With broken hearts, our family shares that Abbie Diana Speir was taken from us at her home in Yellow Grass on April 20, 2017 at the age of 33. Abbie was born at Royal University Hospital on September 29, 1983. She spent her school years in Elrose, loving her friends and getting good enough grades to maintain her social calendar. Piano, volleyball, 4-H, and figure skating filled her hours and surrounded her with a community of people in both Elrose and Kyle who loved her fierce determination, strong opinions, and huge heart.
She studied Business at DeVry Institute in Calgary, where she prepared for her career in finance and health care and found her love of big hair, big fashion, and big shoes. In 2004, she married and her son Coby was born in 2007. Their family resided outside Kindersley and then Dundurn, before Abbie and Coby moved to Saskatoon. She fell in love again, with her usual intensity, and spent time in Calgary before returning to Saskatoon for the birth of her daughter, Eris, in 2014, followed closely by the birth of Eve in 2015. In 2015, their family made their home in Yellow Grass, where Abbie and the kids quickly became a part of the community. Her work with the Saskatoon and the Sun Country Health Regions drew on her strong work ethic and was just one area of her life in which she quickly and easily built deep and lasting friendships.
Motherhood was Abbie’s greatest joy; she played like a child, took the kids on grand adventures, and insisted on hard work and good manners all the time. In her personal and professional life, Abbie brought a small-town love of people, deep loyalty, and unapologetic honesty with a sarcastic sense of humour. She was intense and strong, and everyone loved her for it.
Abbie will be deeply missed and forever loved by Coby, Eris, and Eve; by her parents, Michael and Joan McDonald of Saskatoon; by her three siblings: twin sister Leah (Marc) Perrault of Saskatoon, younger sister Lorell (Blake) Linke of Regina, younger brother Joel (Kaitlin) McDonald of Humboldt and eight nieces and nephews; by grandparents Thelma McDonald of Outlook and Leonard and Helen Kutz of Elrose; by aunts and uncles: Sharon (Don) Havens, Larry (Darlene) McDonald, Marlene (Ritchie) Armstrong, Jean (John) Harrington, Mary Ann (Ken) Hamilton, Jackie (Doug) Shaw, Audrey (Lorrie) Reed, Louise (Duncan) Campbell, John (Sharon) Kutz, and Marilyn (Dave) Martin; by Coby’s dad Ryan Speir and the Speir family; and by too many cousins and friends to name. Abbie has joined the family who have gone before her, including her paternal grandfather J. Harvey McDonald and cousins Glen Havens, Russell Hamilton, and Diana Campbell.
A funeral Mass will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon. All those gathering to celebrate her life are invited to take the opportunity to buy or wear something beautiful, with their flashiest shoes (extra points for high heels and animal prints). Following the funeral, there will be a light lunch and social with activities for kids, and a dance beginning at 7:30 pm. All are welcome. A private internment will take place at a later date. Memorial donations can be made for Coby, Eris, and Eve to “Abbie’s Family Trust” via TCU Credit Unions in either Saskatoon or Regina, or by email money transfer to memoriesofabbie@gmail.com Our family invites you to honour Abbie’s memory by not waiting to seek out the help and healing that might be needed in your own life, families, or communities. May her memory offer us courage and strength.
Written with my family.
My deepest sympathies on the loss of your dear sister. Through turmoil and adversity we are all being perfected. Not much fun on many occasions, but Abbie is still with you, beside you, among you. I’m off to noon Mass at St. Paul’s and will pray for you and your family.
-CW