Freda (James) Tibbitt

Ode to FLJT

Freda Louise James Tibbitt was born on Christmas Day, 1931, at Eston Union Hospital in Eston, Saskatchewan. She died on Febuary 11, 2026 at Jubilee Lodge in Eston.

Freda, like her father, Fred, or Daddy to her, was a gifted collector. While his collection was in his basement, and before that in the Eston CNR Railway Station where he was the station agent and where Freda spent her younger childhood, hers was on the main floor of her house. She had an unerring eye for beauty: paintings, artwork, furniture, she collected it her whole life, and newcomers to her house in Eston were known to look about in wonder. Also like her father, Freda could be found reading late at night in bed with a stack of books on her bedside table. She said that when she was a teenager she could never sneak into the house late at night because Daddy was always awake reading.

Like her mother, Louie, or Grannie, Freda was an RN. She trained in Montreal and capped her career as the indispensible ICU Unit Clerk at the UBC Hospital in Vancouver, where she never tied her shoelaces and made many lifelong friends. Freda and her mother shared a patient, quiet elegance, always well-dressed, with beloved bursts of wit and humour, and neither of them would tolerate being left on the sidelines. In her many travels with Berry, from Missoula to Toronto, from Paris to Lexington, from Zambia to Mexico, she loved nothing better than sitting at the bar with Berry, nursing her favourite vodka on the rocks with a squeeze, befriending bartenders, talking with all comers. One story tells of her falling backwards and landing on her head and jumping right back onto her stool. Whether that story is true or not you’d have to ask Berry. One of the very best of those barstool evenings happened not so long ago at the Prairie Palace right in Eston: Cassie took Freda for a night out and they sat at the bar and the whole establishment, one after another, stepped up to give her a hug and have a chat and buy her a drink. It was a night for Freda of surprise, great enjoyment and gratitude.

One of Freda’s greatest strengths was the deep friendships that she made with younger women. They called her Fredabelle. And it wasn’t just friendship that she offered, but also help and support when needed. There is a well-known family memory of Freda sitting on the back steps of the house in High River, Alberta, talking quietly over the course of a summer with a young woman friend of the family who was in distress and Freda seemed to be one of the only people who could help her. Younger women were always drawn to Freda as a friend, a companion, and a mentor. Her circle of bright, fun-loving nurses in Vancouver, the soirees she hosted as an octogenarian with her Eston party girls, these were the women that Freda loved to be with.

Freda was a good cook and she loved eating good food. Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon was her signature dish: it was an all-day affair, the recipe followed to a tee, and it tasted so good that no one doubted Julia’s approval. As her time in front of the stove diminished she said that one of her simple pleasures was taking a pot of carrot soup over to Dr Holmes because his enjoyment of it was reward in itself.

No words can properly describe Freda’s love for her children and her grandchildren. It was self evident in everything she did, boundless and unconditional. She was simply always there, always listening, always present. The tragic deaths of her son David and grandson Louie was her deepest heartbreak.

It should not be forgotten that Freda was full of surprises. One day, later in her life, she was sitting and talking with one of her children, listening to music on the radio (her beloved CBC), when she pointed to the radio and said, That was the first piece of music that I ever bought. It was an album, bought in Brooks, Alberta, around 1963, when she had four young children at her feet. The music was “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber. For those who want to remember our wonderful mother, grandmother and friend please listen to Freda’s choice of music.

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