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STANLEY NORMAN WATOWICH
Born: Oct 25, 1928
Date of Passing: Dec 10, 2025
Send Flowers to the Family Offer Condolences or MemorySTANLEY NORMAN WATOWICH
On Wednesday, December 10, 2025, Stan passed away quietly and peacefully at his daughter Anna-Maria’s house in Sugar Land, Texas. Stan was 97 years adventurous. In 2012, his wife of 55 years, Vera (nee Zarowski), preceded him on their next adventure.
Stan was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1928 to Joseph and Mary Watowich (nee Shmigelski), first generation Ukrainian immigrants. Stan grew up on his grandfather Zachary’s farm in Komarno, Manitoba, where he learned his disciplined work ethic. Stan and his parents moved to Winnipeg when he was eight, where he attended public school and eventually went on to the University of Manitoba earning his B.S. in Geology in 1953 and his M.S. in Geology in 1956. After university, his geologic work and adventurous nature took him to Mozambique and Burundi in Africa and across Canada. His expertise covered petroleum, copper, nickel, silver, gold and other metal mining. During his career, he worked for Falconbridge Mines, AMAX, Canadian Gulf Oil, and Goldfields Mining. He earned his Professional Engineer certification in both Ontario and Minnesota.
He married Vera in 1957 and immediately they began their family moves to various job locations in the Dominican Republic, northern Ontario twice, Nicaragua and northern Quebec. The family then moved to the United States in 1974 where he obtained his permanent US resident visa, while remaining a Canadian citizen. He lived in Minnesota, Arizona, and Colorado where he retired from Goldfields Mining in 1995. One of Stan’s crowning professional achievements was the development of Goldfields’ Mesquite Gold Mine in southern California. He was instrumental in the exploration, surveying, signing of land contracts, and managing the environmental studies to bring the mine to production. The mine, still in operation since 1986, has produced more than five million ounces of gold. After 32 years in Colorado, he moved to Texas in 2021 to be near a daughter and two sons.
Our dad loved the great outdoors and taking road trips. He was the first to jump in the car or agree to a trip, destination known or unknown. He was an accomplished canoer, runner, hiker (hiking “14ers” in Colorado well into his 80s), and an avid rock collector – never missing an opportunity to find an anomaly and enlighten us with how it came into existence. Dad loved fitness. At university, he was on the football, rugby, wrestling, track and field, and hockey teams. He was an alternate to the 1952 Canadian Olympic Wrestling team and held the U of M shot put record for almost 30 years. Quite impressive feats. He competed in numerous marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks. He enjoyed running up and down Green Mountain in Lakewood, Colorado. He coached our lacrosse and hockey teams while we were growing up and spent countless hours driving us to hockey games and figure skating competitions, never missing an event. He extended his passion for life to his grandchildren, always including them in his activities and supporting them in theirs. He enjoyed tackling his own home improvement projects, such as his decorative concrete patios in Babbitt and Denver. Along with our mom, he was active in the Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian-Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado for many years.
He was involved in all our endeavours, be it sports, personal, weddings, graduations or family reunions. He leaves behind three daughters: Anna-Maria Weston (John) of Texas, Jean Meeks-Koch (Tom) of South Carolina, Bernadette Watowich-Stead (Chris) of Colorado; three sons: Stan (Stephanie) of Texas, Mark (Betty) of Oklahoma, and Greg (Chardee) of Texas; two nieces: Lynn Kulbaba (John) of Manitoba and Cathy Bowman (Dave) of Manitoba; and 18 loving grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.
He was a loving, practicing Catholic, an exemplary human being and the best father any of us could have wished for. A celebration of his life and achievements was held in Winnipeg in June 2026 and interment followed at All Saints Cemetery.
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 26, 2026