Irene Rech

IRENE MARGARET (McLaren) RECH

It is with great love that the family of Irene Rech is announcing her passing on Oct. 3, 2025 at the age of 94, at the Tuxedo Villa Nursing Home after a 10-day battle with cancer.

She is survived by her sons Ken (Erin) and Brian (Sheena), 3 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband Stan in 2008 and her daughter Linda in 2015.

She was the last surviving child of Peter and Mable McLaren, being predeceased by two older sisters and one younger brother. Her father Peter lived to be 79 years old and her mother Mabel lived to be 94, the same age as her in passing.

Mom was born on March 24, 1931 at the start of the Depression in the small Saskatchewan town of Abernathy, which still exists today, population 190.

She grew up as a farm girl on her parent’s farm located just outside of Balcarres, Saskatchewan, until her late teens upon which time she ventured to Winnipeg around 1951.

During her childhood years on the farm, she had many horses which she rode daily with her rifle in her hand trying to keep the gopher population in check.  Although she was comfortable on a horse, she never did learn how to drive a vehicle during her life.

In 1952 she wed Stan Rech and they had 3 children in quick succession: Linda, Ken and Brian. They went on to build a new home over many years themselves, in the west end of Winnipeg on Strathcona Street where they lived until 1992.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s mom found work in the garment industry within walking distance at Monarch Wear and later Freed and Freed as a clothing inspector.

In 1992 our parents retired to the Town of Gimli, where our father was raised on a farm a few miles out of town.  At this time, they moved into a large home they were building, which replaced the tiny cottage they had bought in 1978. This new retirement home was twice the size of the home we grew up in, and it would take them 10 years to finish the construction.

Both our parents were avid gardeners and to this day hundreds of shrubs and flowers still adorn this house.

Mom was an excellent cook, but she really excelled in the pickle and relish department.  We are fortunate to have found her recipe album with all the hand written recipes noting the source of her friend, who gave her the recipes.

She was a great seamstress and took care of any sewing needs of her family and friends.  Some of our blue jean pants might have 4 layers of patches, one over top of another, on the knees, each patch larger than the preceding, resulting in a built-in cushion.

Since she was such a great seamstress, she made many quilts and baby blankets for the Gimli Hospital Auxiliary, of which she was a member.

Mom is probably known best for her bright red Christmas stockings she made for all the family and relatives, as well as friends of the family members.  The family pets also got their full-size stockings too, complete with images of bones.  Most of these stocking had a CN railway theme to them, as her husband and son Brian worked on the railway.  Each year we will remember her at Christmas as we hang these stockings.

Mom had good health all her life and was able to stay in her house until she was 92, at which point she was safer to be in a Nursing Home.  In 2023 she moved to Tuxedo Villa Nursing Home in Winnipeg to be closer to her sons.  As dementia took hold of her by this time, we were somewhat robbed of having two-way conversations with her during that period, but did learn lots about her childhood which we didn’t know, such as never having learned to ride a bicycle.

Ten days before her passing we found out she had cancer and we are so grateful it didn’t last long and she wasn’t in any pain.  Up until this time she was fully mobile and could walk by herself, with a walker for backup.

As mom moves on to be reunited with her parents, siblings, husband, Linda and others, we are so grateful for what she taught us about compassion and caring about others, and how she protected us.

Our family would like to thank all the staff at the Tuxedo Village Nursing Home for the care they showed our mother during the last two years of her life.

Respecting her wishes, cremation has taken place, and she has been interned at Sts Cyril and Methodius’s cemetery outside of Gimli, along side our father, in a wood Urn Ken made out of purpleheart wood.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the charity of your choice or plant a tree, shrub, flower somewhere the public can enjoy.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Irene Rech, please visit our floral store.