Obituary of Kathy Weingart

Kathleen Weingart was born in Kelowna on April 1st, 1937. She was raised in Rutland, with six siblings. Her father made a living as a mechanic and a weekend musician. She grew up in a busy household with lots of music and socializing. This was where she developed her life-long love of music and people. She met Joe through family connections and they were married on April 28, 1962. They bought a brand new house in Kelowna and a year later Corinne was born. Life in Kelowna was too easy and they packed up and moved, from their brand new house on a paved street, to a log cabin in at the end of a mud road in Sunset Prairie. There they began their farming career. The house they lived in for the first year had no water or power, however there were a lot of mice and rats and even an occasional frog to keeps things interesting. Kathy often told the story of people visiting and being alarmed when Joe pulled out a gun and shot at rats through the ceiling.  

Ann, Barb, and Tom were born after they moved to the house they lived in for over 50 years.   

Joe and Kathy farmed together for over 50 years. Kathy was the cook, grain truck driver and tractor operator until the kids got old enough to help out. She also put in many hours spraying weeds and picking wild oats.  

In 1981 Kathy took a job as a custodian for the school district, which meant Joe lost his best grain truck driver and worse yet his cook. That’s when Tom stepped up to the plate and learned to cook with instructions from Kathy over the phone. Kathy worked as a custodian for over 15 years.   

When she retired in 1997, she kept busy with farming, grandkids, gardening and quilting. Kathy enjoyed her time with the Dawson Creek Horticultural Society, meeting many people with similar interests. She really enjoyed all of her time spent with the ladies of the local quilting club. She was also a big part of a small community supper club. 

The grandkids have many memories of Grandma: camping with the dogs, cooking, gardening, sewing and letting them watch movies their parents wouldn’t allow. She taught them to count and they learned the value of money through family poker games.  

Kathy and Joe have 12 grandchildren and 1 great grandson. Every grandchild got to spend lots of time with Grandma; she never said no to them staying over, and they knew they were always wanted at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. All the grandkids learned their fondness for dogs through Grandma and Grandpa, and they all swore hey would train their own dogs after watching grandma spoil her dogs rotten. 

Kathy never said no to any kind of an adventure.  She snowmobiled in the mountains, driving her own sled.  She went on every quadding trip possible with all the kids. She went on a fishing trips in BC and travelled out of the country for more adventures with family.  

Kathy kayaked, cross country skied, snowshoed, and tobogganed. She could also pick out a tune on pretty much any instrument, but was especially talented with the accordion.  

She loved family gatherings. Most weekends there was some kind of family function happening.  Our family functions were not known for their tranquility. But Kathy loved them, and one of her favorite parts of family gatherings was arguing politics. She would get right into it, sometimes switching sides just to keep the discussion going. 

People often noted Kathy’s energy level. She was happiest being busy. If that busy was in the garden, cooking, sewing or having adventures; she was always on the go.  She was always interested in how the crops were doing and really enjoyed doing crop tours and having picnics in the field. Her flower gardens were definitely one of her favorite passions. She spent hours weeding and watering and continually moving plants around, to find the best spot for them to grow. 

There is no way of wrapping up her life with just words.  Everyone who met her knows how big she lived. She loved her life and embraced everything in it. We are all very fortunate to have the amazing memories and joys that we shared with her.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on July 15, 2020, officiated by Father Vener Sabacan. Interment following at Sunset Prairie Cemetery. For friends so wishing, donations in Kathy’s memory may be made to the Canadian Liver Foundation, 109-828 West 8^th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1E2.

Very Respectfully Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium