SMALL - Nettie Victoria, age 86, of Gull Lake, SK, passed away January 31, 2009, at the Gull Lake Special Care Centre. The memorial service was held 2:00 PM. Saturday, February 7, 2009, at the Knox United Church with Reverend Bev Diduck officiating. Special music was provided by Nora Rudolph, King Gin, soloist Donna Wilhelm and the Knox United Church Choir. The eulogist was her son Fred Small. Ushers were Randy Fenwick and Jack Fenwick. The interment service was held at the Gull Lake Cemetery. Honorary pallbearers were all those who shared in Nettie\'s life. Nettie was survived by her loving husband of 63 years, L.V.J. (Vern) Small; her five children Doug (Brenda), Penny (Wayne), Steve (Shannon), Sherry (Colin) and Fred (Janet); her grandchildren, Stephanie (Matthew), Jennifer (Paul), Ric (Roz), Ron, Cody (Kimberley), Shane, Tessa (Drew), Luke, Jeff, Sophie, Rachel, Becky; her five great-grandchildren Daisy, Nettie, Jacob, Elizabeth and Parker; her dear cousins Cheryl Henry, Joan Kloster and Judy Mireau; and host of nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Fred and Mary Badge. Nettie was born in Gull Lake, SK, on September 9, 1922. She attended elementary and high school in Gull Lake, a year of nursing at the University of Saskatchewan and the Registered Nurses program at City Hospital in Saskatoon. She married the love of her life, Vern, October 10, 1945. She began her career as a nurse at the Gull Lake hospital before raising her family of five and showing the dozens of Gull Lake children who came to her piano lessons, how music, like life, was so much more than the notes they learned play. She played the piano and organ at the Knox United Church for 44 years and was a long-time member of the Gull Lake Music Association, Nurses Association, Quilting Club and a member & past president of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Royal Canadian Legion. Nettie had a special gift for making other people feel good about themselves. This was especially so for generations of Gull Lake children who flocked to her deck and walked into her house without knocking for a moment with \"gramma\" to tell her their news, to check out her latest batch of kittens and to bask in the warmth of her presence. When her Gull Lake grandchildren reached school age, she waited each day to wave to them as they went by her window on the bus, a practice that came to include all school-bound kids after Cody, Shane and Tessa left home. She was an only child, who enthusiastically embraced the notion of raising a large family and supporting a farm that had been homesteaded by her father-in-law and in later years enhanced by her son Steve and daughter-in-law Shannon. She was perpetually busy, humming her way through days full of meal-making and housework, crocheting and knitting, quilting, and chronicling in her journals and photo albums the ordinary events of life. As a young woman she played in dance bands - at one point with the fabled Bobby Gimbie - and later, as a mother, for parties and family sing-songs. Music defined her. It was a gift she gave her family and all who knew her and a reflection of the harmonious and melodic life she lived. Memorial Donations to the Knox United Church Choir, Gull Lake, SK or to the Canadian Cancer Society, Wheatland Mall, Unit 12A Swift Current, SK, S9H 4C8 would be appreciated by the family. Warren\'s Funeral Home, Swift Current, SK, entrusted with arrangements. For further information call 1-306-773-8831 - 1-800-267-6606 or visit our website at www.warrensfuneralhome.com and express your sympathy to family members in our book of condolences.