Annie Huziak Obituary

The family of Annie Huziak age 99 beloved wife of the late James (Jim) Huziak of Yorkton sadly announce her passing on January 8, 2022.

Annie Florence Huziak was born on March 4th, 1922, near Rama, Saskatchewan, the second of the thirteen children of Polish immigrants Anton and Zuzanna (Fulawka) Nowakowski. She passed away peacefully at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre on the evening of January 8th, 2022, less than 2 months shy of her 100th birthday.

Her stories (many in writing) of her childhood in a large family in rural Saskatchewan at that time are interesting, to say the least.

In 1942-43, she joined the war effort, working in a Small Munitions factory in Toronto. Returning home, she met her future husband who was painting the interiors of two churches in Rama; they were married in November of 1944. From 1945 to 1957, her husband Jim has been credited with the interior decorative painting and iconography in a dozen and a half Ukrainian & Roman Catholic churches in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. What is little known is that someone else also climbed the scaffolds, child under one arm and paint brush in the other, to do all the base-painting so he could do the fancy stuff on top. And she made the meals, too.

They raised their family in Yorkton, and she helped pay the bills by working part-time as a housekeeper for 21 years, retiring in 1984. This retirement might have been aided by the fact that they had just won the first ever Western Express Millionaire's Club lottery draw.

Still, her life was that of a homemaker, and their free time was spent visiting with relatives in one very large, very social family. When at home, hobbies included cross-stitch, crocheting, needle point and quilting.

To Jim and Ann, travelling was where ever you could go by car. So, it was a bit of a surprise when, in the mid 80's, she, with the help of a niece, got on to her first airplane ever and joined her son who was in the middle of a lengthy tour of Europe. Now that she was a world traveler, she did not hesitate to go again in 1990 with another son, his wife and wife's father, this time to visit the towns in Poland and the Ukraine that their ancestors had emigrated from.

After her husband Jim passed in 1996, she continued to live in her home on the western edge of Yorkton, tending to its very large garden. Her last few years were spent in the Gladstone Seniors Residence in assisted living. Although her arthritis and hearing impairment were a challenge, her long term memory remained sharp.

Annie was pre-deceased by her husband Jim, her parents Anton and Zuzanna, sisters Josephine, Stella, Verna, Elsie, Lena and Isabelle; brothers Louis, Steve, Walter, Chester, Marion and grandson Jeffery Edison-Brown. She is survived by her youngest sister Bonnie Marchinkow of Vancouver, daughter Hope (David) Edison-Brown in North Vancouver, and sons Jim (Shirley) of Yorkton, Richard (Donna-Lee) of Saskatoon, Steven of Regina, grandkids Joanne (Michael) Turner, Terry (Kris Atwood) Edison-Brown, Amy, Henry, great-grandkids Nickolas and Max, and more nieces and nephews than can be listed in a single afternoon.

It was a good life, fully lived.

A funeral service will be held on Friday January 14, 2022 at 2p.m. from St. Andrew's United Church Yorkton, SK with Rev. Jen Dresser officiating. Interment to follow in the Yorkton City Cemetery.

The service will be live streamed starting at 1:50 pm https://www.youtube.com or https://www.facebook.com.

In lieu of flowers, if friends so desire, memorial donations may be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation or to a charity of one's choice.