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“Your memory feels like home to me.
So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds it way back to you.”
Ranata Suzuki
Our sweet little baby girl, Linden Arianna Dianne Nepinak, entered this world on November 11, 2006 at 6:37 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. 2 ounces at the Dauphin General Hospital. Her dad, Harvey Jr. Nepinak stood proudly beside her mother, Marley Simpson.
Linden welcomed a little sister, Keanna, two years later. When Linden was two and a half years old, she picked up Keanna quickly from the couch and carried her to her mom who was in the kitchen. This was just the beginning of how strong, brave, and caring Linden was to family and friends. Linden always showed how much she loved her family tirelessly and endlessly. Linden welcomed a little brother, Talon, six years later.
Linden always liked looking at her pictures. She would look at her pictures of her brother Damian and would say, “Oh my god, he just looks like me!” She would say, “Same smile, his hair, his eyebrows, his teeth, his chin, everything!” She met him a few times when he was small.
She was a special gifted girl who shared a gentle, kind, loving energy that she had with all her cousins, friends, and everything else. This amazing Linden loved baking cakes and we watched her crack an egg with one hand without making a mess. She wore braids for the Kindergarten photo to show her love for Native culture.
At four years old, Linden showed courage and pride as she danced at the Pow Wow in her Fancy Shawl regalia. Her mom and family supported her desire to do whatever she wanted, such as hunting, fishing, snaring, canoeing, beading on a loom, using make-up with others, harvesting berries or medicines, and so on. Linden would ask her mom to take her for a ride to take pictures, even at night, taking pictures of the moon.
Linden and her family would go for drives and go quadding. She harvested deer and got her first moose this fall. Linden loved the outdoors and our traditional way of life. Linden learned how to fillet fish and took part in all the processes after harvesting large game with Rodney, auntie Kerri and her mom. Her and her sister hung the whole moose in the shed by themselves after family skinned and quartered it up. She also harvested geese and ducks with her family & Magnum in Papa Ernie's blind, those were her favorite sunrises and sunsets. During her last few hunts, Linden would pull up to her Uncle Les and tell him, “Get ready, uncle, we’re going hunting.” Linden always played her uncle’s songs and made him dance, she loved it! Linden enjoyed a wide variety of music. It was all genres. The only song she sang in front of people was “Grandpa” by the Judds. She enjoyed dancing with Keanna and Talon.
She loved to shop at her favorite place, Polo Park, and she’d be done pretty quick, if you gave her a few hours. She was very pampered, but she earned every bit of it. She was busy taking care of someone, liked cleaning the house or the yard for mom and Papa. Her first summer job was working alongside her mom and Linden really enjoyed helping the community. Her childhood best friends were Wilson and Miley.
On January 2, 2018, Linden met Richard. She became his “Queen”. They were besties. He was her best friend and went for cruises to school, town, and lunches. Linden never lifted a finger again. She loved that. “Bebe”, he’d yell for her. She liked it when Richard called her to go for family walks. This special girl had deep empathy for people, even for strangers. She needed so much comfort when she was feeling down. Her mom always told her, “I’ll be here and be your best friend always”. She was never uncomfortable to ask her mom questions. Everything they did, they did as a team. It will be hard to adjust. Her mom is happy and proud of the person her daughter had become.
When Linden lost one Papa on May 2020 and her other Papa on August 2020, she hugged her mother’s hand and said, “Mom, I can do this again.” That’s how brave she was and how much she loved her family. She had many dreams of her Papas; she’d smile while talking about them. She was their “Princess”. Although she didn’t spend much time with her Dad, she’d be funny and make us laugh and tease us then she’d ask, “Am I just like my Dad, mom?” and have her big laugh.
Keanna and Linden would talk right from when they’d wake up in bed right until they went to bed, sometimes until two or three in the morning. Her mom would yell, “Go to bed, what do you even talk about all day long?” Linden said Keanna was the only friend she needed. She loved her sister very dearly; they did everything together. We know Linden is with Creator and will continue to help us and to watch over us, too. We would like to thank the Catcheway family who welcomed and loved her and Linden also loved them, too.
Left to mourn Linden are her parents: mother Marley Simpson (Richard Chartrand), their children: Brendan, Bailey, Tayah, Keanna, Talon, Richard Jr.; father Harvey Nepinak Jr. and children: Damian Neapew, Hailey, Leah, Hillary, Harriette, Hazel, Harvey Jr.; Koko: Maryann Simpson; Aunts: Lana Simpson, Jessica Simpson, Kerri Simpson, Larissa Simpson (Brendan), (Godmother) Irma Nepinak, Tracy Nepinak, Gloria Duke, Maureen Thompson, Lorie Thompson, Florence Thompson, Shirley Thompson, Joanne Thompson; Uncles: Leslie Simpson, Dennis Thompson (Marilyn), Winston Thompson, Morris Thompson, Glen Thompson, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Linden was predeceased by: Grandparents: Shirley and Harvey Nepinak, Papa Ernie Simpson
Aunt: Doreen Menard Uncles: Rusty Nepinak (Godfather), Vince Nepinak, Norman Thompson, Garry Thompson
Cousins: Glen Nepinak, Desi Nepinak
A Private Funeral Mass took place on Saturday, January 15, 2022 from Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in Camperville, MB.
Pallbearers: Cole Simpson, Wilson Richard, Rodney Simpson, Brendan Lacquette, Shaney Simpson, Brennon Simpson, Bailey Campbell, Tayah Chartrand
Honourary Pallbearers: Kallie McKay, Blossom Moosetail, Dania Simpson. All her cousins.
“See you in the sunset …”
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