Elsie Mary Martens

Elsie Mary Martens

1931 - 2023

Our loving mother, mother in-law, grandma, and great grandma, Elsie Martens passed away

with her family beside her at the Swan Valley Lodge September 13th, 2023, at the age of 92.

Elsie was born January 5th, 1931, in the Roaring River School District, Manitoba to proud

parents Robert and Hilda Betcher, the second of nine children. Elsie grew up on a farm, and

attended Sunday school every Sunday with her family at First Baptist Church in Minitonas

where they were members. With Faith being very important to Elsie, even on the coldest snowy

days she would still make it to church. Elsie spent her years helping her mother take care of her

younger siblings and helping with farm chores. Elsie used to talk about tying her brother

Harvey’s shoes as he would not let anyone else help him but his older sister.

Elsie met Jake Martens in Swan River in 1956. On their first date, Elsie asked Jake to meet her

at First Baptist Church in Minitonas. Later they got married on June 28th in 1958, she always

wanted to be a June bride. Soon after, they celebrated the arrival of their son, Gary and

daughter Donna.

Elsie worked for many years at the Swan Valley Lodge cooking and cleaning. Elsie never grew

tired of cooking or baking making sure her family and neighbors were well fed. She would host a

family supper anytime she could bring the family together to enjoy her food. Later Jake &

Elsie moved to the family farm in 1970 where she continued to work at the Swan Valley Lodge

as well as taking care of the farm with Jake. Gary & Kim remember how Elsie would bring

supper to the field and always ask what they wanted the next day for a meal.

One of Elsies favorite interests was gardening. She had many well kept flower gardens,

gladiolus and tulips were some of her favorites. Elsie had two vegetable gardens that were

always neatly kept. The love of gardening has been passed down to Donna and the

grandchildren. Donna has continued the love of flower gardening and enjoys seeing the

blooming peonies from her mom. Elsie also enjoyed knitting and quilting. She made many

sweaters and quilts for her family & grandkids, she even had one made in advance for her first

great grandchild, Ulrik.

Elsie will always be remembered as a loving, caring wife, mother, and grandmother. She was

very proud of her children, and grandchildren for all their accomplishments.

Elsie was predeceased by her parents Robert & Hilda, husband Jake, brothers Walter, Ben,

Fred, Arnold, sister in-laws Erna, Marion, brother-in-law Dietter.

Elsie leaves to cherish her memory her son, Gary (Kim) Martens, daughter, Donna (Devon)

Jorundson: grandchildren Sonya, Andrew (Aaron), Caitlyn (Chris), Megan (Tye), Michelle and

great grandson Ulrik: brothers George (Lorna), and Harvey (Aneta); Sister Rita, sister in-laws

Kay, Elsie, and brother in-law Dave Martens (Ruth), and numerous nieces and nephews.

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