Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Dearest Melitta, Father Cornell, Roman, Ivanko and Family,
With great sorrow I just read the news on Father Cornell's FaceBook page about the passing of your beloved Husband, Tato, Uncle and Dido. I am grateful for today's technology, which keeps us connected, despite the thousands of kilometres of distance which physically keep us apart.
To this day I always hold each of you so kindly in my heart.
I arrived on Vegreville's doorstep, wide-eyed and having freshly graduated from Toronto's Faculty of Education, on the cusp of a new school year in late August, 1985, ready to embark on my brand-new teaching career. I was welcomed by you with open arms, warmth, kindness and caring. Before long came the recognition that we shared an immense love of our Ukrainian culture, language and faith traditions, as well as the enthusiasm to nurture them and pass them on to our youth.
My memories of dearly departed Orest perpetually brings about a smile on my face and a feeling of goodwill.
Orest was the spark that lit everyone's flame. He was the organizer and the doer as well as the rock and the foundation. He was not just the boys' Tato, he was everyone's Tato! His broad, hearty laugh, his kind words, his encouragement and cheerful disposition was like a balm that soothed my feelings of loneliness or homesickness which occasionally made their way into my awareness during those moments when my mind was free from the busy-ness of creating lesson plans and marking student assignments.
I remember one event in particular, that is lastingly etched in my mind.
Orest had procured a pair of tickets for me that someone couldn't use for an Oilers hockey game back in that heyday of their successful Stanley Cup frenzy. Not being much of a sports fan in general, I had nonetheless bubbled and overflowed with elation at the prospect of actually watching a game live and of seeing The Great One up close and personal! I had been presented with second-row-from-the-ice seats... And see him, I did! I was embroiled in excitement and I can truthfully state that indeed, I came within a few metres of meeting Wayne in person!
With such a simple act of kindness, Orest was instrumental in generating happiness within me and providing me with a unique and exhilarating experience - one whose memory I have cherished from that unaffected, still-very-young age; and will continue doing so as long as my faculties permit…
To our dearly departed Orest: Sleep peacefully, kind Friend, beloved Husband, Tato, Uncle and Dido. Know that you have touched the hearts of those of us who remain far, far away both in distance and in time. Your new home is now a place of Serenity and Goodness which knows no boundaries of space, nor distance nor measurement of any kind.
Прожив життя своє і пішов навіки,
Лишивши добрі спогади й ім’я.
Так спи спокійно, безтурботно, рідний!
Завжди з тобою вся твоя сім’я …
Вічная пам'ять +
Anna Barabash
