September 2, 1962 – May 26, 2015
Our family is deeply saddened by the passing of Ingrid Janssen in Calgary on Tuesday, May 26 at the age of 52. She spent her final days the way she chose to spend her life, surrounded by family.
Ingrid was born on Labour Day in 1962 to Gert and Dora Janssen, and spent a happy child-hood in Calgary, where she grew up and graduated from Sir Winston Churchill High. In her teens she met her best friend and love of her life, Jeff Schellenberg, at Camp Valaqua, a significant place throughout their lives.
After attending CBI in BC and CMBC in Winnipeg, Ingrid and Jeff were married at Camp Valaqua in 1985. They attended university in Winnipeg and Quebec City, with Ingrid completing her education degree in French at College St. Boniface. She further expanded her language skills by learning Spanish while she and Jeff traveled in Central America. She then expanded their family, returning to Calgary pregnant with their first child, Anna, born in 1989.
Shortly thereafter they moved to Winnipeg where their 3 sons, Nikolai, Eli, and Sasha were born. The importance of extended family drew them back to Alberta where they began work as managers of Camp Valaqua. Ingrid began home schooling their 4 children and soon became very involved with the home schooling community, taking on the role of assessing and visiting other students and families even after her children had graduated.
If she wasn’t in her garden, Ingrid could be found cross country skiing, cycling, painting, at her potter’s wheel, riding and caring for horses, bee keeping or playing beautiful music.
She is greatly missed by her other half, Jeff, her children, Anna, Niko (Breanne), Eli and Sasha, her parents, Gert and Dora Janssen, mother-in-law Ina Schellenberg, siblings Vera (Jack/John), Karen (Rick), Conrad (Kelly) and Moni (Bartek); siblings-in-law Terry (Brenda), Mike (Sylvia), Gail, Craig (Patricia), Bob (Sandi) and Kim (Byron), as well as her many nieces and nephews, who adored her. She was predeceased by father-in-law John Schellenberg and sister-in-law Karen Beriault.
Special thanks to the staff at Foothills Hospital, in particular Grace and Trudy in Unit 102, and Dr. Jay Easaw for the gift of hope.
A time to celebrate Ingrid’s life will be held at Dalhousie Community Church, 5511 Baroc Rd, NW, Calgary, on Monday, June 1, at 2:00 P.M.