Bio: Frances (Gerich) Stang

Following graduation in 1970, I headed off to the U. of S., setting up housekeeping at 436 4th Ave N with Janet, Wendy and Lorraine. We had a very good time getting used to city life, school and following the Leask Flyers and Hornets. Many thanks to Elva Richter whose Chevy Nova provided us with ‘wheels’. With summer jobs at a fly-in fishing camp in northern SK and Lake Louise, I finished my B.A. in ’73 and worked for the Red Cross for a few months before getting a job with the Dept of Northern SK in Buffalo Narrows. It didn’t take me long to figure out that social work was not my calling and I headed to B.C. for a bit, returning to the U of S to get my teaching certificate.

My first teaching job was in Macklin where Lorraine joined me. We were the new girls in town in the fall of ’76. As teachers, we kept a low profile and saved our partying for trips home but we took part in curling, softball. Living across the street from the rink kept us the centre of activity. One of our colleagues felt it was his duty to match us up with the eligible local bachelors to which we responded, ‘we don’t want to get married, we want to have a good time’. Anyway, the locals turned out to be not too bad and I married one.

Larry and I got married Mar 27, 1978 and the rest is history. We have 5 children, 4 daughters and one son. The 4 oldest are married and have blessed us with 10 grandchildren – 6 boys and 4 girls, from 20 to 3 yrs old. Our youngest daughter, Julie, has down syndrome and still lives with us.

I was a stay-at-home mom until our youngest, at the time, started kindergarten, subbing occasionally. Took classes toward by B. Ed. and picked up a maternity leave contract after which our 4^th child was born. This gave me time to finish my B. Ed. requirements and I convocated in ’89. I then did a maternity leave in Provost after which I was offered a full-time position. This started my 17 year stint at St. Thomas Aquinas School where I took a year off (91-92) when Julie was born and then job shared for 8 yrs, followed by 4 yrs as VP, back to the classroom and then switched school divisions to teach at the Outreach School. I retired in 2007 when our two oldest grandchildren were toddlers. I felt it was important to be able to help with the little ones when needed. I continued to sub for 10 yrs until I got the ‘brown envelope’ from the feds.

While teaching and raising five kids our lives were busy with figure skating, hockey, baseball, softball, dance, music lessons, festivals and competitions as well as church activities. Larry started his own business in 1986, leaving the Beaver Lumber Co. to sell insurance and real estate. He built a successful business which he sold in 2009 but worked until 2012.

When our oldest started University at the U of S in ’96, we looked for property in Saskatoon to give the kids a place to live. Our three oldest are U of S grads so the house we bought in ’98 served us well. When our kids decided to get married, they did it in two’s; Erin & Murray in July ‘02 and Heidi & Clayton in Feb ‘03, then Alex & Alan in Jan ‘15 and Matthew & Laurie in May ’15. Erin lives in Calgary and Heidi, Matthew & Alex are in Saskatoon. Julie graduated high school in 2009 and takes part in a day program in Macklin which we worked to get started. She danced with the Spirit Flyers of the U of S School of Dance until it closed in 2019.

As the kids were growing up, we would spend time on the farm and also take roadtrip family vacations during the summer. Many of these trips were to northern Alberta where Larry had family. Stang family events kept us busy. For reference, our kids had 50 first cousins on the Stang side and 12 on the Gerich side.

When I retired, we started taking winter vacations. By then our two oldest were married and Alex was the only one at University. She was attending Carleton U in Ottawa so that gave us opportunity to visit there several times. We have traveled to Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, California spending February in Palm Springs for 5 years, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico. I also led to EF tours to Europe with students in 2005 and 2007 visiting London, Paris, Rome, Capri, Zurich, Venice, Florence, and Marseille.

We have spent several family summer vacations in Osoyoos, B.C. where we would all gather to golf, visit wineries, gorge on peaches and cherries and spend endless time at the beach and on the lake. Sorry, but it beats SK lakes as it is always hot, water is warm, no mosquitoes, horseflies, etc. Since Erin & Murray have been in Calgary we make regular trips to the Calgary Stampede. And, as Macklin hosts the World Bunnock Championships on August long weekend since 1993, we are busy with that.

We had started doing hockey trips to see the Leafs (Larry is the fan) in various locations starting with Nashville, then Las Vegas and Phoenix, Tampa and Sunrise, before the pandemic. Hopefully, we can do a few more trips – that might be considered a bucket list item. Staying healthy and out of hospital/LTC and maintaining our independence is probably our prime goal/objective at this stage of our lives.

While teaching I served on different work-related committees and got a post-graduate certificate in Religious Studies from the U of A, served on our local school board, served on Parish Council, was a member of the Catholic Women’s League serving as our council president and then on diocesan council for 9 years finishing off as diocesan president. In retirement, I served on the Board of the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency for 5 years, am on the board of the EDA for the CPC Party in our Constituency and the Board of Bea Fisher Centre (our day program corp) from Lloydminster. I am presently president of SK Pro-Life Assoc.

I can’t say that I actually have a hobby. I love reading but my days are full of committee work – fundraising, organizing events, writing letters and emails, etc. We do golf when we can. We have a group in our neighbourhood who have started getting together for Happy Hour at each other’s homes during the spring, summer and fall – we are getting too old to do this after supper so we start at 4 pm.

Keeping up with the grandkids keeps us busy. The five teenagers are into hockey, soccer and softball with trips and tournaments plus regular games. We are called on to grandparent the little ones when mom and dad need help. And that, I must say is our biggest accomplishment – a healthy, generally happy family that keeps us young and active.

Memories of growing up in Leask include lots of time at the old rink watching hockey and figure skating, playing ball in the summer and all the ball tournaments which kept us busy and out of trouble (LOL!!) most weekends, summer Sundays at Silver Beach and then Emerald or Martin’s Lake, Church picnics, starting school in the old cottage school and then moving to the new school in Grade 3, the ongoing scrub game at noon, getting a gym in Grade 10 and having phys ed indoors (what a luxury!). Summer days where we walked across the field to Kayfish’s or Stiglich’s to play with Bernie & Pat and Wayne & Dennis, the evenings when Hoffman"s, Kayfish’s, Hinz’s would come over to play ball. Daily visits to the pasture with Dad to check the cattle and sometimes getting to swim in the dugout. We didn’t realize how good we had it!