Obituary of Emelia Lydia Polson

Emelia Lydia Polson

December 25, 1927 ~ August 28, 2025

Emelia Lydia was the eighth child born to John and Frederika Schaffer. Two years later, Jack was born to complete the family of nine. Born and raised in Talbot, Alberta, she attended the local one room school. Later, the family would move to Coronation where she would attend school until she started working at the Coronation Hospital.

It was at the hospital that she met her first husband Ted Osetsky. On November 10th, 1948, they were married. They lived and farmed south of Throne. With the intention of starting a family, the couple was devastated by the loss of infant baby, Brenda Lee, who lived only two days, followed by the loss of a set of twins. In 1952, they successfully started a family with the birth of their son Robert John. Four years later, Polly Leanne completed their family. They lived on the farm at Throne with Ted’s father, John Osetsky, settling in ‘The Shack’ in the same yard. The family worked together until Grandpa John moved to Coronation.

Emelia grew a huge garden, helped with the farming, usually fed a crew of family or friends on Sunday’s, cut everyone's hair and kept the family organized. She volunteered her time to The Royal Purple and kept busy catering at local events. When preparing food for those events, she found great pleasure in cooking turkey and torturing her family by never allowing them to taste even a single bite. 

When Ted passed away suddenly on July 9th, 1969, some decisions had to be made. Emelia, Bob and Leanne decided that they wanted to stay on the farm. This is when Triple O Dairy was established, as it became their main source of revenue. Emelia was always a hard worker, seeming to be The True Energizer Bunny. While on the farm, the two joys of her life were welcomed with the birth of Theodore Raymond in 1971 and Bobbi-Jo in 1974. She had so much patience and loved spending time with Bob’s two children. The farm continued to run with Emelia, Bob and Leanne until she moved into Coronation to work at the nursing home and open her wool shop called Knitter’s Corner. She worked and travelled with her co-workers and enjoyed knitting and crocheting in her spare time. Crocheting became her passion, and she gifted over 225 afghans. There is a list she kept over on the table. Be sure to check it out and if you have ever received one and your name is not on the list, the family would love to know. After years of crocheting, she would add to her repertoire wool covered hangers and scrubbies, just to keep her hands busy. You would rarely see her sit and do nothing.

Her brother Len and sister-in-law Vicky Schaffer decided to play match maker with a great friend, John Polson from Consort, Alberta. Emelia held out for a long time but finally decided that she would let him take her on a date. It had to be a match made in heaven because the first date almost didn’t happen. While John was sitting on the street in front of the wrong house, Mom was waiting at hers, thinking she was being stood up. Finally, she went outside and saw a vehicle parked just up the street. Sure enough, she checked it out and it was John. Many laughs were had reminiscing about that first date.

On February 15th, 1979, John and Emelia were married. Along with the marriage to John came two more children, Niel Polson and Debra Russel, a duplication of her own family. She moved to Consort, (along with many boxes of wool) where she would spend the next forty-three years of her life. The couple ran the Consort Machine Shop together, along with Neil (John’s son) and his wife Sandra. The years were enjoyed together with golf, card games, camping, fishing and many family meals. Emelia organized family reunions and history books. They loved travelling as well, taking many pictures of their trips away. This resulted in the creation of 82 photo albums, which she split up amongst the family.

Life became a journey through the years of new grandchildren, great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren that cemented the blended family forever. Some of their favourite pass-times at home involved watching the Blue Jays baseball and knowing all the players and plenty of statistics. If you wanted to know how they did, all you had to do was phone Emelia. Bird watching was another joy they shared together. They hand fed the blue jays that came to sit just off their front step.

After John’s passing in 2015, Emelia was active with her immaculate yard and flowers in the summer. During the winter, card games and trips with the Consort Lodge residents and nurturing her plants in the garage was her favourite way to spend her days. She looked forward to daily visits from Sandy at lunch time, watching her grandchildren play sports and being diplomatic when Consort and Coronation had to play against each other. Having to root for both sides, she liked it best when they could be on the same team. Whenever she did need some heavy snow removal, her snow angels Sandy and neighbours Les Por and Donnie did the job and were paid with her delicious lemon pie currency.

No family occasion was complete without her pineapple square and pumpkin torte (she could bribe Steven with this one), and it was all the grandchildren ready for the jello sticks she always brought without ever being asked.

In November of 2022, Emelia moved back to Coronation to DSL, and along with her came an array of plants from her garage to fill the link with beautiful flowers all winter. When spring arrived, she was hot on the heels of every dandelion that dared to trespass on the DSL front lawn and patio. She kept maintenance busy while she filled garbage cans full of weeds. The balance of her days were busy watching hockey and ball. She enjoyed coffee time and visiting at DSL with old friends, reminiscing about the good old days. She spent many days at Leanne’s visiting her cat Revy and playing with great grandson Bryer. Leanne thinks she was just the chauffeur to connect the trio.

On August 14th, 2024, Emelia was moved to LTC until her passing. She always had a smile for everyone and even when she was unable to pull the weeds herself, she was an avid coach for Leanne and Reesa. She always enjoyed going outside to see the flowers and be in the sun.

Emelia is survived by her family: Bob Osetsky (Roxanne), Ted Osetsky (Cindy) - Chelsea (Brielle and Alexis), Austin, Soren and Kayden; Bobbi-Jo Doyle (Terry); Christie Williamson (Bob) - Ryder and Bentley; Stacey Schedlosky (Ryan) - Britt and Kate; Leanne McLean (Donnie) Kevin McLean - Bradan and Brandt; David McLean (Holly) - Shayla and Tyson; Ryan McLean (Cheryl) - Zoe, Mason and Brody; Steven McLean (Whitney) - Logan, Maddox, Bryer and Quade; Neil Polson (Sandra), Robert Polson (Danielle) – Trezlee; Russell Polson (Jamie) - Devony, Dylan and Nixon; Jenna Collett (Matt) - Sam, Lydia and Leo; Debra Russell (Stuart), Graham Russell (Michelle) - Hugh and Hazel; Jessica Mckibbon - Rylan and Landon.

She is predeceased by her first husband Theodore Osetsky; second husband John Hugh Polson; parents Frederika and John Schaffer; sisters Regina, Lillian and Martha; brothers Emmanuel, Emil, Leonard, Robert and Jack.

Come And Go Celebration Of Life

1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.

Short Program At 1:00 P.M.

Friday, September 5, 2025

Coronation Community Hall,

Coronation, Alberta

Memorial donations may be made to the Coronation Health Centre Foundation – LTC or DSL, the Gem Centre, Consort, AB or to a charity of choice.