DORIS ZELANKO (OLENICK)

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DORIS ZELANKO (nee OLENICK) On March 9, 2013, Doris Zelanko passed away at the age of 88 at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg. Doris is survived by her daughters Rita and Karen (Brian), her brother Henry Olenick of Vancouver, by brother-in-law John Zelanko of East Selkirk and numerous nieces and nephews. Doris was predeceased by her husband Mike in 1999, her parents Kost and Pauline (nee Slosky) Olenick (who immigrated from Bukovina, Ukraine, around 1900), her brothers, Michael, William, John, Martin, Metro, Nick, Peter and Walter and her sisters, Alexandra, Anne Schmidt and Stella Cox. Doris was also predeceased by her husband's parents, Nick and Sophie (nee Bullock), and her brothers-in-law Peter, Alex, John, Bill and sisters-in-law, Mary Ursel, Annie Englebrecht and Alice Gudz. Doris was born on April 11, 1924 at home on the farm in Gonor, Manitoba, and attended school there. When she was 12 she spent a year in Saskatchewan with her brother John and his wife Helen on their farm. As a young woman, she loved to dance and attended weekly dances at the Half Moon in Lockport. She loved Red River fiddling music and was a fan of Andy Dejarlis. During the war, Doris worked in a blanket-making factory in Little Britain, Manitoba. Later she travelled to Armstrong, Ontario where she worked in a restaurant at a railway roundabout. In 1948, Doris met and married Mike Zelanko. They first lived in the North End of Winnipeg, then the West End, and then Fort Garry where they built a house and Mike worked at Pioneer Electric. At the same time as Mike and Doris lived in Winnipeg, they farmed land in East Selkirk, moving there in 1964 to farm full-time. Doris worked hard, making the farm nearly self-sufficient by keeping cows (making her own butter and cheese), raising chickens, geese, and beekeeping. She ground her own grain for flour and baked her own bread. Every year she planted a large garden. Doris enjoyed cooking and sewing, but she also worked alongside Mike, fixing farm equipment, putting up fences, bringing in the hay and grain and building many farm buildings as well as two houses. Doris kept up her Ukrainian heritage, painting pysanka and making traditional Ukrainian dishes, but she also took an interest in her community, learning from friends how to make mukluks and smoke fish. Doris and Mike made many friends over the years. She was kind and generous to everyone, always ready with a smile or a laugh. Doris was a great storyteller with an amazing memory. She was a repository for the life stories of people in her family and community. A Memorial Service will be held in the Gilbart Funeral Chapel, Selkirk at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, 2013. Thank you to the many health-care workers who were involved in our mother's care near the end of her life. In lieu of flowers, donations in Doris's memory may be made to the Winnipeg Humane Society. Gilbart Funeral Home, 309 Eveline St., Selkirk, in care of arrangements. www.gilbartfuneralhome.com

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Mar 12, 2013