Mrs. Bodil Myrle McCue (nee Nielsen) passed away at Innisfail, Alberta on Friday, October 28, 2022 at the age of 99 years. Bodil was born at Peers, Alberta on June 23, 1923, to parents Chris and Edna Nielsen. If you think about all the amazing world events that have happened over the past ninety-nine and a half years, you will have some ideas of Bodil’s life. She was raised on a small farm, along with six other siblings and half siblings; her early photos show a beautiful girl with long hair and a smiling face. Bodil’s mother was a strong, optimistic English woman who lost her first husband to a railway accident, and then married again, this time to a young Danish man who came up to Alberta through the United States looking for work. He found his bride-to-be waiting on tables in the Boarding House where he stayed. This was Bodil’s father, a farmer and blacksmith who had a playful sense of humour, and treated all the children in his family with love and respect. With parents like these, of course the young Bodil would be smiling at the camera.
Bodil liked school and excelled in her studies. At the time, it was rare for girls to finish High School, particularly if they lived away from bigger towns and cities. However, even though she took her last year by correspondence, Bodil completed Grade Twelve. She then got ready to start her working life. As there weren’t many jobs in rural northern Alberta, her parents sent her to an aunt in Vancouver, British Columbia, where there were lots of jobs. On the train west, she met James ‘Jim’ William McCue. He caught her attention in his Air Force uniform, just as her lovely blue eyes snagged his. A few months later, he also captured her heart. They were married in Vancouver on February 10, 1942, and Bodil Nielsen became Bodil McCue.
When Jim was posted to England, Bodil returned to Alberta and set up their little city home in Edmonton, where their two children were born, Gloria in 1945, and Garry in 1947. At the end of the war, the family moved north to Spirit River, Alberta where their third child, Don, was welcomed into the family in 1953. About ten years later the whole family moved again, this time to Ponoka, Alberta, where all the children finished school. Bodil worked at the Hardware Store, the CIBC Bank, where she trained up more than one senior manager, and finally at the Grain Elevator, before her retirement.
During those years, five grandchildren came along, eventually followed by eight great grandchildren. While Bodil and Jim always had time for family, they also took time every year to travel. They enjoyed ten visits to Hawaii, and another ten to Victoria; trips that Bodil told stories about long into her later years. They also traveled with friends to California, and then with family to Denmark, to link our families back to their Danish relatives that Bodil’s father had left many years before.
To live such a long and full life is a blessing, not only for Bodil, but also for those around her. Her family, her friends, her fellow workers, and many others in the places she lived benefited from her energy, her thoughtfulness, and her many skills. Of course, she will be missed, but we who remain know in our hearts that Bodil is remembered, and we will continue to celebrate her life. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed at www.heartlandfuneralservices.com. Arrangements in care of: Heartland Funeral Services Ltd., 4415 – 49 Street, Innisfail, Alberta. Phone: 403.227.0006

• Date : 2022-11-11
• Location : www.ParklandFuneralHome.com & www.HeartlandFuneralServices.com