It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of our loving Mom, Debbie St. Germain. Surrounded by her family, she passed peacefully, giving us the gift of laughter and hugs until the afternoon of August 24, 2025
Mom was born in Peace River, Alberta to Edith Fix and Charles Emile St. Germain, on November 26, 1958, the youngest girl of twelve siblings. Growing up in Paddle Prairie, the bumpy road of life took many turns until Mom eventually settled in Calgary, inviting the kids and the grandkids over to join her adventures at every opportunity.
Everywhere Mom went, she always brought people together with her kind, caring and outgoing personality. Despite life’s challenges, Mom maintained her Happy-Go-Lucky attitude and continued to be a light in people’s lives, making friends all along the way. Her home was always open to her family, her friends and her neighbors. Pulling up in front of the house, you would hear her talking and laughing with the neighbor with the music playing and a fire burning. Her front yard was decorated like a theme park, full of flowers, ceramic bunnies, bird feeders, and cherished treasures she had scavenged during her many back alley bounty hunts. As soon as she saw who had arrived, she would call you over, introducing you to people she had just met, yet laughing & chatting with them like they had known each other for years. Then she’d walk back home with you, wanting to show you the newest pictures of her grandkids and her kids, the flowers she had planted, the bird she had saved and was caring for until it could fly, or some wood she had found for the burn pile, ready for the early evening’s gathering of family and friends. She always encouraged the boys to bring their guitars out, her smile beaming as they played her favorites, everyone singing along together.
Visiting her the morning after she moved to Hospice, Mom introduced us to her friends from down the hall. Over the short weeks, the fast friends became legendary. Known as the “Butter Bandits” or “The End of the Line Gang,” they made hilariously grandiose plans for “The Great Butter Heist” to secure more butter for their dinner rolls. A friend and fellow hall mate’s son has immortalized the trio. Their ink portraits hang on the hallway wall together, a tribute to a beautiful moment in time and the magnificent gift of friendship.
Spunky and outgoing, Mom made a point of sharing her love of life with every soul, human or animal, which came upon her path. Her greatest joy, her children and grandchildren, were the center of her universe. Together we honor her last wishes, carrying her with us, in memory and ash, travelling to places we have yet to see.
Mom was predeceased by her sister Carol Marshall, Danny, Johnny, Joseph (Jiggit) and her parents Edith & Charlie.
She is survived by her children Crystal (Roland), Shaun (Leah), Jamie (Lauren), Christopher (Meghan) and her grandchildren Sarah & Javen, Lucas, Loewen & Baya, Tyler & Cameron, her siblings Linda (Barry), Eledia, Faye, Kenny (Janet), Darryl, Robert, and Michael. Robby (Fantas), Victor, Birdie and her other nieces and nephews, along with all the rest of us strays, that she loved like family too.
Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
I am not there,
I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
Do not stand
By my grave, and cry—
I am not there,
I did not die.
— Clare Harner, The Gypsy, December 1934
