Obituary of Elaine Inkster

   Elaine Alice Inkster (née Keeping) was born into the farming family of Kenneth and Agnes Keeping at Lady Gray Hospital in Nipawin, SK. (almost the Queen’s birthday, as she would often remind her family). She was the middle child of five. The Keeping farm was located north of Garrick, SK. She was homeschooled by her mother for her first two years, after which she attended a number of regional schools, including Linkwood School, Nipawin, White Fox and Garrick schools. 

   She attended Teacher’s College in Saskatoon in 1960 and started her teaching career in La Ronge, SK in 1961. This initiated her long love affair with Canada’s North and its peoples. For the next 10 summers, she continued to teach, returning to the University of Saskatchewan every summer until her degree was completed. After periods teaching in the UK and Northern Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, she moved to Baker Lake, NWT in the Fall of 1970. On November 11^th 1971, she married Howard “George” Inkster, and in 1972, gave birth to a daughter, Grace Mary Anne Backlund (née Inkster). She moved about Saskatchewan relentlessly in those years, teaching in Saskatoon, Sandy Bay, Cumberland House and Buffalo Narrows. Her second child, James Andrew Howard Inkster, arrived in 1976. She moved back to La Ronge in 1981 to work at Northern Teachers Education Program (NORTEP). She stayed in this beautiful lakeside community for many years, raising her children and training the next generation of Northern educators. Elaine was a lifelong lover of the written word and devoted much of time and energy sharing this enthusiasm with others. She will be dearly missed by many in the Saskatchewan educational community.

   Retirement brought new opportunities. In 1995, she returned to the Keeping family homestead in Garrick, SK and began market gardening and raising her beloved Highland cattle. During these years she cultivated a variety of interests, including horticulture, Bible study, and birding. In 2019, Elaine suffered a fall that initiated a move into Nipawin. In 2024, she moved to Carrot River Heath Centre and then to the Arborfield Special Care Lodge, where she passed away in her sleep on September 26^th, 2025.

   Elaine was predeceased by her parents, her brother Tom, her husband George, and her granddaughter Olivia. She is survived by her children, their partners and her four grandchildren- Noah, Isaiah, Francie and Aoife. She also leaves behind her sister Betty Hyam and her husband Rod, brothers Terry and John Keeping and their partners Fay and Lorraine, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.