November 15, 1945 - October 17, 2021
A legacy of love from November 15, 1945 - October 17, 2021
Pauline Godlonton passed away peacefully after a brief illness, with her loved ones by her side, on Sunday October 17, 2021, at the age of 75. Pauline will always be remembered for her unwavering love, adventurous spirit, and impenetrable strength.
Pauline was born in Calgary, Alberta on November 15th, 1945, three years before her beloved twin sisters, Charlotte and Louise, who remained her best friends for life. Pauline, with a rough start in life had spent some of her early years living with foster families before being raised by her Mom Hazel and adoptive Father Bob in Calgary. Pauline's life passion was caring for all things, and she began volunteering with a Calgary orphanage as a teenager while also taking in foster children with her family. After high school Pauline went to work for the Calgary Real Estate Board.
Pauline met the love of her life Neil Godlonton in 1966 and spent the rest of her life loving Neil with passion and dedication. She and Neil dreamed of leaving the city to start a family on a farm and pursued their dream soon after getting married in 1971. Neil had recently graduated as a power electrician working for the City of Calgary electric system. This allowed Neil to work with the power company and relocate to the first farm they purchased near Rocky Mountain House. After losing the farm to a fire, they relocated to Sylvan Lake for a short time before transferring to Rimbey where they purchased more farmland and built up their new homestead from scratch. Pauline held down the farm while Neil worked on the local power distribution system.
Pauline and Neil welcomed their first child, Travis, in 1972, followed by Troy in 1974 and Kareen in 1975. With their young family they constructed their own home, raised livestock, and built a life around their horses and other animals. Pauline excelled as a dedicated mother, filling their home with love, music, and laughter, even when the floors were still plywood. She had an inherent love of music and always kept the radio on, but she was fondest of Elvis Presley.
The family spent virtually all of their free time in the mountains over the years, riding their horses, camping and exploring new trails. Pauline and Neil particularly enjoyed multi-day pack trips and one of their life highlights was their ten-day horseback trek from Abraham Lake to Jasper, including the skyline trail. They built a network of trail riding friends that Pauline adored.
Pauline was very active in children's clubs, leading Scouts, Beavers, and Girl Guides, to name a few. She volunteered in the community and dedicated herself to children's activities. Over the years Pauline affectionately became a 'second-mom' to her children's friends, endearing them with her fun-loving nature and bringing them along on adventures camping, traveling to music festivals, and going on road trips. Her home and heart were always open, and nobody ever left hungry.
As her children grew up, Pauline dedicated more time to her career. After working for a local propane company for years, she loved it so much that she encouraged Neil to go into business and they purchased the company. Together they ran the propane company for a number of years. Pauline always dreamed of owning a restaurant and in 1998 she started a restaurant in Rimbey called Blondies, which she ran for a number of years.
In 2003 Pauline and Neil built their retirement home on their original farmland Northeast of Rocky Mountain House, where Pauline particularly loved the herd of elk who regularly appeared through her kitchen window, along with the mountain view from her living room. Unable to slow down for retirement after the move, she worked at Tim Hortons in Rocky Mountain House where she was adored by staff and customers.
Pauline and Neil shared a strong desire to explore and travel, and she lived for their adventures. Some of her favorites were traveling to Alaska, throughout the US and Western Canada, along with regular trips to Reno and Las Vegas. Pauline treasured memories of their Panama cruise and a trip to the Cayman Islands to visit their daughter. Pauline traveled to Jamaica, Florida, and other adventures with Kareen in recent years. Equally as fun for her, she loved to visit towns and northern communities for Neil's trapline conventions, along with the remote locations her sons worked at up North. For more than two decades she enjoyed and always looked forward to annual mothers' day walks in Calgary with Kareen.
Pauline loved big. She adored her husband, her sisters, her children and their spouses, her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and she showered them all with gifts, constantly. Gifting was one of Pauline's favorite pastimes and she took great pleasure in getting just the right gift through active listening and keen intuition. Even her hobbies like knitting, sewing, and baking were focused on giving to others.
Pauline cherished time with her sisters, stampeding, country music concerts and summers visiting Louise in the Okanagan. To her children, Pauline was more than a devoted mother, she was friend, confidant, and coach, sharing her deep faith that everything in life was "meant to be" rather than good or bad.
Pauline loved to celebrate and looked for any reason to make days special. Birthdays were important and she became known for the beautiful cakes she would make, guaranteed to have coins hidden inside. She was sought out for her legendary jello treats that were part food, part toy. But no celebration gave Pauline as much joy as Christmas. She celebrated Christmas with child-like enthusiasm and over-the-top decorating, with a special fondness for Christmas lights that covered every window in the house and every tree in the farmyard. Pauline built huge illuminated outdoor nativity and Santa scenes and she lined the roadside fenceposts with red ribbon.
Pauline appreciated nature, mountains and flowers. She worked endlessly with passion, enthusiasm, and awe-inspiring energy. She was in constant motion her entire life and resisted sitting anywhere... except around a camp fire. She could outlast anyone at a campfire and proved it frequently.
Pauline leaves her family with a lifetime of incredible memories. She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Neil, her sister Louise, her children Travis (Katie) Godlonton, Troy (Angie) Godlonton and Kareen (Marco) Stangherlin; her dear grandchildren who meant the world to her, Jay (Ethan), Colton, Serina, Brodee, Nicolas, Cowyn, Ethan, Tayte, Irelynn, Siena, Kale and Kairo, and her great grandchildren Ryan and Dean, along with her nieces and nephews, Trish, Brent, Tish and Gordie, her brother-in-law Phil (Nadine) Godlonton, sister-in-law Donna Godlonton, and also Eddie (Lorna) Godlonton, along with many cousins. Pauline was pre-deceased by her sister Charlotte and brother-in-law Lyle, as well as her parents Hazel and Bob Madden.
Pauline's quiet charm, fun loving spirit and compassionate soul will be missed by many good friends in the Rocky and Rimbey farming and trapping communities.
A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Lung Health Foundation. https://lunghealth.ca/
Condolences may be forwarded to: www.rockyfuneralhome.ca
Cremation entrusted to the Rocky Mountain Crematorium, Rocky Mountain House, AB
Rocky and Sylvan Lake Funeral Homes and Crematorium, your Golden Rule Funeral Homes, entrusted with the arrangements, 403 845 2626
Rocky Funeral Home