ELIZABETH VICTORIA YONZA

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ELIZABETH VICTORIA YONZA

Elizabeth Yonza passed away Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the age of 77.
Elizabeth was born on October 27, 1943 in Lodz, Poland, to Henryka and Piotr Jonca. She was the eldest of three children, Anna and Tom (both deceased).
Elizabeth's early years were spent apart from her parents as they were involved in the army with fighting off German occupation. After the war the family was reunited and life continued, though under communist occupation. Though Elizabeth was likely deeply scarred from being separated from her parents at such a young age she didn't realize many physical hardships as Piotr ran a grocery store and they had a relatively large home with a big backyard and enough food was available. Still, in her late teens, Elizabeth realized that there was no future for her in Poland and she dreamt of heading west. She managed to get out of Poland in 1967 (she never returned) and received asylum in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she met and married Wojciech Pietrzak in 1968. The following year she gave birth to her first son, Henry (deceased).
In 1969 the couple left Denmark and immigrated to Canada and settled in Winnipeg; at the time Elizabeth was pregnant with her second son, Robert.
Elizabeth spent most of her time with her two boys as her husband was frequently away on business. The first years were happy times for Elizabeth and her boys, but sadly, the young marriage ended in divorce in 1974. From then on, Elizabeth Yonza (anglicized) would raise her sons as a single mother, always putting their needs before her own.
It was a trying time for her in the 1970s, while she did well in school, she didn't have post secondary education. What Elizabeth did have was plenty of determination. She worked long hours to make ends meet and she always had a job, from cosmetics clerk at Eaton's downtown, a draftsperson at Dominion Bridge to finally opening up her own beauty salon in the Somerset building, downtown Winnipeg. In the evenings, when the kids were asleep, Elizabeth would hone her artistic skills; she loved to paint, draw and sew.
Later, when her boys were grown, Elizabeth realized that she had had enough of running her salon (15 years). She was a perfectionist, which was both a blessing and a curse as she insisted that she personally took care of clients and wouldn't hire others to do the work. Elizabeth excelled as a cosmetologist and had rave reviews from her clients, but to her it was still a means to put food on the table and she never enjoyed the business aspect. She decided to go back to school and pursue a university degree, something she had always wanted.
Elizabeth completed her degree in French and art history, with honours, from the University of Winnipeg. She enjoyed the university years immensely, especially seeing her son in the hallways, who was also pursuing a degree at the time.
While Elizabeth never remarried, when she finished university she did follow her heart to a small town, Dundurn, Saskatchewan. While the relationship that led her there faded, she had chosen to remain in Dundurn as she was developing her artistic career and had made many very close friends and artistic connections.
Elizabeth loved her sons and grandchildren (Cassidy, Alexandra and Maximilian) dearly and would visit and travel with them, as well as with long-time friends from Winnipeg, but her life and art were now in Saskatchewan. Elizabeth was a very strong-willed woman - once she made up her mind on something, that was it.
In Dundurn, Elizabeth became skilled at art restoration and developed a love of sculpting, becoming a member of Saskatoon's Prairie Sculptors Association for over 25 years. Art gave Elizabeth an escape, it was her sanctuary. She was very talented, physically strong and wasn't afraid to work with any medium, from oils, acrylics and water colours, wood, clay, stone, wire, flexible concrete and metal and of course photography; she loved taking scenic pictures, especially of the sky. Elizabeth was a prolific artist and mostly worked for commissions, she had also completed larger projects, including "cut out of time", an interpretive piece that was installed along a riverside near downtown Saskatoon. She was happy.
Things took a turn for the worse in her later years as Elizabeth was faced with a series of family tragedies, first the death of her younger brother Tom (2014), followed shortly after by the death of her eldest son Henry (killed by a drunk driver in 2016), then the death of her younger sister Anna (2020).
Elizabeth never recovered fully from these deaths, especially that of Henry. These were extremely difficult and stressful times for her. During this time she was also diagnosed with the cancer that cut her life short. She died a year after her sister passed.
Elizabeth insisted that she would remain in Dundurn to pursue her art to the end and she did. She was much loved and will be sorely missed by friends and family.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 01, 2021