Obituary of Elaine Joyce Martens

Elaine passed away on Thursday, January 21^st, 2021 at St. Boniface Hospital, Winnipeg, MB., with her family by her side.

She is survived by her loving husband, Max, and their children, Joel (Lacey) and their children Brooklyn and Zachary, Riley, and Brittany (Austin). She also leaves to cherish her memory her parents, Peter and Mary Reimer, her siblings, Gary (Cheryl), Shirley, Lorie (Darryl), Gail (Bob), and her sister-in-law Lynn as well as many nieces and nephews, extended family and friends.

She was predeceased by her brother, Harold.

Elaine was born to Peter and Mary Reimer on June 14, 1969, in St. Pierre Hospital. She was independent as a child and often kept to herself, but if you got her talking, she had no problem chatting your ear off. When her youngest sister was born, she became very motherly. Growing up on the family farm Elaine helped with pretty much everything like milking, feeding, and working in their garden. She was never afraid to get in and help wherever it was needed.

Max and Elaine started dating in 1986, engaged and married in 1988, with Joel following shortly after. Although she was a young new mom, she was a natural right away. Riley was born on March 24, 1991 in classic fashion, showing up on his own time. Finally, on September 6^th, 1995 her family was complete as she finally had her baby girl, Brittany. Her family grew again though, with the addition of a daughter in law, Lacey, and a son in law, Austin. She would never call them in laws though, to her Lacey and Austin were always just as much her kids as her biological children. Being a mom was her favourite job, and she took it very seriously. She would come with on field trips, volunteer to sew costumes for plays, bring chicks and ducklings to daycare, and going to Brooklyn’s class to read to them.

She never left us short for entertainment, trying anything her kids were interested in. Her grandkids call her “Crazy Grandma” because she was always running after them, rolling on the floor, and coming up with fun activities to do with them. She would go tubing, water skiing, hiking, fishing, paintballing, snowboarding, and ziplining. She would play hockey, ringette, and soccer. Anything that her kids and grandkids were interested in became her interests. She even went so far as to take coaching clinics in her spare time so that way she could coach Brittany’s ringette team for many years. She went with to so many concerts, and sporting events, came to every game or concert her kids had.

When Max’s dad passed away in August 1990 the boys took over the family business and Elaine was an important part of that. She pretty much ran the show. She took on all of the bookkeeping, arranging the permits, running routes with Max, and even driving the pilot vehicles and throwing blocks when she needed to.

Elaine loved to travel, she went to Germany as an exchange student in high school and took many road trips all over Canada and the US. In 2013 Max and Elaine took their first big trip together, going to Africa for Max’s brother’s wedding. After this trip Max got over his fear of flying and they went on to take many more trips to Las Vegas and Hawaii. She loved Hawaii so much she even got a tattoo on her ankle to commemorate her trips there.

Another very important passion that she had was for insurance, and she used her background in farming to help her to excel in the insurance industry. After working in many different offices, for a few different companies over the past 8 years she finally settled in Steinbach at BSI. She loved working in that office so much. Here she was finally able to complete her CAIB course, even while sick. She was so proud to have those letters after her name.

Most importantly, Elaine was always taking care of everyone else. Even when she was working, as an insurance agent, if someone that came in was having a hard time the first thing, she would do was offer them a hug if she thought they needed it. She always loved making food for her family and friends and loved to give gifts, taking time to pick out something thoughtful for whoever it was.

Even though she was going through a really difficult time with her health, she never complained. She was always reassuring everyone and even the last time the family got to visit her she just cracked jokes and laughed the whole time. She was so happy and full of love and laughter. Any time something was wrong, she always had the right words to say to make everything better. She will be forever loved and missed by everyone who got the pleasure of knowing her.

In lieu of flowers donations in memory of Elaine may be made to St. Boniface Hospital Foundation.

The family would like to make a special thank you to all the excellent doctors, nurses, and health care aides that took care of Elaine at St. Boniface Hospital.

A public come and go viewing will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2021, between 7:00-9:00 pm at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, MB.  Due to Covid restrictions, please stay in your vehicle until you are invited in.

A private family funeral service will be held on Friday, January 29, 2021, at 10:00 am, at Birchwood Funeral Chapel.