Elsa Margaret Zunti

Else (Elsie) Margaretha (Margaret) Zunti (Greter), beloved wife of Joseph Walter Zunti, was making her 95th orbit of the sun from a bed at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, the date of her 66th Wedding Anniversary. At 6:24 AM she, her soul and her God agreed her journey and mission in this realm – she was a life long morning person – should come to an end.

Else was born and raised on the family farm south and a little west of Holy Rosary Church, south of Reward, SK., on June 14, 1931 to Jacob and Clara (Ereiser) Greter. She went to elementary school at a country school called Deer Lodge, then to Salvador for high school. Her final year of high school was at a private Catholic girl’s school in Leipzig, SK. After high school she attended Normal School where she made some life long friends.

For the next six years Else taught at several country schools in rural Saskatchewan. She then taught at Sandy Bay for a year, and in Calgary, Alberta for two years.

In 1959 she returned to Saskatchewan to marry Walter whom she shared life with for nearly 2/3rds of a century.

Else found joy in farm life and nature, looking forward to the return of birds in the spring, especially swallows, orioles and canaries and seeing the early blooms of the crocuses and buffalo beans. In summer, she loved to see hummingbirds and hear the calls of the meadow larks.

She loved to garden and loved flowers. Annually she entered the Unity Fall Agricultural Fair. Often she won Grand Aggregate or was the Grant Aggregate runner-up.

Else particularly liked to win the bag of Robin Hood flour awarded each year to the fair entrant with the most wins in the baking category. She derived pleasure from baking and cooking. Besides her regular fare which was wide and varied and usually delicious, she baked Swiss specialties like anise cookies, and krappen (a type of anise flavoured prune square) for the Christmas holidays, and deep fried Eier Rohrli for Shrove Tuesday. She also loved hosting Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving dinner celebrations doing almost all the work herself when her grandchildren were in their early years. One of her last complete sentences in her final days referred to these festive celebrations. Teresita (her daughter-in-law) would now be deciding the foods that would be on the menu, she announced.

Else was always very hospitable, respectful to all, believed in the social gospel and social justice, and had a deep and abiding faith. She was active in the Catholic Women’s League in Luseland serving as local President three times, active in the New Democratic Party, and supported Walter in his efforts to preserve the Saskatchewan farming way of life as it then was through the Saskatchewan and then National Farmer’s Union. She also wanted to buy local before that was a thing. Luseland had two grocery stores, a Co-op and Meyer’s and Else did her part to keep them both afloat by dividing her monthly grocery purchases between them.

Proud of her heritage, she loved to take part in Saskatoon Swiss Club events when she and Walter still lived on the farm and later when they retired to Saskatoon.

She looked forward to attending family reunions, and loved celebrating family successes like graduations and milestone events like 25th, 50th, and 60th anniversaries and Walter’s 85th, 90th, 95th, 99th and 100th birthdays.

One of her favourite pastimes was playing certain card games like Jass, 500, Bridge, and Oh heck, usually with family who came to visit and Cribbage with Walter when they were home alone together. Like her own mother Clara, she disliked Buck because she hated getting the Buck.

Else also loved to sing, in church choirs first at Holy Rosary and then Blessed Eugene de Mazenod in Luseland, and with family and friends around a camp fire at their farm. After moving to Columbia Place in Saskatoon she and Walter often sang with friends and family who came to visit.

Eventually Else reached an age when funerals for people she knew and loved became more frequent, and finally an age when they became fewer and farther between. Still she wanted to attend the funerals of people she knew and loved and would attend even though doing so was difficult or painful for her.

Else is survived by her husband Walter, her sister Emily, her sister-in-law Agnes Zunti (Lukan), son Jacob (Teresita) and their children Riel, Clara (Noah Bates) and Ilsa (boyfriend Owyn), chosen son James Thomas, and his sons Jesse and Tyler, many nieces and nephews and the children and grandchildren of her nieces and nephews.

Else was predeceased by her parents Jacob and Clara (Ereiser) Greter, brother and sister-in-law Ernie and Rita (Feist) Greter, brother Jackie Greter, her sisters-in-law, Sr. Salesia (Alice Zunti) and Hilda Zunti; sisters and brothers-in-law, Mike and Josephine (Zunti) Dietrich, Louise (Zunti) and Joe Zimmer, Casper and Mary Zunti (Dietrich) and Aline (Rousseau/Lacoursiere), Clara (Zunti) and Marcel Croteau; Dorothy (Zunti) and Marcel Lukan, brother-in-law Frank Zunti; nieces Alice Zunti and Cathy (Zimmer) Broten, and nephews-in-law Lou Leray and Dwight Abernethy.

During the course of her life Else came to be called Elsie and others knew and addressed her as such. Or sometimes as Elsa.

Vigil Prayers at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Saskatoon on Tuesday July 22nd at 7 PM; Funeral Mass on Wednesday July 23rd at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Saskatoon at 11:00 AM.; Interment at Holy Rosary Shrine cemetery south of Reward and North of the Zunti family homestead on Saturday, July 26th at 4:30 PM.

Thanks to the nurses on the 5th floor of St. Paul’s Hospital who cared for Else in her final days and hours. Some of them were awesome. Special thanks to the doctors who helped Else get her lymphoma into remission more than a decade ago, the doctors who installed her pace-maker and doctor Arthur Robinson who helped Else manage her medical conditions.

Please make memorial donations to Saint Mary’s Parish, Holy Rosary shrine, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Lymphoma Canada or Doctors Without Borders.

Please join the family in honoring and celebrating the life of Elsie Zunti by clicking the link below.

https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=52905e67-4fe3-476c-a7cc-7012d4927809

Cherished Memories is honoured to be entrusted with the care and arrangements for Elsa Zunti.