Regina Marie Josephine (Bandet) Bull was born January 20, 1940 to Henri and Jeanne Bandet at Prud’homme, Saskatchewan. She passed away suddenly on December 7, 2018.
Being the 10th of eleven children, Mom said she was 5 or 6 years old before she realized her name wasn’t “shut up”. She loved a good joke, and told us numerous times to “follow the 11th commandment: Thou shalt not get caught.”
Mom attended school in Prud’homme while staying at the convent; graduating in 1957. Following high school, she attended Teachers’ College in Saskatoon. Her first posting was at Ben Loyal School in 1958, where she met her future husband, Rudy. His job at the time, as School Board Director, was to bring firewood to the school. They were married August 22, 1959 in St. Brieux, and moved into a two-room house on the family farm.
Mom taught school at several locations, besides Ben Loyal, during her career – Kirkton, Meskanaw, St. Brieux, and Kinistino. When she stopped teaching school, she went to work at The Met and 7-eleven.
Mom was one of the most organized people I’ve ever seen. If you could see a picture of “multi-tasking” in the dictionary, it would be her. Besides working full-time, she had a huge garden, raised chickens for eggs and to butcher, milked cows, fed pigs, baked bread regularly, planned meals, canned fruit, made jams, jellies, cottage cheese, butter, was frequently at her sewing machine, drove tractor AND grain truck at harvest time. That was just with her left hand.
She also made sure we got to figure skating, band practices and air cadets. When she did sit still for any length of time, her hands were usually holding knitting needles – making socks, mitts, or sweaters. When it came to knitting, Mom was a genius. She always had a tape in the VCR, ready to record when a nice sweater would show on the TV, then she would write her own pattern to replicate it.
Those knitting needles were a menace too. Mom used them instead of the wooden spoon for discipline. Did you know that the smaller the needle, the more it would smart! Mark and I tried hiding them once on her. That was a serious error. She was furious!
Mom wasn’t afraid of challenges. She learned how to downhill ski when she was over 40 years old. In 1984, we got a brand new VCR so she taught herself how to use it and then showed the rest of us how. Then at 75 years old, she decided a tablet would be a good idea so she could Skype – keeping in touch with Hudson and Lincoln and not missing out on anything they did.
Ginette and Rudy travelled the world together – all across Canada, many countries in Europe, from one end of the United States to the other (Alaska to Florida, and points in between) and Mexico. They met many new people and made lifelong friendships during their travels.
They were blessed with three children – Monica, Mark, and Martha. In 2012, they moved to Melfort. When Rudy passed away in 2016, Ginette continued to reside at Consolation Manor, where she and a few neighbours would have “hallway parties” and play card games. One of her favourites was “Skip-Bo” – she kicked Monica’s butt at that game.
Mom’s health finally deteriorated to the point where she could no longer live alone. In August 2018, she moved to Arborfield Care Home; and then moved to Parkland Place in October 2018.
Ginette was predeceased by her husband of almost 57 years, Rudy; her father and mother – Henri and Jeanne; son, Mark; father and mother-in-law – Jozef and Veronica; several brothers, sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law; aunts, uncles and cousins.
Ginette is survived by daughters Monica (Dale) Sochaski and Martha (Michael) Griffith; grandsons Kyle (Amanda), Hudson and Lincoln; great granddaughters Madeline, Olivia, and Quinn; brother Rene (Lucette); sisters Therese and Jeannie; brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and many friends.
We’ll all miss you – even Maya. You won’t be able to sneak turkey to her under the table. Breathe easy Mom.
Memorial Contributions maybe directed to Our Lady of Consolation Roman Catholic Church and/or to a Charity of one’s choice.

• Date : 2018-12-07
• Location : Melfort, Saskatchewan