Obituaries

The Mad Woman of Montgomery Drive has passed. On Monday, May 30, 2022, Carol Ann Friesen (nee Greggain) walked into the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina and said a final goodbye to the world and to the terminal cancer that had brought her to this place.

Carol was predeceased by, well, everybody who had ever died before her, but notably her parents Jim and Christine Greggain (nee King). Left behind to remember her are her brothers and sisters Barbara, Larry, Don, Brian and Christine; her husband of 57 years Gene Friesen; her two sons Trevor (Charlene) and Sean (Korelye) and her four awesome granddaughters Hannah, Hailey, Karla and Kali Ann.

Despite being a quiet soul Carol loved music and singing, hence the moniker The Mad Woman of Montgomery Drive. Her husband or sons would often arrive home at lunch to find Carol, still in her housecoat; vacuum cleaner roaring, the stereo blasting the latest ABBA album or popular movie soundtrack with the volume turned all the way to 11. Carol would be singing along at the top of her lungs, oblivious to the audience that had formed in the living room.

A fierce competitor Carol enjoyed curling at a high level and outfishing Gene at their Jan Lake cabin every summer. When she stopped curling, she turned her energies to walking. Despite having a self-professed hate for running she would casually walk ten miles a day…every…single…day. When the weather turned foul and she wasn’t off to Maui for her and Gene’s annual vacation, she would do the miles on her well-worn treadmill. Naturally, there was always music playing on treadmill days. She said that the music of rapper Pitbull made it easy to cover the distance.

An avid reader, she had Gene install a mini library on their front lawn in Saskatoon. Her only disappointment? She had already read most of the books that people left or traded.

In later years she took up cross-stitch as a hobby and churned out huge numbers of colourful, highly detailed wall hangings, ornaments and Christmas stockings. Cross-stitch really appealed to her fastidious nature as there was never a stitch out of place. She was working on a cross-stitch Christmas stocking right up to the days before she took her last ride.

Carol was a strong willed, independent woman and with that you always knew where you stood, be it on her good side or her bad side. Pity the unprepared politician who would show up on her doorstep to solicit her vote. She was also a deeply private woman, with very few people even aware of her health struggles up until the very end.

In the end Carol opted to take advantage of the Medical Assistance in Death service offered for terminal patients in Saskatchewan; allowing herself to handle her death with the same dignity, grace and courage that she displayed in life.

As per her wishes there will be no service or memorial held for Carol. If you could find it in your ability to donate to Ovarian Cancer Canada, we are sure she would have appreciated it.

She was loved and she will be missed.