Debbi Fehr

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made in the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela.

In her final days, more than ever before, we have been blessed and proud to see a small glimpse of the significance of our mom’s life as family, friends and students have come forward to flood us with the stories of the difference she has made in their lives. It is with both sadness and joy that we announce the passing of Debra (Debbi) Jean Fehr, at the age of 59, from this life to eternity. As it says in 2^nd Timothy 4:7-8, “She has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she has kept the faith and there is now in store for her a crown of righteousness which the Lord will award to her on this day.”

She will be missed, but never forgotten by her children Mitchell (Kelsey) Fehr, Keleigh Garcea, Leslie (Kris) Kitzul, Madison (Tanner) Reddekopp, Kennedy Fehr, Cassidy Fehr, Carter Fehr, her eight grandchildren and the countless others she took in and treated as her own.

She will also be dearly missed by her father, Gordon Matthews, her sisters, Elaine Hougen and Joyce Matthews, her former spouse Darren Fehr, mother and father-in-law, Bill and Lillian Fehr, and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. She was preceded in death by her mother Wilma, her sister Margaret and her brother William.

Our mom began her life with humble beginnings in Prince George, BC. Raised primarily by her father, drawing from him her selflessness, work ethic, ability to work with her hands as well as encouragement in her walk with Christ. From her mother, she gained her sense of humor and her fun and carefree attitude towards life. In her younger years, she excelled and amazed with her accomplishments in both her athletics and academics, receiving countless awards and multiple scholarship offers to continue her education. She turned down many more prestigious offers to attend a faith-based university at Trinity Western in BC. It is here where she received her degree in Psychology and later pursued her career as a teacher and met Darren. Mom always said there were three things that she would never do: marry a farmer, move to Saskatchewan and have kids. Cleary God had a different plan for her as she married Darren, they moved back to his hometown of Hague, SK, so he could work on the family farm, and they would go on to have seven children who no doubt became the lights of her life. Although she was amazing at so many things, she thrived in her role as a mom the most. She was the embodiment of Christ’s selflessness as she gave everything for her children and those around her, taking no time for herself. She was always strong, unwavering in her commitment and never did a complaint leave her lips.  She was a wise parent and taught us many things, such as, to not judge others, to hate the sin but love the sinner, and most importantly to follow Christ’s example. She taught us to take care of others, often sending us to the neighbors’ to shovel their driveway, mow their lawn or weed their garden. She taught us to not take ourselves too seriously and have fun with life. She taught us if you’re going to dress up for a school spirit day, you had better go all out, and of course she taught us to never eat yellow snow! She loved to give gifts. We could rarely go anywhere without her buying something for someone saying, “I bet so-and-so would really like one of these!”. She also created a tradition called ‘under pillow gifts’ where every once in a while, there would be a random present and an encouraging note sitting under our pillows at home just to remind us how special we were to her.

Our mom wore many different hats in her life as mother, daughter, sister, friend, coach, mentor, and teacher but in all those different relationships, three things remained consistent. She was selfless, she was intentional, and she was fun. Mom was passionate about helping and serving those around her and her career choice reflected that as she went into teaching and made an impact in the countless lives of her students over the years. It has been incredibly precious to sift through the stories of students, past and present, and to read about all the special times our mom has had with her students and players. Whether it was the weekend basketball tournaments, the often inappropriate jokes mom would tell, the crazy antics she would get up to purely for entertainment (like chugging a whole bottle of syrup at a school assembly) or just going the extra mile to make a class more interesting and exciting than it was. She saw potential in everyone and worked hard to draw it out of them.

Our mom had a lot of love to give and she loved many things. She loved animals and would never fail to put some extra food out for a stray cat passing by. Of course, they weren’t strays for much longer after that! She loved history and the lessons we could learn from the past. She loved to read and learn as much as she could. She loved sports and competition and would never settle but rather push herself and others to be better than they were the day before. When we were growing up, she would often tell us that there is always someone out there better than you – to humble us but also to give us the drive to be better. She loved the beach, but she wouldn’t just lay on the sand. She never failed to chase us around in the water, snorkel or anything else we wanted her to do with us. She loved blasting the car radio and singing along to Cher or Reba. She loved her grandchildren and insisted on being called “Booma”.  She provided never ending fun, laughs, and candy, whenever they got to see her! And she loved Jesus. Her life left for us the example of what it means to follow Him. In your interactions with her, you no doubt experienced her compassion, kindness and care. We are all better for having her as a part of our lives and even a short time with someone as great as her, has, and always will be, an incredible blessing.

If Mom were here, she would have sat down and proofread this and made this obituary much better, and funnier, like she always did with our school assignments. Oops… maybe we weren’t supposed to mention that part!

Please join us in celebration of her life Monday, July 12, 2021, at Neuanlage Grace Mennonite Church. There will be a 3 p.m. coffee and visiting with a 4 p.m. service. If you are unable to make it, the service will also be streamed on the church website: https://gracech.ca. 

We ask that in lieu of flowers that you do what our mom would have wanted, and go out of your way to do something special for someone in your life.