Volunteers clean up St. Bridget’s Cemetery

BALJENNIE — The annual cleanup day was held at the Baljennie St. Bridget’s Cemetery. There was not a big turnout of workers. A big thank you to our son, Walter Mills, and Eddy and Sandra Rayner for their work. The grass was mowed and trimmed around the gravesites. Some of the caragana tree branches were spreading over some of the grave sites. They are in need of being trimmed back and help is needed to do the job.

Stanley and Dorothy Mills turned all the cemetery books to Trevor and Tanya Beland in Baljennie. This way the cemetery records are in the Baljennie area if anyone needs to see them. They have been kept at the Mills home in Battleford since 2015. To access the cemetery records, contact the Belands.

A graveside service will be held for Eileen Peters. She passed away in late December 2021.

First Nation people of the Battlefords area filled the streets of Battleford and Fort Battleford, as a day was set aside to celebrate them and their culture. It all ended with a good display of fireworks at Fort Battleford.

Sympathy goes out toe the Bunko and Holden families on the recent passing of Frances (Fran) Bunko of Saskatoon. She was born at Willowfield and started school there before the family moved the Harper farm in the Baljennie area. She took the rest of her schooling at the old Baljennie School before she went to North Battleford. She was an active farm girl, working with horses and livestock and helped her dad farm. She was the eldest in the family of four daughters and two sons. Two of her sisters, Patsy and Doreen, have passed away. The family later moved from Baljennie to British Columbia. Frances’s husband passed away a few years ago and she is survived by four married children.

Visiting with Stanley and Dorothy Mills was their daughter Elaine Theriault of Mississauga, Ont. She also visited with her brother, Walter and Olive Mills. Elaine had been to a quilting seminar in Vancouver, B.C. She worked on a long-arm quilting machine and many projects. She also went to Salt Spring Island to visit her aunt Yvonne Akerman and she also visited her daughter Madeline Pishori of Burnaby, B.C.

The chuckwagon races are back. Residents of Battleford spent parts of the weekend at Poundmaker First Nation. Next stop is Wainwright, Alta.