Valerie Lynne Neyedly

Valerie Lynne Neyedly was born on June 25,1948 in Lestock, Sk. She was the daughter of Leonard and Francis Watson of Wishart, Sk.  Valerie grew up in Wishart, Sk.  with her brother Gary and sister Colleen.  As a young girl she enjoyed spending much of her time with her cousins and her aunties doing all kinds of things that small town life offers.  Throughout her school years she was very actively involved and excelled in many sports like softball, track and field and curling.  She was also involved in school and community events in and around Wishart.  After high school, Valerie attended business college in Regina  and moved to Esterhazy to work at IMC to work as a keypunch operator.  Shortly after moving to Esterhazy she met the love of her life, Lucian Neyedly.  They were married on July 5, 1968 and were blessed with two children – Karey and Jeff.  The family home was and is today, the farm near Yarbo.

Valerie was an avid gardener, loved to read, take on home painting projects, help out on the farm hauling grain or taking out meals to the field during harvest. She enjoyed listening to country music and the radio was always tuned in to the latest songs.  She liked to make her predictions about the next song that would be #1 on the charts and was usually right.  Together, Val and Lucian liked to dance and to listen to George Jones and Tammy Wynette.  She loved to cook, bake and can and was well known for her bread, cabbage rolls, perogies, botch, dill pickles and baked goods. She always tried new recipes for sweets that became the newest family favorite.

The Yarbo community was very important to Valerie.  The family friends and farm neighbors were a big part of her life and many memories were made.  Whether it was ski-dooing, playing cards, games,fishing, camping or just getting together on a Saturday night for some visiting and laughs, these times brought much joy to her.  She was involved in the Yarbo Community Centre for years, helping for July 1st, dances, bonspiels, and cooking in the kitchen at the rink.  Valerie spent a good part of her life at the rink curling in many bonspiels.  This was one of her biggest passions.  In her later life, she got into golfing with friends, but her heart was always with curling.

Valerie had an entrepreneurial spirit and at different times in her life had a market garden, clothing store, consignment store, and operated the Lucky Dollar Store in Yarbo, but she particularly liked being a homemaker which she did the majority of her life.

Her biggest dream was to be a grandma and her dream came true when she was blessed with 5 beautiful grandchildren – Kyra and Jayden Harris (Karey and Greg) and Haily, Tyson and Tanner Neyedly (Jeff and Connie).  She adored them, and loved them more than anything.  She loved to cook for them, have treats ready, take pictures, or surprise them with a unique gift.  She was always so interested and proud of them and all of their accomplishments.  She attended many dance competitions, hockey games, drama and singing shows, curling, football, volleyball and baseball games.  This brought her the most joy in her life, lots of laughter, and filled her heart with pride.

Valerie is predeceased by her mother Francis and father Leonard, and mother-in-laws, Eleanor and Tina and father-in-law Joe Neyedly.  She will be sadly missed and leave to pass on her nurturing and love to her husband Lucian and children Karey and Jeff, as well as her grandchildren.  Valerie also leaves to mourn her brother Gary Watson (Launa) and niece Joy (Dwayne) Quiring, her sister Colli Christante and niece Seasonn (Ben) O’Niry as well as her beloved in-laws Louise and Louis Hozjan and family Michelle (Gerhardt) Kreuger, Lynette (Calvin) Dunford, Pat and Ron Drozda and family Brent (Kim) Drozda, Debbie (Clark) Pearson, and Katherine (Darrell) Tochor as well as numerous relatives, friends and neighbors.