Obituary of Jerome "Jerry" Edgar Kaeding

KAEDING - Jerome (Jerry) Edgar Kaeding passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family on August 19, 2020. Jerry was born to Edgar and Alva Kaeding on July 18, 1944 in Regina and was the oldest of 4 children. He was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church. He received his education in Churchbridge and then went on to work at the potash mine at Esterhazy until he decided to go farming on the family farm. On June 28, 1968, Jerry married Elaine Rathgeber. They resided in Churchbridge until they moved to the farm in 1975. Their union was blessed with three children, Terena, Michelle and Craig. Jerry enjoyed curling in the winter and was the president/ caretaker/icemaker/best customer of the Churchbridge curling club. He instilled his love for curling in his children and continued to coach and watch his granddaughter's team from his hospital bed. He spent many volunteer hours teaching kids to curl. Summers were spent golfing and camping with family and friends, as well as watching Roughrider games. We all liked golfing with dad because he always knew where your ball went, although searching the bushes for stray golf balls was one of his favorite things to do. Jerry also spent many hours taking care of the yard and garden and tending to his orchard. Jerry always wanted to take his family to Disneyland and in April of 2018 we were fortunate enough to finally make this trip happen. Jerry was blessed with 74 years of good health until April of 2019 when he was found to have an aneurysm followed by a diagnosis of cancer. He handled his diagnosis and treatments the way he handled everything else, with a smile on his face and gratitude to everyone in his heart. Jerry was predeceased by his parents, Edgar and Alva, brother Harold and sister in law Barb, brothers-in-law Wilfred, Albert, Gordon, George, Leslie and niece Joan. Jerry leaves to celebrate his life, his wife of 52 years Elaine, children Terena (Cary), Michelle (Curtis) and Craig (Cassie), 7 grandchildren Haley, Janelle, Chase, Joshua, Macyn, Rachel and Parker, sisters Heather (Murray) and Debbie (Dennis), sisters-in-law Doreen, Phyllis, Eileen, Vera (Jim) and Carol (Victor), as well as numerous nieces and nephews. A private family funeral service was held on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 from Trinity Lutheran Church in Churchbridge, SK., with Rev. Dan Moeller officiating. Tributes were given by Vallery Putland and Randy Kaeding. The organist was Vallery Putland and the soloist was Lawrence Kitz. The interment followed in the Churchbridge Town Cemetery with Rachel Kaeding, Parker Kaeding, Haley Palmer, Joshua Palmer, Janelle Zulyniak, Chase Zulyniak and Macyn Zulyniak serving as urn bearers. Memorial donations in memory of Jerry may be made to the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan, 200-4545 Parliament Ave., Regina Sask. S4W 0G3, as tokens of remembrance. Since Jerry didn't want this to be a sad occasion, I thought I'd share some fond memories with help from the kids. How do I sum up being blessed with 52 years of marriage with your best friend? We all know how Jerry loved to eat corn. Craig came home with his new truck on Friday and he wanted to show Jerry, so he parked it in front of the living room window. Jerry sat in a chair by the window and commented that it was a nice truck, but he then noticed the wheelbarrow full of corn sitting next to it and seemed to be more excited about the prospect of eating some corn. The corn was slower to ripen this year but Friday when I went out I was surprised to see that the corn was ready. Was sure God had sped things up because he was able to enjoy it one last time. He had 3 cobs instead of his usual 10 and smiled the whole time he was eating it. Now chicken on the other hand was a different story. Pretty well everyone knew that Jerry didn't eat chicken. The reason being was that when he was a young boy while butchering chickens, a headless chicken flew up on his back. So every year at the ladies bonspiel when the women had chicken Jerry got a special hamburger ordered just for him; always made him smile. In April of 2018, the Griswold's made the trek to Disneyland by bus (which we do not recommend by the way). Jerry was the only one brave enough to go with the kids on all the rides. While on the Space Mountain ride, a picture was taken that showed all the kids screaming and Jerry was smiling. The kids asked him afterwards why he wasn't screaming. He said that he had to keep his mouth closed so his teeth didn't come out. He truly loved his orchard, the garden and the yard and could spend all day outside. For the last month we drove around the yard on the golf cart and through the orchard. He was quite tickled that his pears finally after several years were bearing fruit. He was very happy to see plums growing also. He had never eaten a plum as the previous year he had one plum grow and Beatrice and I had shared it while out picking strawberries. He always commented on how he sure would have liked to taste that one plum that grew that year. I sometimes wondered what Jerry was doing all day. The kids said they would drive into the yard many a time when he was walking up from the backyard with his knee pads on, blue jeans and Pioneer shirt carrying some sort of spray can, on the hottest of days and always had a big smile on his face. Now when we were driving around on the golf cart, he noticed a few (many) things that were not done quite to his specifications. He was a perfectionist at most things he did. As his health declined and the kids started to help with the yard work, they realized how much work he really did. Curling and the curling rink was what he was most passionate about. We did lots of curling together and enjoyed bonspieling with friends. Even though his health was failing, Jerry still put the ice in this past year with my help. If anyone is interested in putting in the ice this year, please send your resume to Craig. I'm sure there are many stories one could tell about Jerry and the curling rink, but one that sticks out for us is one evening when Craig and Rick Sveinbjornson were at the rink with their dads. Carman Tomsha said to Craig, "do you know your dad went home without you?" And Craig replied, "my dad would never leave me here". I got a phone call shortly after from Carman saying to ask Jerry when he got home "if he forgot something". When Jerry got home I asked if he had forgotten anything at the rink and he said no. Luckily Ronny was willing to bring Craig home. As a friend wrote to Craig today, "Jerry left a legacy of curlers that he showed how to love the game who will then teach others…it is a forever legacy. Your dad was a community man, always participating and volunteering. Jerry was very much a family man; if you saw one Kaeding, you saw a whole bunch. His legacy continues forward in all of you, but in you the very most…someone who gives to curling, community and family. You were blessed to have him but we knew, he thought he was blessed to have you". When Pastor Moeller came on Saturday to give us communion I saw Jerry listened intently to every word the pastor said and had a peaceful look in his eye. I'm sure he knew that he was going home soon. On Wednesday morning, one of the last things he said was "all that stuff is looked after" and then "everything is falling into place very nicely". I was glad that he felt that way. Since January 29 when he started his first treatment, we've spent every day together except when he was in the hospital. He hardly ever complained. We were so lucky to be able to stay at Terena and Cary's in Regina during his treatments. When he went through all he had, he remained so appreciative of the health care system and always said thank you. Even at home almost everything I brought him to eat he said thank you and he always said thank you to Curtis when he would give him his pain medication. Thanks to Curtis and Michelle, he was able to spend his last days comfortably at home where he wanted to be. Rest in peace Jerry. Service Details. Service When: Tuesday, August 25th, 2020 Officiant: Pastor Dan Moeller Interment Location: Churchbridge Cemetery Address: Road Allowance CHURCHBRIDGE, SK Online Memory & Photo Sharing Event Ongoing Online Event About this event In Loving Memory Of Jerome "Jerry" Kaeding July 18, 1944 - August 19, 2020 Look inside to read what others have shared Family and friends are coming together online to create a special keepsake. Every memory left on the online obituary will be automatically included in this book. View Tribute Book