EPPLER, Linda Otillia (Nee Albrecht) Aug. 7, 1923 - May 4, 2008 In the wee hours of Sunday morning, while robins sang over the twinkling lights of our sleeping city, Mom quietly slipped away. She was born at home, of Russian-German stock, near Kandahar, Saskatchewan, and was the second eldest of nine children. During the Depression, when the family farm was lost to the bank, she and her family piled into an old Buick and came to B.C., sleeping in abandoned buildings along the way. They settled in Vernon, where she worked alongside her mother in the vegetable fields of the Coldstream Ranch. At 16, she was the cook for the boy's prep school there. (Forever after, she made the world's best homemade bread and jam, not to mention other baked goodies. All the kids in the neighborhood were waiting on her back steps when her cinnamon buns were in the oven). As a young woman, she followed her soldier to Kamloops, where they raised two children and an orchard-full of apples. Later, when her soldier-cum-fireman was transferred to the Coast, she followed him again. First to Victoria, and then to Chilliwack. For the past 5 years she made The Cedars here in Victoria her home, a place like no other. She loved the deer by her window and the ducks by her door. She leaves behind a brother Bert, two sisters Verna and Dorothy, numerous sisters-and-brothers-in-law and many, many nieces and nephews, as well as son Richard, daughter Sharon and son-in-law Henri, and grandchildren Jurrien (Shannon), Aniane (Mike), Ruan (Patti), and Rudi (Jackie). We all want to thank Dr. Domke, and Maria, for looking out for Mom's health so well these past 5 years. It's been a challenge. Heartfelt thanks, to the ambulance men, RJH emergency staff and doctors, and especially, the nurses of RP1 for their loving and tender care of Mom during her last week in hospital. She's gone now to join her soldier, and her parents, brother, and sisters. While we're saying "there she goes..." they're singing... "She'll be coming round the mountain - driving six white horses - wearing red pajamas - and we'll all go to meet her - when she comes!" Memorial at a later date.