Obituary for Margaret Pospishell (Pohl)
Margaret Pospishell (Pohl) Feb 4, 1929 – March 26, 2022
With extreme sadness we announce the passing of Margaret Pospishell, our Mother at the age of 93.
Mom can now join our dad (Alfred) in heaven who we lost too early in 1971.
Margaret is survived by her daughters Susan (husband Bob), Linda (husband Chris). Granddaughters Dana (boyfriend Nate), Laurie (husband Tyler), Great grandchildren Gemma and Wyatt, Sister Hazel Dunlop and Sister In-law Lil Hazell.
Margaret is predeceased by her mother and father (Fred and Lydia Pohl), her husband (Alfred Pospishell), brothers (Sam and Eric Pohl), and sisters (Olga Stubbe) and (Martha Waddington).
Mom was born Margaret Pohl on a farm in the Coolies near Darlingford Manitoba on Feb 4, 1929. She left the farm to move to Winnipeg at a young age.
As a young teenager growing up in Winnipeg, one of her first jobs was working in the China department at the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was while working at The Bay she met and became friends with Lil Pospishell. Little be known to her, Lil would be soon become her new sister-in-law. It was Lil who introduced Margaret to her brother Alf. It was love at first site and a loving relationship was struck. Soon after, Margaret and Alfred decided to get married in Sept 1951.
In 1955 they had their first child as daughter Susan was born, and in 1960 they introduced their second daughter Linda, into the world. It was at this point Mom and Dad decided they needed a bigger home for their growing family. So in 1960, they bought their first house together on Home Street. Than in 1967 they decided to move to yet a bigger house on Garfield Street.
Life on 794 Garfield Street was full of many memories, some good and some not so good. In April 1971, Alf passed away at work as a result of a massive heart attack. He was just 44 years old. As you can imagine, it was a shock and a travesty to lose a husband and father so early on in life.
Margaret, being a stay home mother, was quickly forced into new roles and responsibilities. She was now tasked with becoming the sole provider, plus both father and mother to her young daughters. At this point in her life, Margaret had no choice but to go out and get a job to support her family.
After dad passed, mom’s first job was at the Doughnut House in Polo Park mall. She was in charge of making the cake doughnuts. Susan and Linda loved it. Their Mom had the bestest job in the whole wide world. They can remember the big brown paper grocery bag that mom would bring home after work. It was filled with all the deformed and rejected donuts the shop couldn’t sell. This didn’t matter one bit to Susan and Linda as it was a special treat they always looked forward to.
Mom was a hard worker and never complained but she also had very strict house rules. You never left the kitchen until the dishes were done, floor was swept and the garbage taken out. That was the Law! Oh yeah, every Saturday morning it was house cleaning day. Once again, the rules were that we couldn’t go out until the house was sparkling clean.
Later in life, Mom finally got on with the Sears Plumbing Department in Polo Park Mall. Mom quickly adapted and learned a lot about plumbing. She was very knowledgeable was one of the head gurus in that department. From the plumbing department, she was promoted to the sporting goods department and then Mom made a move to her DREAM JOB….. The Sears Clearance Department. It was located in the basement of Polo Park Mall. Boy….did she get some great deals!!
Mom was always carrying something home on the bus. I guess that is where Susan and Linda got their shopping savvy from.
Margaret continued to work at Simpson Sears until she decided to take early retirement in 1988. After that, she spent a great deal of her time looking after her granddaughters Dana and Laurie so Susan could go back to work. She loved her grandchildren and would do anything for them. Mom loved spending time with them especially at Bob and Susan’s lake front cabin near Spruce Sands on Lake Winnipeg.
Life at the lake was so relaxing and peaceful, but on this one particular day it was nothing but the opposite.
As it turned out one day Dana and Laurie thought it would be really nice to take Grandma on a little bike ride. They had one particular trail they wanted to show her real bad. It so happened to be an ungroomed trail through a thicket of thick bush just after a heavy rain. How bad could it be???? After all they had their mountain bikes and Grandma was on her trusty 1972 CCM glider. Of course Dana and Laurie’s bikes had no problems navigating thru the rain soaked muddy trails, filled with hundreds of mud holes. Grandma not so much…. It was like travelling on Planet Mars!! Grandma did finish the ride though. However the fenders on her trusty old Glider could not save her blouse and Capri pants. Her shoes were a write off. Grandma was a real trooper!
Margaret’s family always rallied around her especially after Alf died. She was ever so grateful for their support and help.
Throughout her life Margaret made many friends. Unfortunately, many of these friends are no longer with us today.
Fortunately Mom and Dad’s best friends and Garfield Street neighbors are still with us here today, Rudy and Bernice Mikoluff.
Growing up Rudy and Bernice were a God send to Margaret. They were like family. We did not have a car growing up and Mom never did get her driver’s license. We relied exclusively on Winnipeg Transit if we wanted to go anywhere.
Mr. Mikoluff would always take Mom anywhere she needed to go. This made grocery shopping that much easier.
Trips in a car were so exciting and it was something us girls always looked forward to. If we were on their best behavior, the car would make a pit stop at the Dairy Dell for ice cream. There were also the day trips to Little Mountain Park for afternoon picnics. This is something we still remember to this day. Thank you so much, Rudy and Bernice.
Uncle Eric was also especially good to us girls and Mom. Eric would drive in all the way from Morden to take us camping at Falcon Lake. We remember excitingly waiting for Uncle Eric to arrive with his 1 ton dually truck, with the 5th wheel hooked up and boat in tow. It was the “Eric Pohl 63 foot convoy”. He would park in front of our house to pick us up and wow … did we ever feel special! Camping with Uncle Eric and Aunty Lil made our summers so memorable. They always took great care of us, and we don’t know what we would have done without them. We cherish these great memories to this day.
Anyone who knew our mom knew she loved loved loved to go shopping. Going shopping with mom was like going on a treasure hunt for deals. The thrill of the kill is what drove us. Every thrift shop store in Winnipeg was thoroughly scavenged through. Shopping mall tile floors didn’t stand a chance and were literally ripped up when we girls went shopping. There have been some epic shopping adventures. The Grand Forks/ Fargo shopping trip is one that comes to mind………….
Linda planned a cross border weekend shopping trip, with her Mom and Margaret’s sister, Aunty Hazel riding shot gun. The old Malibu was loaded for bear with giant suitcases packed as if they were staying for 2 weeks. We would surely need a roof rack if they were ever to bring anything back. An early sendoff was scheduled as they wanted to arrive before the shops opened. Every hour of retail shopping time could and would not be wasted! This was serious stuff.
With the car loaded up and rocking to Gaither Gospel Music, the trip was off to a great start or so they thought.
When they got to the border, guess who forgot to pack their passport?? Margaret. Linda was not a happy camper, especially when she constantly reminded her Mom at least a 1000 times to bring her passport. Linda turned and burned back to Winnipeg than back again to the border. The Captain was screaming her name and a few shots sure would have helped. But that would be later. This ended up being a minor setback, as they would find a way to make up for lost shopping time. The upside to all this was they got to listen to more Gaither Gospel Music. The girls literally went into every thrift shop that existed in Grand Forks and Fargo. Hazel and Margaret, both well into their 80’s, were pushing the pace. The hot tub never felt so good once back at the hotel.
Another trip worth mentioning is the Nashville excursion….. this time it involved Margaret’s older sister Martha and her little Bichon Frise dog named Tasha. Plans were made. Linda and her mom would fly to Toronto and meet up with Martha. From here they would fly to Nashville on the cheap…. Standby. Martha’s late husband was a pilot for Air Canada and had access to free standby passes. The girls were all fired up and excited to get to Nashville. Shopping, Grand Old Opry, Gospel Music Concerts. It was going to be a blast. The trip getting to Nashville ended up being a nightmarish adventure.
It took 4 connecting flights and an unscheduled Hotel stay to finally arrive in Nashville. Navigating and rushing to the gates of their connecting flights was extremely challenging as Margaret was in her mid 80’s and Martha was pushing 90 and wheel chair bound. Not to mention Tasha needed be carried around in a duffle bag the whole time. Miraculously they made their connections with very little time to spare. The stress of the trip definitely required a little stress release….. KICKABOO !!! Apparently KICKABOO originated on the kitchen stove at Aunty Hazel’s house.The sisters actually had a mean recipe for homemade Bailey’s … aka… KICKABOO. The sisters were not big drinkers. In fact you could refer to them as non-drinkers actually. However they did have a weak spot for KICKABOO.
Margaret was a religious and God fearing women. She loved watching Billy Graham and the Gaither Gospel hour on TV.
Mom joined the Portage Avenue Church and once again she made wonderful friends there. There were two couples from the church that were especially good to our Mom. They were Martha and Ernie Neufeld and George and Betty Teichrob. Every Sunday the Neufelds or the Teicrows would take turns picking up Mom and taking her to church. This was the highlight of her week. She was so grateful for that.
Whenever Mom would go out, it was always a dilemma what to wear. Mom looked beautiful in anything she chose but was very fussy with most things. Her clothes and hair always had to be perfect. We remember Cousin Fred teasing her and would say things like “Auntie Margaret! Hair number 181 is out of place!!” We would tease mom and call her “Princes Margaret” We loved her for that, and she taught us to grow up to be ladies.
Mom lived on Garfield Street until she made the brave decision in 2016 to sell her house and move to Concordia Village Assisted Living. Here she made many friends and got involved in lots of the activities. She especially enjoyed church on Sunday and the entertainment that was brought in to the complex. Mom even joined the Christmas Choir!
In 2018 we all had the surprise of our lives. Auntie Martha made the huge move from her home in BC to Concordia Village in Winnipeg. All this to be to be closer to her sisters. Sadly we lost Auntie Martha in 2019.
In March 2020 just before Covid hit, Auntie Hazel made the decision to sell her house and move into Concordia Village too. Just imagine the trouble those 3 would have gotten into! KICKABOO sales would have sky rocketed!
Mom loved to shop and wouldn’t miss her weekly shopping trips with Auntie Hazel. They would meet at the Bay for lunch and then shop the day away.
Saturdays were reserved for shopping trips with Linda or Susan. The girls would pick Mom up at 9am, shop all day and come home after 5pm. More often than not without any packages, I never understood that.
If Margaret didn’t spend the day shopping with her daughters, she would get on her bike and it was off to all the local garage sales. Many miles were put on the CCM Glider in search of treasures.
Jewelry and shoes were Mom’s favorite! She could never pass a jewelry or shoe store without going in.
Mom was very lucky to have had good health in her life, other than the few falls resulting in a cracked hip and few broken arms.
It was when she had her last fall on July 11th 2021, it resulted her going into the hospital. Sadly she was never able to go home again.
Margaret was in Concordia Hospital for about 2 weeks and then was transferred to Misericordia Hospital. She spent about 3 months in Misericordia before we had to make the difficult decision to move her out of her Concordia Village apartment and into Concordia Place Nursing Home. This was on October 5th 2021.
The staffs at Concordia Place were wonderful to Mom. They were always telling us that they loved her and she was so beautiful and sweet.
The last month of mom’s life was a tough one due to her declining health from Dysplasia.
It was in the late evening on March 26th Mom took her last breath and moved on to meet the Lord.
We love you Mom and we will forever miss you. Life will never be the same. May you rest in peace.
With extreme sadness we announce the passing of Margaret Pospishell, our Mother at the age of 93.
Mom can now join our dad (Alfred) in heaven who we lost too early in 1971.
Margaret is survived by her daughters Susan (husband Bob), Linda (husband Chris). Granddaughters Dana (boyfriend Nate), Laurie (husband Tyler), Great grandchildren Gemma and Wyatt, Sister Hazel Dunlop and Sister In-law Lil Hazell.
Margaret is predeceased by her mother and father (Fred and Lydia Pohl), her husband (Alfred Pospishell), brothers (Sam and Eric Pohl), and sisters (Olga Stubbe) and (Martha Waddington).
Mom was born Margaret Pohl on a farm in the Coolies near Darlingford Manitoba on Feb 4, 1929. She left the farm to move to Winnipeg at a young age.
As a young teenager growing up in Winnipeg, one of her first jobs was working in the China department at the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was while working at The Bay she met and became friends with Lil Pospishell. Little be known to her, Lil would be soon become her new sister-in-law. It was Lil who introduced Margaret to her brother Alf. It was love at first site and a loving relationship was struck. Soon after, Margaret and Alfred decided to get married in Sept 1951.
In 1955 they had their first child as daughter Susan was born, and in 1960 they introduced their second daughter Linda, into the world. It was at this point Mom and Dad decided they needed a bigger home for their growing family. So in 1960, they bought their first house together on Home Street. Than in 1967 they decided to move to yet a bigger house on Garfield Street.
Life on 794 Garfield Street was full of many memories, some good and some not so good. In April 1971, Alf passed away at work as a result of a massive heart attack. He was just 44 years old. As you can imagine, it was a shock and a travesty to lose a husband and father so early on in life.
Margaret, being a stay home mother, was quickly forced into new roles and responsibilities. She was now tasked with becoming the sole provider, plus both father and mother to her young daughters. At this point in her life, Margaret had no choice but to go out and get a job to support her family.
After dad passed, mom’s first job was at the Doughnut House in Polo Park mall. She was in charge of making the cake doughnuts. Susan and Linda loved it. Their Mom had the bestest job in the whole wide world. They can remember the big brown paper grocery bag that mom would bring home after work. It was filled with all the deformed and rejected donuts the shop couldn’t sell. This didn’t matter one bit to Susan and Linda as it was a special treat they always looked forward to.
Mom was a hard worker and never complained but she also had very strict house rules. You never left the kitchen until the dishes were done, floor was swept and the garbage taken out. That was the Law! Oh yeah, every Saturday morning it was house cleaning day. Once again, the rules were that we couldn’t go out until the house was sparkling clean.
Later in life, Mom finally got on with the Sears Plumbing Department in Polo Park Mall. Mom quickly adapted and learned a lot about plumbing. She was very knowledgeable was one of the head gurus in that department. From the plumbing department, she was promoted to the sporting goods department and then Mom made a move to her DREAM JOB….. The Sears Clearance Department. It was located in the basement of Polo Park Mall. Boy….did she get some great deals!!
Mom was always carrying something home on the bus. I guess that is where Susan and Linda got their shopping savvy from.
Margaret continued to work at Simpson Sears until she decided to take early retirement in 1988. After that, she spent a great deal of her time looking after her granddaughters Dana and Laurie so Susan could go back to work. She loved her grandchildren and would do anything for them. Mom loved spending time with them especially at Bob and Susan’s lake front cabin near Spruce Sands on Lake Winnipeg.
Life at the lake was so relaxing and peaceful, but on this one particular day it was nothing but the opposite.
As it turned out one day Dana and Laurie thought it would be really nice to take Grandma on a little bike ride. They had one particular trail they wanted to show her real bad. It so happened to be an ungroomed trail through a thicket of thick bush just after a heavy rain. How bad could it be???? After all they had their mountain bikes and Grandma was on her trusty 1972 CCM glider. Of course Dana and Laurie’s bikes had no problems navigating thru the rain soaked muddy trails, filled with hundreds of mud holes. Grandma not so much…. It was like travelling on Planet Mars!! Grandma did finish the ride though. However the fenders on her trusty old Glider could not save her blouse and Capri pants. Her shoes were a write off. Grandma was a real trooper!
Margaret’s family always rallied around her especially after Alf died. She was ever so grateful for their support and help.
Throughout her life Margaret made many friends. Unfortunately, many of these friends are no longer with us today.
Fortunately Mom and Dad’s best friends and Garfield Street neighbors are still with us here today, Rudy and Bernice Mikoluff.
Growing up Rudy and Bernice were a God send to Margaret. They were like family. We did not have a car growing up and Mom never did get her driver’s license. We relied exclusively on Winnipeg Transit if we wanted to go anywhere.
Mr. Mikoluff would always take Mom anywhere she needed to go. This made grocery shopping that much easier.
Trips in a car were so exciting and it was something us girls always looked forward to. If we were on their best behavior, the car would make a pit stop at the Dairy Dell for ice cream. There were also the day trips to Little Mountain Park for afternoon picnics. This is something we still remember to this day. Thank you so much, Rudy and Bernice.
Uncle Eric was also especially good to us girls and Mom. Eric would drive in all the way from Morden to take us camping at Falcon Lake. We remember excitingly waiting for Uncle Eric to arrive with his 1 ton dually truck, with the 5th wheel hooked up and boat in tow. It was the “Eric Pohl 63 foot convoy”. He would park in front of our house to pick us up and wow … did we ever feel special! Camping with Uncle Eric and Aunty Lil made our summers so memorable. They always took great care of us, and we don’t know what we would have done without them. We cherish these great memories to this day.
Anyone who knew our mom knew she loved loved loved to go shopping. Going shopping with mom was like going on a treasure hunt for deals. The thrill of the kill is what drove us. Every thrift shop store in Winnipeg was thoroughly scavenged through. Shopping mall tile floors didn’t stand a chance and were literally ripped up when we girls went shopping. There have been some epic shopping adventures. The Grand Forks/ Fargo shopping trip is one that comes to mind………….
Linda planned a cross border weekend shopping trip, with her Mom and Margaret’s sister, Aunty Hazel riding shot gun. The old Malibu was loaded for bear with giant suitcases packed as if they were staying for 2 weeks. We would surely need a roof rack if they were ever to bring anything back. An early sendoff was scheduled as they wanted to arrive before the shops opened. Every hour of retail shopping time could and would not be wasted! This was serious stuff.
With the car loaded up and rocking to Gaither Gospel Music, the trip was off to a great start or so they thought.
When they got to the border, guess who forgot to pack their passport?? Margaret. Linda was not a happy camper, especially when she constantly reminded her Mom at least a 1000 times to bring her passport. Linda turned and burned back to Winnipeg than back again to the border. The Captain was screaming her name and a few shots sure would have helped. But that would be later. This ended up being a minor setback, as they would find a way to make up for lost shopping time. The upside to all this was they got to listen to more Gaither Gospel Music. The girls literally went into every thrift shop that existed in Grand Forks and Fargo. Hazel and Margaret, both well into their 80’s, were pushing the pace. The hot tub never felt so good once back at the hotel.
Another trip worth mentioning is the Nashville excursion….. this time it involved Margaret’s older sister Martha and her little Bichon Frise dog named Tasha. Plans were made. Linda and her mom would fly to Toronto and meet up with Martha. From here they would fly to Nashville on the cheap…. Standby. Martha’s late husband was a pilot for Air Canada and had access to free standby passes. The girls were all fired up and excited to get to Nashville. Shopping, Grand Old Opry, Gospel Music Concerts. It was going to be a blast. The trip getting to Nashville ended up being a nightmarish adventure.
It took 4 connecting flights and an unscheduled Hotel stay to finally arrive in Nashville. Navigating and rushing to the gates of their connecting flights was extremely challenging as Margaret was in her mid 80’s and Martha was pushing 90 and wheel chair bound. Not to mention Tasha needed be carried around in a duffle bag the whole time. Miraculously they made their connections with very little time to spare. The stress of the trip definitely required a little stress release….. KICKABOO !!! Apparently KICKABOO originated on the kitchen stove at Aunty Hazel’s house.The sisters actually had a mean recipe for homemade Bailey’s … aka… KICKABOO. The sisters were not big drinkers. In fact you could refer to them as non-drinkers actually. However they did have a weak spot for KICKABOO.
Margaret was a religious and God fearing women. She loved watching Billy Graham and the Gaither Gospel hour on TV.
Mom joined the Portage Avenue Church and once again she made wonderful friends there. There were two couples from the church that were especially good to our Mom. They were Martha and Ernie Neufeld and George and Betty Teichrob. Every Sunday the Neufelds or the Teicrows would take turns picking up Mom and taking her to church. This was the highlight of her week. She was so grateful for that.
Whenever Mom would go out, it was always a dilemma what to wear. Mom looked beautiful in anything she chose but was very fussy with most things. Her clothes and hair always had to be perfect. We remember Cousin Fred teasing her and would say things like “Auntie Margaret! Hair number 181 is out of place!!” We would tease mom and call her “Princes Margaret” We loved her for that, and she taught us to grow up to be ladies.
Mom lived on Garfield Street until she made the brave decision in 2016 to sell her house and move to Concordia Village Assisted Living. Here she made many friends and got involved in lots of the activities. She especially enjoyed church on Sunday and the entertainment that was brought in to the complex. Mom even joined the Christmas Choir!
In 2018 we all had the surprise of our lives. Auntie Martha made the huge move from her home in BC to Concordia Village in Winnipeg. All this to be to be closer to her sisters. Sadly we lost Auntie Martha in 2019.
In March 2020 just before Covid hit, Auntie Hazel made the decision to sell her house and move into Concordia Village too. Just imagine the trouble those 3 would have gotten into! KICKABOO sales would have sky rocketed!
Mom loved to shop and wouldn’t miss her weekly shopping trips with Auntie Hazel. They would meet at the Bay for lunch and then shop the day away.
Saturdays were reserved for shopping trips with Linda or Susan. The girls would pick Mom up at 9am, shop all day and come home after 5pm. More often than not without any packages, I never understood that.
If Margaret didn’t spend the day shopping with her daughters, she would get on her bike and it was off to all the local garage sales. Many miles were put on the CCM Glider in search of treasures.
Jewelry and shoes were Mom’s favorite! She could never pass a jewelry or shoe store without going in.
Mom was very lucky to have had good health in her life, other than the few falls resulting in a cracked hip and few broken arms.
It was when she had her last fall on July 11th 2021, it resulted her going into the hospital. Sadly she was never able to go home again.
Margaret was in Concordia Hospital for about 2 weeks and then was transferred to Misericordia Hospital. She spent about 3 months in Misericordia before we had to make the difficult decision to move her out of her Concordia Village apartment and into Concordia Place Nursing Home. This was on October 5th 2021.
The staffs at Concordia Place were wonderful to Mom. They were always telling us that they loved her and she was so beautiful and sweet.
The last month of mom’s life was a tough one due to her declining health from Dysplasia.
It was in the late evening on March 26th Mom took her last breath and moved on to meet the Lord.
We love you Mom and we will forever miss you. Life will never be the same. May you rest in peace.