Jill VanGHELUWE

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VanGHELUWE: Jill Elizabeth VanGheluwe passed away September 29, 2018 with her husband and children by her side. She was born November 21, 1960 to Elmer and Margaret Eggleton from Cartwright/Killarney area. Jill spent her school years in Killarney. She grew up with 4 sisters and 1 brother on a farm, which is where she developed her love of horses that continued throughout her life. After schooling Jill moved to Deloraine and started working at Co-op meat department. This is where she met her husband of 38 years, Gordon VanGheluwe. Jill stayed at home with the kids until school age and did babysitting on the side. Living on a street with lots of young families there were lots of kids in and out of the house and lots of mothers to have coffee with. She sure loved having coffee visits with anyone that would come around, the door was always open and the coffee on. As a family we have many great memories from that time. We think Jill felt she was the neighborhood greeter. Anyone that moved in she was quickly over with baking and having coffee. When the kids were off to school, Jill took up work at Deloraine Hospital. Her motto was “if you cannot have fun at work it made for a long day”. She was always playing pranks on her co-workers which we are still hearing great stories about today, these co-workers turned into some pretty great friends. Jill made a lot of great friends at Deloraine Hospital and enjoyed working with them and had a great sense of humour about life. When she started working at the hospital she found her dream job. She wanted to be an E.M.T. so she started off taking courses, working by day and taking E.M.T. courses at night. Once she got her course finished and graduated, Jill became an E.M.T for Deloraine Hospital as a volunteer. She worked at the hospital and ambulance at the same time, however being a paramedic was her dream job. She excelled in it and made many great friends. Gordon woke up one morning and Jill was home having coffee at the kitchen table, but to his surprise, her pager had went off (Gordon did not hear it) and here she had been to Winnipeg and back on an ambulance call, and even back in time to catch a few winks of sleep. In her spare time she took up bingo and painting crafts. Jill approached just about everyone in Deloraine to become an E.M.T. She later on became the supervisor of Deloraine. She was in her glory being an E.M.T. In 2000 her world came crashing down. Jill was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. All things she worked so hard at came to an abrupt stop. She stopped doing all the things she loved. The next 18 years she fought a hard fight with losing control of her body, but her mind was still sharp and her humour never faded. Eventually the M.S. won and she lost the battle she was fighting against so hard. Jill loved her husband, kids and grandkids. She never missed a chance to spoil everyone. At Christmas time we could not even see the tree as there were so many Christmas gifts. Jill loved life and marching to her own drum and had a great sense of humour right until the end. The last 2 years she was in Deloraine hospital/personal care home. She had great care staff around her that cared and looked after her very well when she could no longer do it for herself. Then M.S. took her away from us. She is lovingly remembered by her husband Gordon; daughter, Jaimie (Paul Bernard), Melita, MB, daughter Kristen, Brandon, MB and son Derek (Sabrina Lavigne), Brandon, MB; grandchildren Kyra, Jace, Lilly and Arianna; sisters Val Morris and Pat (Brian) Phillips; brothers-in-law Lloyd (Cindy), Calvie, and Duane; mother-in-law Bev; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents Margaret (Rogers) and Elmer Eggleton; siblings Elaine Eggleton and Earl Eggleton; brother-in-law John Morris; father-in-law Harry VanGheluwe; and sister-in-law Betty Jean Paziuk. Special thanks to all the wonderful friends who stuck by when things got tough.Smith's Funeral Homewww.wheatlandfs.com 204-747-2088

As published in Brandon Sun on Oct 20, 2018