Mary Jane Wickert
Jane Wickert of Tilley, beloved wife of the late “Doc” Wickert passed away on Sunday, July 3, 2016 at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. Jane is survived by her loving family; children Wayne Jr. and his wife Cindy of Swan River, Manitoba, son John and his wife Irene of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, daughter Amy Buday and her husband John of Tilley, son Casey and his wife Alyce of Duchess and daughter Barb Gabruch and her husband John of Consul, Saskatchewan, 15 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Jane was born in Michigan in 1928. She had a twin sister, Mary Jean and an older sister Betty. Jane obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Michigan State in 1949. She met Wayne Wickert at the Michigan State Health lab where they were involved in making vaccines. They married in 1951 and lived on the army barracks at Michigan State University while Wayne completed his Veterinary Medicine degree. Because Wayne was also a veteran of WWII, he was part of the G.I. College Bill that gave war vets a free College education. Their first 3 children – Wayne Jr., John and Amy – were all born while Wayne was attending Michigan State.
After graduation in 1958, the family moved to Reading, Michigan, where “Doc” and Jane set up his veterinary medicine practice and had another child – Casey. During the summer of 1962, Doc and Jane went on a trip to experience the Calgary Stampede and view the Rocky Mountains. It was during this trip that Jane found relief from allergies that she’d been suffering with for her entire life in Michigan. The open land and clean air were a huge relief. After that trip, her words to Doc were, “I’m moving to Alberta. You can come if you want.” In June of 1963, the family and all their worldly possessions loaded into a van – 4 kids, 2 dogs and a cat – pulling a cattle squeeze that held their beds. First stop was Calgary, where Doc started his work as a government district veterinarian and their fifth child was born – Barb. When he was transferred to the Brooks office in 1966 they moved to the farm south of Tilley.
It didn’t take long for Jane to realize that both she and her husband didn’t know much about farming. And, since she was on the farm while he was at work all day, it was in her best interest to learn. In the end, it’s been Jane and the kids that have run the farm, while Doc tended to the government vet work.
Jane would happily spend hours on the farm tending the flood-irrigated fields and ‘playing in the mud’. The cows were her ‘girls’ and would follow her from one field to another when she called them. As part of her love of the wide open lands that are southern Alberta, if you ever drive by the Wickert farm, you’ll notice there are no trees around the house or yard. That’s because Jane says, “Trees just block the view. I want to see my cows, I want to see the sky and I want to see the weather that’s coming.”
Jane has been involved in the Tilley and Brooks community for many years. She has been a member of the Tilley County Club ladies group forever. In the 1990s, she taught math upgrading at the Brooks Campus of Medicine Hat College and also became a world traveler with her sister, Jean. She and Jean went whitewater canoeing over the course of several summers, including a 3-week trip on the Nahanni River in the Yukon. They visited orphanages in Romania and India as part of a group of grandmas who wanted to hold babies; they travelled to the Galapagos Islands and the Antarctic just because they wanted to. In more recent years, she has been a volunteer for victim services and at Tilley School in her daughter’s classroom. Through all of this, she has continued to work on the farm. Finally, Jane loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren enormously. Her spirit and strength will be missed by all of us.
It was Jane’s wish that no funeral or memorial be held. If you’d like to make a donation on her behalf, the following are some organizations that she donated to: SPEC, BAPS, the Women’s Shelter and STARS. The family wishes to thank all of those who came to her assistance, especially those who were first on the scene and were told by Jane “Don’t you dare tell my kids!”
Jane died doing what she loved – farming.
The following quote from H.S. Thompson describes how Jane embraced life to the fullest:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of dust, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
