Obituary of Elta Fae Marlor

For those unable to attend in person, please click the following link to watch the livestream: Trinity Lutheran Saskatoon

On December 23, 2023 Elta Fae Marlor (nee Jensen), 86, our mum, granny, and sister, died peacefully surrounded by love, after a courageous battle with congestive heart failure.

Elta Fae was born at home in St. Francis, Kansas in 1937. When the USA joined WW II, her dad was hired as a foreman in the Boeing airplane factory in Wichita, KS. After the war in 1945, the family returned home to Atwood, KS.  Elta Fae attended Atwood Elementary School and Atwood High School with her sisters, Margaret and Reta and cousins, Bonnie, Alberta, and Marion Elaine. Her two younger sisters, Ardis and Lois, arrived on the scene when Elta Fae was almost 12 and nearly 14.

Elta Fae was, in her own words, a head strong and independent young woman, giving her parents a real run for their money as she matured through young adulthood. She learned to drive at 7 years old, sitting on her dad’s lap in the family car.  She and her sisters delighted in the large boxes their dad brought home from the appliance, furnace and air conditioning business he owned. Their imagination took them on several adventures.

From a young age Elta Fae loved to care for creation. As a child she had a pet rooster named Chanticleer, who went missing after the family was served chicken one day. Growing up the family had a dog named Jerome, and after university Elta Fae had a pug named Missy.

Music was a big part of the Jensen family life at home and at church. Elta Fae loved to sing and dance with her sisters especially when her dad and her Uncle Clyde, would play their guitar and violin in the living room. In high school Elta Fae enjoyed being a part of the mixed chorus and the girls Glee Club. Her instrument of choice was the bass clarinet. 

Elta Fae developed a passion for home economics by her involvement in 4H clubs and FHA (Future Homemakers of America) and was encouraged by her high school Home Ec teacher, Veau Del Prochazka. She was awarded a college scholarship from the state of Kansas to pursue Home Economics study. She enrolled at Kansas Wesleyan Methodist University in Salina, immersed herself in campus life and graduated with a home economics teaching degree. In 1960 she began teaching home economics in Abilene, Kansas.

During university Elta Fae met a handsome young Canadian named John Marlor. They became sweethearts and after graduation maintained a three-year long-distance relationship. After John had finished his three-year seminary training in Canada they were married in McCook, Nebraska on the morning of Aug 6^th, 1963. It was here her life as a Canadian began. They returned to Calgary, AB so John could work as a curate at the Cathedral in Calgary. Elta Fae secured a teaching position in the Calgary School System teaching Jr High and Spelling to grade 5’s, and English to Grade 8 boys who didn’t want to learn! Two years later they moved to Strathmore, AB and welcomed two daughters, Rachel and Jennifer. Elta Fae began her life of Girl Guiding while they were in Strathmore.

In 1970 John was called to serve All Saint’s Anglican in Saskatoon. Elta Fae continued her passion for teaching securing a job teaching life skills to young women at Kilburn Hall detention centre and at Cosmo Industries. 1979 Elta Fae returned to university, taking night classes at the University of Saskatchewan to pursue becoming a teacher librarian. During the day she worked at Aden Bowman Collegiate as study hall supervisor and the teacher associate in the library. She graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Saskatchewan in October 1987. Elta Fae then taught for nearly 25 years within the Saskatoon School System at Riverview Collegiate, City Park, Dr. John G. Egnatoff and finally, Pleasant Hill Community School, until her retirement in 2002.

Maintaining family connection over the miles and over the years was an important part of her life. Throughout the years of living in Canada, her connection to her stateside family and her statesdie family to her was uppermost in her mind. In the early years letters and short phone calls and annual summer visit to Atwood created priceless memories, and later trips back and forth, hourlong visits on the phone sharing bits and pieces of life meant a great deal to her and her family.

Elta Fae found great fulfillment with various volunteer ventures. She loved being a Girl Guide pack leader, a team leader and door-to-door canvasser for the Cancer and Heart and Stroke Foundations. When she moved into the Luther Heights in 2013, she put her librarian skills to work organizing the library. She continued her love of gardening and being a part of the resident council while she lived there. Her passion for music was fuelled by singing in the University Chorus and the choir at All Saints Anglican and being a part of the vocal and ukulele choirs at Luther Heights. 

From a young age, Elta Fae was involved in the church; first with the Methodist church in Atwood, then with the Episcopalian church in Abilene, KS and then with the Anglican Church in Canada. She said many times that her life as a priest’s wife, serving on the Altar Guild and providing leadership in the Anglican Church Women and Mother’s Union were very fulfilling. She had an insatiable desire to learn more about scripture and the life of faith. She took seriously her baptism and confirmation promises to be a witness to the light and love of Christ in this world.

Elta Fae was indeed a headstrong and independent woman. She was courageous in the face of challenging events which were not of her choosing; she relied on her deep faith and that of others when life threw unexpected curve balls at her. She was sassy and impish, and loved to laugh and joke. 

Elta Fae was predeceased by her husband, John Marlor; parents Francis and Blanche (nee Yeo) Jensen of Atwood, Kansas, her sister, Ardis Peterson, of Junction City, Kansas and brother-in-law Fred Townsend, Des Moines, Iowa.

Her life and faith is carried on in her children; Rachel Buchholz and her husband, Richard of Saskatoon and Jennifer Marlor Ammeter and her husband, Wes Ammeter, Winnipeg; her grandchildren: Hillary Barker and her husband Kat, Saskatoon; Kevin Buchholz and his wife, Kirstin, Saskatoon; Vanessa Buchholz, Saskatoon; Heather Wiwchar and her husband Pierce, Saskatoon, and Gabrielle Buchholz and her partner, Kolten Morrison, Celista, British Columbia. Her zest for life is carried on by her 5 great grandchildren: Royce, Logan, Haylee, Lillian and Natalie. She is lovingly remembered by her sisters: Margaret Townsend, Des Moines, Iowa; Reta Caldwell and her husband Peter, Lawrence, Kansas; and Lois Waldo and her husband David, Topeka, Kansas; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 6^th 2024 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 419 Avenue E North, Saskatoon, with Pastor Mark Hedlin presiding and Rev. Mark Kleiner preaching. Funeral arrangements are in the care of Saskatoon Funeral Home.

Our thanks and deepest appreciation are extended to the staff of Prairie Spring Care Home, especially Annette, Apple, Edna, and Laura; the medical staff at RUH; and Drs. Courtney Meier and Julia Radic. In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to either the Saskatoon Food Bank or the Heart and Stroke Foundation.