PAULINE PEARL NIMCHUK (BABA)

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PAULINE PEARL NIMCHUK (BABA) Just as the sun rose on Thursday, July 27 2012, Pauline took her last breath under the sun's pink light at the Health Sciences Center with her granddaughter Susan caressing her hand, and Lisa at her side. Pauline gave so much love in her life, it was with great confidence that her family watched her fight with everything she had, but in the end her heart could not keep up with her. She is survived by her third husband John Skikivich, eldest daughter Maxine Zekovich, youngest daughter Doreen Russell and husband Don (Edmonton), and her three grandchildren Donald and his wife Sheila Ewasko, and granddaughters Susan and Lisa Ewasko. She is predeceased by her first husband Alex Zekovich, second husband Dennis Nimchuk, and her siblings, Bill Fochak, Nick Fochak, Mary Boyko, and Mike Fochak. Pauline was born February 21, 1931, to Mary and William Fochak on the Fochak homestead in Julius Manitoba near the CPR rail line. She was the youngest sister to Bill, Nick, Mary, and Mike. Pauline will be missed for everything she was. Her humour, her sweetness, her loveliness, and the care and effort that went into everything she did. Her labour and love was perfection. Pauline gave meaning to the word tough, she told stories of working the farm, cording wood, and picking wild blueberries. At 14 she received a pitchfork wound to her left leg when pitching hay, an injury she played through for the rest of her life. When Pauline was 16 she left home and moved to Dryden, Ontario, and worked as a waitress. With her first paycheck she purchased a pink chenille sweater. Pauline met her first husband Alex Zekovich in Dryden. The couple married and lived in Transcona briefly before moving to Melrose to look after Alex's ailing mother Mary Kich. In Melrose, Pauline gave birth to her first daughter Maxine and later daughter Doreen. In 1958, she was quarantined for tuberculosis in the Ninette Sanitorium for a year. A photo of which showed her smoking with a group of young women with a Smoking Prohibited' sign behind them. Pauline lived in Melrose, Manitoba, until 1969, when she married her second husband Dennis, and moved to Hazelridge. She became a member of a close knit community, that she loved dearly. She spent these years working at the hall and growing a garden. The driveway to their home was lined with pink peonies, and was the site of her daughter Doreen's wedding to Don Russell in 1976. In 1983, Pauline and Dennis moved into her beloved community of Transcona, in a home on a corner lot with a large garden. Pauline devoted years of her life to the All Saints Ukrainian Catholic Church making pirohi with the ladies from the hall.' Pauline was a fixture in her grandchildren's lives. There was nothing she wouldn't do for them. They would get excited to see her truck in the driveway on their walk home from the school bus, Baba is here to find the house spotless and all the laundry folded and sorted. Sleep overs with Baba meant giggling and caressed foreheads. Pauline loved to travel and in later years in her life went on many bus tours with her second husband Dennis. She loved the west coast, and the family remembers fondly the visits to her sister-in-law Fran and husband Ted Cox in Victoria. She loved the prairies, dancing, and the silliness that came with the occasional drink. Ho, ho, she would say, when pouring her a glass. She was a Ukrainian woman through and through, spending her Saturday nights listening to Ukrainian fiddle music on the AM radio and loved watching her granddaughter Ukrainian dance. Pauline married John Skikivich in 2005, and spent many evenings swinging on the patio swing. It was with great happiness and joy that she welcomed the new addition to her family her granddaughter-in-law Sheila Ewasko on their wedding in 2009. A Funeral Service will take place on Wednesday, August 1, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of all Saints, 1500 Day Street. Funeral Arrangements in care of Wheeler Funeral Home, Cemetery Crematorium 1800 Day Street 224-1525

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 30, 2012