One of the most unassuming, quiet, gentle souls that I have ever met. A strong will and strong faith were with her to the ned. She was a good friend, great volunteer and a willing participant. She made a big impression on all of us.
I first met Lena and Horst, at Langs Farm Village where Rosalie, the Nurse, offered a Diabetic Group, about 18 years ago. I had been recently diagnosed and Horst was already in the group and Lena was always his right hand person and came with him to all the meetings. She was always ready to help and offer advice and quickly became friends with most of the group. Then when Horst passed she stopped coming and we really missed her.
Lena was always a willing participant in the Langs Farm activities such as Take a Break on a Wednesday morning headed up by Tammy. Tammy and Chrystle and Lena became good and fast friends. This is where I learned to cook with garlic. She was making humus and I was the assistant and was to peel and chop the garlic. Which I did. Never connected that chopped garlic and the humus went together. What an eyeopener. She thought it was hilarious and I never lived it down. Tammy said it was at the end of the meetings that she missed her the most. Lena always held back and helped with the cleanup and they had such a great talks. At Take a Break we went on many day trips in the Langs bus and her favourite part of any trip was lunch. She loved Anna Maes. She did like to try new things and loved it all. We would be in the Resource Room at the computers and I could never figure out the internet. She patiently talked me over any of my problems and one day she sat down and enrolled me in hotmail. I really appreciated this bit of information. She introduced me to Google. So now I was really off. We miss her at the Resource Room where she was a mountain of information and would help any one if they had problems.
She was always smiling and happy. We all enjoyed her attitude toward other Langs activities. She never missed a Christmas Party at the Legion, the Picnic in the parking lot and the Spaghetti supper at the Mennonite Church.
Lena and Horst were valuable volunteers with the fund raising committee and were involved in the Bingo where they were faithful bingo helpers. When Horst passed I signed on as a spare and when Lena fell ill I helped out and am still there. Some of staff still ask how she is doing and on Thursday evening I had to tell them that she passed.
When Lena fell ill, Tammy, Christle and Kate took it hard. However, when we would go to visit her in the hopsital she was always so positive, never complained and we came away from our visits hoping that she was really going to beat this and be back. It was not to be.
Lena was a participant. Volunteer. and friend to Langs Farm Village Association. She touched many lives and helped many people in our community. We all miss her.
In closing:
You can shed tears that she is gone, Or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that they will come back Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see her Or you can be full of the love that you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday You can remember her and only that she is gone Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back. Or you can do what she would want, smile, open your eyes, love and go on.