Passed away at the Bayside Personal Care Home in Killarney, MB on Tuesday June 10, 2014 at the age of 90 years, Gertrude Theresa Hyrich (nee Boulet) of Killarney, MB. Born to Brigitte (Audet) and Alphonse Boulet on May 10, 1924 on a farm just a few miles northwest of Dunrea, MB. Gertie was the youngest of seven children, six of whom survived, and she was the only child to be born in the new, two- storey house her father had built three years earlier. Initially, Gertie attended a tiny one-room schoolhouse one mile down the road, where her mother had taught for many years. But after grade four, she transferred to the convent school run by the Missionary Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart, in Dunrea. There she remained until she moved to the public high school clear across town, but she continued to board with the nuns at the convent for the rest of her school days. In 1946 Gertie's parents retired and she followed them to Dunrea, where her father had built a cottage. The decision was a painful one for Gertie, who loved her life on the farm. She particularly loved to care for the farm animals - the baby chicks and the little piglets - and to tend large gardens. In 1950, Gertie joined her sister Flore in La Salle, MB when her sister unexpectedly gave birth to triplets. Flore and her husband now had four children to care for, and they needed all the help they could get. Gertie spent 8 months in La Salle, tending to the children and looking after the house. A picture of the triplets at the age of six months still hangs on her wall to this day. When her mother died in 1963, Gertie went to work at the Ninette Sanatorium and, in 1965, she met Jack Hyrich, of Belmont, MB. They were married in 1967 and Gertie moved to the Belmont farm where, once again, she spent innumerable hours splitting and hauling wood to heat the house, canning and freezing vegetables, baking bread, buns, cakes and pies, and making perogies, cabbage rolls, meat pies and - of course - her signature fruitcake. Jack and Gertie sold the farm and moved to Belmont in 1977, where they lived for the next 17 years. When Gertie's sister Maria died in 1993, Gertie inherited her father's house and, with Jack in tow, she moved back to Dunrea. Jack passed away in 1997 and Gertie continued to live in the family home until 2008, when she moved to Westview Lodge in Boissevain. She then moved to Bayside, in Killarney, MB on February 16, 2012. Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday June 20, 2014 at 11:00 am in the St. Felix de Valois Catholic Church, Dunrea, MB, with Father Phillip Malayil as Celebrant. Interment to follow in the St. Felix de Valois Parish Cemetery. Friends that so desire, memorial donations can be made to the Boissevain Health Centre, Box 899 Boissevain, MB R0K 0E0, The St. Felix de Valois Catholic Church, Dunrea, MB R0K 0S0, or to a charity of one's choice.

Service Information

Friday, June 20th, 2014 11:00am, St. Felix de Valois Catholic

Interment Details

St. Felix de Valois Parish Cemetery