Elaine Patricia Fetherston

Elaine was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, on June 8, 1952 to Elsie (nee Berry) and Paul Wolff. She was the fifth of six children: David, Donal, Gerry, Carol, Elaine and Mary Anne. Elaine was raised on the farm near Liberty, SK. She inherited a lot of personality traits from her parents, being soft-hearted, caring, patient, kind and forgiving like her mother, and tenacious and stubborn like her father. Elaine has fond memories of growing up on the farm and often spoke of taking the pony cart to school in town, led by Token their Shetland pony. She attended Holy Cross high school, and was deeply involved in extra-curricular activities, from sports, art, acting and excelling academically. Elaine was a natural athlete, quickly grasping new sports skills. Always competitive, she loved teaching new sports to her older brother Gerry, until he eventually caught on and start winning; then she would quickly went on to the next sport! She continued with her love of sports in university, earning a degree in Kinesiology at University of Saskatchewan. Throughout, she was involved in sports. Although she declined, she was offered a spot with the national Canadian volleyball team, which she always considered quite an honour. A natural beauty, Elaine had many suitors and several marriage proposals. In her early 20s, she met Mark Fetherston at a prayer meeting in Saskatoon. Although Mark felt that she was completely out of his league and that there was no way that she would ever consider him, he proposed to her and she accepted. They were wed on May 4, 1974 and remained together for 48 years, utterly devoted to each other. Elaine and Mark very gratefully received two papal blessings over the course of their marriage. Mark always described Elaine as the "most beautiful woman that he had ever seen", even on her deathbed.
Elaine and Mark raised four beautiful children: Michael (Nadine), Nicole (Iain), Jerome (Tatiana), and Richard (Cheryl). She was always there with her children, playing board games at the dining room table, embracing their many activities and interests or happily cooking away in the kitchen. Although introverted, Elaine was always happiest when she could have all of her children together, and dinner time was always important to her. Home was always a gathering point for friends and family, where everyone was always welcomed and invited in. Youngsters would flock over, always sure to be invited in for a bite to eat, but also to take advantage of the air conditioning, which always ran at full blast even though Elaine would be bundled up in a big comfy sweater. Friends would gravitate over to play board games with Elaine or just to visit. Elaine loved playing cribbage or a good game of Scrabble at the dining room table with her friends, and her children often joined in. Elaine was always positive and uplifting, and nothing rarely phased her, which served her well as a mother of three boys! From broken china, to a hot iron placed on her brand-new rebounder, to car smashes as her children grew, things were just things. As long as you were okay, she was okay. Elaine fell in love with and embraced Jesus very early in her life. When they were about to be married, she and Mark pledged that their lives together would be dedicated to following Jesus in everything. Settling in the north end of Winnipeg after they married, they opened their home to some young men seeking to do the same. This was the beginning of A People of Peace, a lay Catholic community committed to sharing the Good News of God's merciful presence with the poor. Elaine had a beautiful ministry of intercessory prayer and would get so excited when she saw the Lord answering the prayers that she had so ardently prayed for. She passionately cared for people who were isolated, suffering or had wandered from the Lord. People who others rejected found a loving advocate in Elaine who would fearlessly and relentlessly, suffer any insult or injury to keep the door open to them. Living among the poor led to hilarious and hair-raising experiences. The family was burgled and robbed so many times that Elaine finally insisted that this was the Lord's way to bringing their attention to people who needed prayers. And pray she would. Elaine knew that personal suffering was often just an invitation to extend the kingdom of God. Elaine began to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in 1991 and prayed it daily until the end of her life. Eventually, Elaine and Mark moved to Victoria, spending the last ten years of her life there. Although her family (both children and her siblings) were scattered across the country, she was the cornerstone of the family, always organizing reunions. Even when her children were younger, Elaine loved taking her children on road trips, visiting her brothers and sisters or cousins near and far. Many a summer was spent at the farm, where they would spend days at the lake, hanging out with family and having a laugh. She continued to facilitate these gatherings throughout her life, ensuring that the family had opportunities to reconnect with each other. It was always difficult to say "no" to Elaine, as being persistent was one of her many gifts. A proud grandmother, Elaine found so much joy in her eight grandchildren: Jacob and Kendall (Jerome and mother Lauren), Avah and Liam (Nicole and Iain), Noah and Kaiya (Mike and Nadine), and Lea and Marcus (Rich and Cheryl). As a gramma, she doted on all of them, FaceTiming those who weren't close by, and loved them all to bits.
A funeral service will be held for Elaine on April 8, 2021 at 11:00PST and will be live-streamed due to COVID restrictions. to participate, copy and paste this link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84785850230?pwd=Sm9tVWFsc28wZXZNSzl3c25EaFpmUT09 In a year or so, her ashes will be laid to rest in Wolffton, SK, in the family cemetary.