Julie Vreeling, resident of Grande Prairie, AB, formerly of Hawk Hills, AB, passed away on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, at the QEII Hospital at the age of 79 years.

Juliana was born in the Netherlands on November 26, 1941, the second youngest of 10 children. She immigrated to Canada in 1949 with her family, to a Dairy farm near Grande Prairie. It was here that she met her future husband Cobus Vreeling for the first time. As a teenager, Julie moved with her family to homestead in Hawk Hills, 30 miles north of Manning. She married Cobus on December 30, 1961. By the age of 23, she had 3 children all under the age of 3. This is probably when she learned her amazing organizational and planning skills. In her own words, as a farmer at heart, she “summer fallowed for 6 years, and then had a bumper crop (Brian)”. By this point, she and Cobus had moved the family to Hawk Hills and lived in the same yard as her parents, whom they bought the farm from.

Julie was very proud of the fact that while in Hawk Hills, she was very active in all aspects of the daily farm operations, often running equipment and taking care of the pigs. She had a strong work ethic and worked hard at everything she took on.

She was a wonderful hostess. Her door was always open and visitors were welcomed with an offer of a drink, a meal, and a smile. She genuinely enjoyed sitting around a full kitchen table laughing and telling stories with friends and family. Kids loved visiting Auntie Julie, and later Grandma Julie, and getting spoiled with pop, homemade buns and chocolate chip cookies.

She put her organizational skills to good use, hosting bonspiels, parties and family reunions. She was active in the community with the Ag society, the curling club, and church, as well as supporting her kids in their hockey and curling. Many teams were carried to tournaments in the motorhome with Julie at the helm.

When Julie and Cobus retired from the farm in April of 2003, they purchased a home in Grande Prairie, and continued to have a life full of visits from family and friends. She joined Curves and made some lasting friendships with the “Curves Ladies”, joining them for lunches and coffee, even when she could no longer do the exercises.

Deciding they wanted to slow down a bit more, Cobus and Julie moved into an apartment at Wild Rose Villa, in October of 2017, where she got to know her lunch-table mates and her neighbours. She often invited family to lunch with them, forever the hostess, even when she wasn’t the one cooking.

Julie loved cats and one of her favourite birthdays was when she turned 70 and Cobus gave her a kitten for her birthday. She was so excited, and for the next 6 years, she always had a “Boots” story to tell. One of the toughest things for her when moving out of the house was having to give her cats away.

This fall, Julie bought a new vehicle, and was so excited about all the bells and whistles her Nissan Kix had, she couldn’t stop smiling and talking about it even months later.

Julie had a big personality and was a whirlwind of energy for much of her life. She developed a muscle disease at age 53, that made her more comfortable sitting than moving around. When she announced that she was going to take up knitting, her family was shocked and amused. They could not imagine their energetic mother doing something so sedentary. In typical Julie fashion, she was soon making so many scarves, toques, and mitts, she was donating them. She made sweaters for grandkids and then began producing afghans at an alarming rate. She has kept each child, grandchild and some great-grandchildren warm, while watching tv.

She was fiercely competitive. She may not have recognized it herself, but anyone who tried to beat her at leg wrestling at parties in Hawk Hills would attest to it. As another example, at our family reunion in 2019, she challenged Cindy and won a race with walkers; which she had Tyler video. Julie had a strong will and determination, and if she wanted you to do something, she was very hard to say no to.

Julie was also very competent, and not scared to tackle any task. From cutting the family’s hair, to doing the farm’s books, to remaking clothes and fixing anything that her grandkids brought to “gramma fix it”, and taking care of the various injuries and illnesses that occur on a farm 30 miles from town. She was always willing to help fix the injury, insisting “I’ll be gentle”. Years later, her adult children loved to tease her that she was capable and efficient, but, never actually gentle.

As well as knitting, Julie enjoyed doing puzzles, watching romantic shows and curling on television, and playing games on her iPad.

She will be sadly missed by her husband Cobus Vreeling; children: Doug (Lana) Vreeling of Manning, AB; Ken (Tammy) Vreeling of Hawk Hills; Cindy (Clinton) Etson of Edmonton, AB; and Brian (Salina) Vreeling of New Jersey, USA; grandchildren: Tyler (Ashley) Vreeling, Travis (Cassie) Vreeling, Kendel Vreeling, Sydnee, Rachel and Ashley Schmidt, Kristin (Dean) Fulla, Michael (Kendell) Vreeling, Sean (Larissa) Vreeling, Ryan (Kim) Vreeling, Carter (Kassandra) Vreeling, Gowan (Kira) Edlund, Colin Edlund, Corey, Kiana, Alexander and Layla Vreeling; great-grandchildren Amos, Rhett and Evan Vreeling; Mason, Hunter and Rory Fulla, and Autumn Natalie and Blaire Vreeling.

She was predeceased by her parents Eisebius and Catharina Luiken; older brothers: Nico, Henk, and Bart Luiken; and grandson Clark Vreeling.

A private Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 1:00pm.

A livestream of the service will be available to view on her obituary page on Oliver’s Funeral Home website 15-30 minutes before the start of the service.

Memorial donations may be made to the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation (10409 98 St., Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 2E8).

• Date : 2021-01-12
• Location : Grande Prairie, Alberta

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