Wanda Keller Brightens Everyone’s Day

Wanda Keller Brightens Everyone’s Day

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Wanda Keller is a resident of Heritage House who greets everyone with a hello and a friendly smile.

Wanda was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1959 where she only lived there for eight months as her father had to find work so her family chose to move to Alberta. Her father was a jack of all trades.

They moved to Calgary where Wanda’s mother and father had another daughter as well as a son. Wanda’s earliest memory was when she was about three years old and she and her sister were in the basement and they were bored one day. So, they found 18 dozen eggs. They broke everyone of these eggs and cracked them and then they scrambled them in a large silver bath tub. As a result, they both got a good spanking. Wanda laughed when I told her; this would have been a useful project for a large restaurant.

Later, Wanda’s parents divorced and her mother remarried in 1967. Wanda’s mother gave birth to another girl whom Wanda is nine years her elder. Wanda is very fond of her half-sister and admitted she considers her to be fully biologically related to her. “I was eight years old when my parents divorced and this was like being in hell for me as my step-father had a daughter and a son before he married my mother and when his children got into trouble, my sister and brother would get blamed for the trouble the other kids got into and my mother wouldn’t do anything. I believe my mother didn’t have the confidence to stand up to my step-father. This was hard on me because I felt so protective of my brother and sister. I didn’t think what he was doing was fair.”

They lived on a farm when she was young which was close to Pincher Creek. Wanda really enjoyed living there and being in the country.

Wanda was an average student at school where her favorite subject was math. She had a few close friends who she hung around with a lot. After she finished school, Wanda worked at housekeeping and she was a cashier in a parking lot.

Wanda dated a man for many years but she never got married.

Wanda’s hobbies are knitting and crocheting, socializing, and she used to go out a lot but it is difficult to go out now with the walker she has to use.

Wanda admitted that she is always cheerful because she wants to pass on a positive attitude and happiness to everyone she encounters.

The advice she would give people is to do what you like to do and be happy. Don’t say you would like to do this or that and then not do it. Go for what you want. Be kind to other people as we don’t know what tomorrow or even today will bring.

She finds the staff at Heritage House to be good and she has her favorite residents.