spent together. In December of 1992, Madeleine and Gene went on another vacation to Las Vegas. While there enjoying the shows, they came to a little chapel Elvis had once been married in, and on December 19, 1999, they were married there. After they were married they bought a motor home and enjoyed traveling around in it, with their dog Penny and cat Katty. They went to the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and to Wembley dances. The most special trip made, every year, the second weekend in June, was to Manitou Beach in Saskatchewan, to their huge annual dance festival, held in the historic dance hall with the floor built on a horsehair mat. They made this trip 13 times and it was very memorable to Madeleine. Gene and Madeleine were the dance band, "The Emeralds” groupies, and followed the band’s tour, whenever they were close enough to attend. They heard about a Caribbean Cruise, with "The Emeralds” on board as entertainment, and they were off again on another fun warm climate holiday. Madeleine and Gene shared their love of dancing with others by teaching pattern and country dancing in their garage at their home in Dawson Creek and anywhere else they were asked to. These lessons were quite popular. Sadly Gene passed away, May 8, 2008. This was a great loss for Madeleine and one she would never quite get over. After his death Madeleine sold the home they shared, and bought a small house with a beautiful yard and gardens, in the Grandview area of Dawson Creek. Madeleine kept herself occupied with her once again expanding family of grandchildren, and by attending horse shows to watch her daughter Esther and her family show their horses, which she had always loved to do. She also continued to volunteer with Meals on Wheels, CASSI, a group for homebound residents, the Historical Society, and Rotary Manor events. Madeleine was always trying to ensure the residents were participating and enjoying themselves. The residents were also glad to see her coming with the mobile candy cart, and her little visits. She was concerned about the male residents activity schedules as many of the teas and socials were geared towards the ladies. She had hoped to help develop more men’s activities, at the Manor. Madeleine was also part of the local singing group the "Potluck Singers” a group she was very fond of, singing and socializing with. However at night when everyone went home and the parties were over Madeleine was alone and when she woke up in the morning she would play the music, on her old recorder, she and Gene would have danced to. She missed Gene terribly and on November 15th 2012, on what would have been Gene’s 95th Birthday, Madeleine waltzed out of our world to Gene, while sleeping.