This was the actual memorial bulletin, and the words that were on a musical slideshow for this remarkable lady I was so blessed to have known:

Blanche Odile Boyden  1911-2007

 Blanche Boyden was born in Little Falls, Minnesota on April 29, 1911 to Alice and Bert Hart.  After being carried for ten months by her 5 foot tall mother, and at a weight of just over ten pounds, she entered the world backwards as a breach birth.

  To induce her to start breathing, the doctor plunged her alternately into hot and cold tubs of water.  Blanche always claimed that this dunking episode was how she earned her name!

   Her father died in a workplace accident in 1914, when Blanche was only three. Her sister Noella was one, and it was three months before her youngest sister Alberta was born.

  Life was difficult financially for the family.  It was not until the age of seven that Blanche and her sisters received dolls as their first-ever Christmas gift.  At the age of thirteen and after completing grade eight, Blanche went to work to help support the family.  She worked at the Emporium Department store six days a week for a grand weekly sum of 7 dollars.  She gave $5 to her mother to help feed the family, requiring the rest for her trolley fare.

   At the age of fifteen, Blanche met Milard Boyden and, unbeknownst to him, she decided he was the man she would one day marry.  Nine years later, Millard finally got up the nerve to aks her out on a first date, and a year later (1936) they were married.

  In 1940, the first of three children, Alice Mae, was born in Saint Paul, Minnisota.  With Millard now off to war, Blanche supplemented the household income mending silk nylons and silk parachutes, a skill she had learned while working in the lingerie department at the Emporium.

   In 1948, Lee Bert was born and in 1952, Millard was sent a telegram while stationed in Thule, Greenland announcing that they had another daughter, Gayle Jean.

  As a construction engineer, Millard moved his family to wherever the work took him.  Blanche decided early in the marriage that wherever they called home at the time, she would be happy.  This included Florida, Missouri, Mexico, and for the longest stint of time, in Port Cartier Quebec where Millard headed up the construction of the iron ore port.

   Upon the sudden death of her husband there in 1976, Blanche moved to Greenfield Park, Montreal and eventually to Moncton (New Brunswick, Canada) in 1988.  For the past two years, Blanche resided in People's Park Tower.

  Blanche was an avid handcrafter, and through the years tried various crafts.  These included weaving on a loom, knitting, crocheting, tatting, jewelry-making, cross-stitching, painting, organ playing, song-writing, and poetry-writing.  Most people don't realize it, but almost every outfit Blanche wore was designed and sewn by her own hands.

   At the age of 94, she taught herself to use an electric typewriter, although she still preferred to faithfully hand-write two or three letters daily to any of dozens of long-time friends all around the world.  It was onlyu this past fall that she stopped her nineteenth year of weekly bowling on a team.

  Her long-term memory continued to be sharp, and she spoke on CBC radio and to MacNaugton High school classes on more than one occasion about "the olden days".  She could recall in vivid details such things as the ringing of the town bells to announce the end of World War 1, and of the playful antics she and her sisters would get into growing up before the Depression, or the first time she heard music being played on a Victrolla.

   Her love of the Lord was evident through her participation in Church and in Bible-study activities.  She was part of a Christian group that toured Israel in the late 70's.  Many other people can attest to being recipients of her Bibles, Study books and tapes, and praise CD's as she shared her strong Christian beliefs.  She fully sponsored two students through Bible Colleges and saw both of them become Church Pastors.

  Although Blanche could be stern and strong-headed when required, she will be best remembered as a kind, gentle, and caring Christian lady.

   There are people we meet who make a difference in our lives because of their character, their example, and their love of Jesus Christ.  These kinds of people are God's ambassadors to us and the world.  Blanche was truly one of those ambassadors, and our lives have been blessed having just known her.