Mrs. Alice Bayko, of Red Deer, Alberta, was called home by her angels, in the early hours of Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Our hearts are sad, but also full of love, pride, and wonderful memories.

How do you condense 94 years, 8 months, and 12 days into a few paragraphs that adequately tell the story of a beautiful woman, beloved wife, treasured mother, grandmother, and great grandmother? But here we are.

Edgar and Christina Scott immigrated to Canada, from Scotland, in 1927 when they were expecting their fifth child, Alice. Mum always said the reason she hated water was because she remembers, and didn’t like, the sea voyage while encased in her Mum’s womb!

So, she was born on the small farm they started just south of Red Deer, and she loved the country life and the prairies – being able to enjoy the big sky and see “forever”. She much preferred doing the outside chores with the land and animals vs. doing the housework and would regularly take a cup of tea to her Dad, to enjoy a break with him in the barn or field.

Alice was quite the horsewoman in her youth, regularly riding in the Red Deer parade, in a beautiful riding hat and outfit that her Dad bought for her as a special gift. Her horse, Tony, gave her such comfort. On one occasion, her Dad asked her to return a tool he had borrowed from a neighbor but she was a bit frightened of this particular neighbor, so she rode Tony to the neighbor’s place but didn’t get off her treasured horse. She rode him right up onto the porch and kicked on the door. When the man answered he was quite shocked to see a horse in front of him, with a young girl sitting bravely astride!

In her late teens, Alice moved into town. She was sad to leave the farm but there was no room for her in the small farmhouse once her brothers came home from the war. However, fate had its hand in that decision. One snowy Christmas Eve, while walking her friend to the bus station, she met a charming young man named Walter. They shared a meal at the Phelan Hotel and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1952, they moved to Michener Hill into the house that Dad built after clearing the land. They had three young children at the time and two more would round out the family, in the home they enjoyed for the next fifty-two years. It was our beautiful acreage in the city. The house was small, but the property was every child’s dream playground in all four seasons!

Alice was a meticulous housekeeper, and she taught her kids, at young ages, how to maintain a home, although most of us really disliked dusting! We learned how to navigate the highly buffed floors and varnished stairs, but many of our sock-footed friends experienced ‘wipeouts’ on the sheen, polished surfaces! Some of us were afraid of that darn floor buffer because it could go a bit wild, but we challenged each other to try riding it if it was ‘bucking’ and throwing its pads! Mum had great patience in getting us back on task and ‘taming the beast’!

Mum’s summertime love was her gardens. She had two, massive, vegetable gardens which we would help her plant, weed, and harvest every year. Not to mention all the crab apples and cherries we had to pick in the fall. With five kids, there was no shortage of labor! And what we didn’t eat fresh, was canned and/or stored for winter meals. Nothing was ever wasted.

Alice also took great pride in her flower gardens, winning the coveted Merit Gardens Award year after year. The annual prize was a silver spoon. The award also held the promise of a grand prize. If you won the award for a certain number of years in a row, you would be given a silver bowl. Mum wanted that silver bowl and kept creating beautiful gardens year after year with that goal in mind. Unfortunately, she never won the bowl because they stopped the award the year before she would have received it. She definitely had an opinion or two about that! But she kept on creating lovely gardens anyway because she loved her plants and flowers and making the yard look beautiful.

Mum was the quintessential homemaker – cooking, cleaning, sewing, crocheting, gardening – you name it, she did it, and she dedicated her life to those passions while her kids were at home. We always came home from school to a prepared lunch. And, there was nothing like homemade borscht and garlic buns, fresh from the oven, on a rainy day. Every meal, in Alice’s kitchen, was prepared with love and creativity – she could make wonderful things from leftovers!

She didn’t have a great many things, but what she had, she treasured and took great care of. Her beautiful, musical jewelry box was a fascination for her young daughters and granddaughters, along with her ‘fancy dresses’ she had for going out dancing with Dad.

After her kids left the nest, she went back to work, spending several years in the kitchens at Michener Center and then in the cafeteria at The Bay. She was never one to sit on her laurels – always a hard worker until her body would no longer allow it … and even then, she kept trying!

As Alice got older, her passions changed to needlework, of which she created dozens of beautiful pieces. When her eyes made her move on from that, she became immersed in jigsaw puzzles. She always wanted to keep her mind occupied, along with her body, which she maintained by walking every day until she broke her second hip at the age of 92.

Mum was a special lady. She spent her whole life in Red Deer and touched many lives along the way. Always one to lend a hand and care for others when they were ailing or just needed a friend. She was known to be spunky and, even, mischievous, and was surprisingly clever right up to the end!

Loving memories of Alice will be forever in the hearts of her daughters Evelyn, Penny, Margaret, and Wilma, along with her five grandchildren and her five great grandchildren. Alice was predeceased by her husband, Walter, son, Tim; and a grandson, Evan; as well as her parents and all six siblings.

Our heartfelt thanks to the wonderful staff at Westpark Lodge who cared for Mum for the last two and a half years. And, to the gals there, who cared for her in her final days, we are truly grateful for the gentleness, dignity, and love you so graciously bestowed upon her.

A beautiful soul has left this earth and will now dance with her angels. Godspeed Mum. Thank you for blessing us with your presence, spirit, and unwavering love.

At Alice’s request, there will be no service. If desired, Memorial Donations in Alice’s honor may be made directly to the Central Alberta Humane Society at cahumane.com, the Red Deer Hospice at www.redeerhospice.com, or a charity of your choice. Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed at www.parklandfuneralhome.com

Parkland Funeral Home and Crematorium (Red Deer)

6287 – 67 A Street (Taylor Drive), Red Deer. 403.340.4040.

ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED FUNERAL HOME/CREMATORIUM

IN THE CITY OF RED DEER.

• Date : 2022-05-21
• Location : www.ParklandFuneralHome.com & www.HeartlandFuneralServices.com