OREST ELIAS (ERNIE) KUZ

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OREST ELIAS (ERNIE) KUZ Surrounded by the love of his wife and daughter, Ernie passed away at the age of 80 on September 2, 2010. Ernie was predeceased by his son Kevin, his parents Martha and William and his four siblings, Johanna, Mike, Bill and Maggie. Ernie was born in the beginning of the Great Depression on June 19, 1930. He was the last of four children born to Martha and William Kuz on a small farm in Rossburn, Manitoba. Once the Depression swept across the country, the farm could no longer sustain the family so they packed their belongings and moved to shared accommodations in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood. The suffering and stigma of poverty left painful scars on the family, but Dad persevered and always lived by the philosophy that one should make the best of difficult situations and carry on. In 1948, he was overjoyed to be hired by Manitoba Telephone System where he joined his father and older brother Bill on the ground crew. His 39 year career with MTS literally started in the trenches digging out earth for the placement of buried cable lines. He was promoted to a craft position as a cable splicer in 1949 where he worked for the next 11 years. In 1960 he was promoted to a management position where he conducted feasibility studies in the Standards and Design department. His last and most interesting position was in Outside Plant Engineering where he stayed until he retired in 1987. Ernie met his wife Elaine Dubois on a blind date shortly after he was hired at MTS. He fell in love with the beautiful and kind young woman from the country who was also intimately familiar with extreme poverty. They married on September 20, 1958 and lovingly raised two children Patricia and Kevin. Through the years, Dad pursued so many different interests and made many friends. He enjoyed his various bowling leagues, golf games, the Selkirk badminton club and woodcarving. Once he retired he took up downhill skiing, line dancing and then later discovered a great passion for art. He enjoyed long art discussions and painting sessions whenever he got together with his daughter. The two of them spent a week every summer working on their art at an artist's retreat outside of Riding Mountain National Park. Dozens of Ernie's paintings cover the walls of the retirement home at the lake that he and Elaine lovingly built from the ground up. Elaine and Ernie were both avid golfers and decided to extend their golf season by wintering in Texas. They spent 13 winters in the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas enjoying the sun and companionship of the local people and fellow golfers. Dad also joined an art group in Texas and always returned to Manitoba with stacks of new paintings to show his daughter. Dad's difficult journey in the last year and a half of his life was made easier by the care of exceptional medical professionals his Medical Oncologist, Dr. Andrew Maksymiuk and the Pain Symptom Management team of Dr. Jeff Sisler and Pharmacist Cheryl Gnanapragasam, CancerCare Manitoba. Thank you Dr. Maksymiuk for your unwavering commitment to find treatments to extend Dad's time with us. Thank you Dr. Sisler and Cheryl for doing everything possible to manage Dad's pain and side effects. Thank you to Nurse Susan of the Selkirk - IRHA for what your regular visits did for Dad's spirit and care. Thank you to Dr. Tim Hiebert and Dr. Paul Daeninck for quickly facilitating entry into the WRHA Palliative Home Care program so Dad could be at home with us at the end. Thank you to all the Palliative care nurses who helped us with middle-of-the-night phone calls and visits - most especially Nurses Shannon and Jennifer. Thank you also to Dr. Teong Hean Gooi for the many years of wonderful care you provided to Dad. He thought a lot of you, Dr. Gooi. There are two other wonderful individuals who became a significant part of Dad's life in the last year and a half - Debbie King and Wendy Zemla of the Workers Compensation Board. They carried out their professional responsibilities with great sensitivity and a passionate determination to make things easier for both of my parents. These two remarkable women also tragically lost their fathers to Mesothelioma. A service for Ernie will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 12th at Westwood Community Church, 401 Westwood Drive, Winnipeg. Friends and family are welcome to share their memories of Ernie at the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Cancer Care Manitoba.

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 08, 2010