ALEX HOLOWKO (OLEKSA HAY)

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ALEX HOLOWKO (OLEKSA HAY) Alex Holowko Sr. (Oleksa Hay) was born in Kiev, Ukraine on August 12, 1910, the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. He graduated from the University of Leningrad in Russia where he majored in the Arts program. Following his graduation, he worked as an editor for various publishing houses through which his literary work appeared in magazines, newspapers, and broadcasting outlets. Before coming to Canada in 1949, Oleksa's passion for the arts and literary writing led to having five of his books (poetry and short stories) published in the Ukraine and West Germany. In Canada, he has had an additional nine books (poetry, short stories, memoirs and essays) published, written in Ukrainian. Many of these stories, literary articles and reviews were published in periodical newspapers and magazines around the world. In 1986, he published a book in English, Duel with the Devil , a book about his younger years in the Ukraine and Russia under the Communist regime and about his hardships during and after the Second World War. During the Second World War, he escaped to the American Zone in Austria, and then further to Germany, where only after a courageous hair's breath escape, avoided almost certain death by the Russian Secret Police. After the Second World War in 1949, Oleksa travelled overseas from England where he lived for two years, to Canada which became his home. Oleksa passionately loved Canada for its beauty and for the religious and political freedoms that we all enjoy. He welcomed the day after the cold war ended that the same freedoms all Canadians enjoy, finally became a reality in his beloved native Ukraine. He lived in the north end of Winnipeg and Fort Garry for some 40 years and worked as a lab technician at the Agricultural Research Station at the University of Manitoba. While in Winnipeg, Oleksa continued his literary writing while having a passion for watching his two sons play sports, primarily hockey, gardening, fishing and the occasional game of poker with his two sons, his loving deceased brother Yuri Holowko, and his deceased brother-in-law Alexander Homenko. He and his wife Halyna, after raising and caring for their two sons in Winnipeg, eventually moved to Vancouver, BC in 1987, where he, together with all the family, lived out the remainder of his life. Oleksa passed away peacefully at the age of 96 at 10:30 a.m., Sunday, September 17, at the Surrey Memorial Hospital after living a long and rich life. He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Halyna, who will miss Oleksa greatly, whose nursing skills and tender care helped enable Oleksa prolong his battle against heart disease and live several decades beyond what we all expected. Also, he is survived by his two dear sons, George and Alex; and five grandchildren, Matthew, Emily, Nicholas, Jamie and Scott. On November 21, 1949, I took my first steps on Canadian soil still glancing behind me from time to time..but nobody was following me, nobody was asking me who I was, where I was going, or how I was going to live. The grief and suffering of the past faded from memory as I welcomed into my heart the light and warmth of my new country and my new home, Canada. Funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, September 22, at The Ukrainian Orthodox Church Of St Mary, 10765 135A Street, Surrey, BC. Avalon Surrey Funeral Home 604-581-4401

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 20, 2006