It is with profound sadness we are here today to say good-bye to our mom, mother-in-law, grandma, great-grandma, sister, aunt, friend and wonderful human being, Olga Turuk, but we are also here today to celebrate her life well lived. She and Sam had almost 60 wonderful years together, and would have celebrated 75 years this past Tuesday.
Olga was born to Vera and William Bahniuk on September 7th, 1931 on the farm about 10 miles south of Battleford on Section 13, 42, 17 in a small shack in the same yard as her uncle Louis Bahniuk. The following year, Vera and William moved their small house to NW 12, 42, 17 and this is where Olga spent her entire childhood. In 1935 her twin sisters Annie and Mary were born. Life was difficult, but everyone shared the work and they were raised in a house filled with love. As a young girl, Olga loved the song "You Are My Sunshine" and would sing it for visiting neighbours. Entertainment in the community consisted of school Christmas concerts, dances, pie socials and visiting the neighbours. Olga attended school at Red Cross school, which was about 2 miles from their farm. In the summer, she and her sisters walked to school and back, but in the winter their father took them with the horse and cutter, then picked them up in the afternoon. The school was a one roomed school with one teacher and went to grade 8. She completed grade 8 and went on to complete grade 9 by correspondence. When she completed grade 9 she stayed to help on the farm. Life was getting easier by 1947. They now had a bigger house and they owned the North half of section 12, but there was also more work to do. In 1949 her parents owned their first car and tractor. The bi-weekly trips to town were much easier, and plowing and seeding were much easier than in the past. In September of 1949, just when life was getting easier for Olga, along came a fine, handsome young man named Sam Turuk, whose parents were friends of Vera and William's friends. In those days, with no phones and few vehicles, Lindequist and Ibstone were worlds apart. In October of 1949 the Turuk and Bahniuk families got together, and Sam and Olga told them they wanted to get married. Their parents asked them to go to another room and decide when the wedding was to be. A few minutes later they went back and told their parents they wanted November 12, less than a month away, so November 12, 1949 it was. They had a second wedding celebration in Olga's new community of Lindequist at Sam's parents farm on November 19th. The reception was in the house and the dance was in the hip roofed shed in the yard. The music was supplied by Peter Yur on the fiddle and Ron Sack on the accordion. They lived with Sam's parents at the Simpson place for the first year and a half of their marriage. They purchased a quarter from John Black and moved to the homestead shortly after. They had no electricity, running water or transportation and life was extremely difficult, but many wonderful memories began there. In the later years, whenever we drove by the house, Sam would say "If those walls could talk, they could tell you many stories, we were cooking with natural gas." Olga would blush and giggle a little, but didn't really have any comments. They were self-sufficient with chickens, pigs, cattle and of course a big garden. Without electricity and running water, Olga's life was not easy. Everything preserved from the garden had to be canned or fermented. Any meat preserved was either salted or canned as well. She always ensured that there was ample food for the winter and their door was always open to visitors. It was during this time that Wally and Val were born. The shortage of water was becoming increasingly difficult to manage with 2 small kids and a growing herd of cattle. They decided to build a house in town and move there. In 1960 they sold the cattle, closed up the little house and moved to town, where Sam worked for Boychuk Construction and continued to farm. Olga’s priority continued to be her growing family and keeping her freezers full of food and her house full of love. In December of 1964, Wayne was born and they had another decision to make. Sam's parents offered to sell them the farm. Since neither of them liked living in town, it was an easy decision. They moved back to the farm in July of 1965. Wes was born in December of 1967, completing their family. Life continued to get easier as time went on. They moved into their new house across the yard in 1978. They took many family vacations with the truck and camper, sometimes alone as a family and sometimes with Colin and Adele and their family, and all were enjoyed. As the kids got older and more self-sufficient, they had the opportunity to vacation more. They had many memorable, fun vacations with Colin and Adele and Alex and Sylvia. And of course, when the cats are away, the mice did play! Thank God those basement walls can't talk, right Val!? There were some pretty memorable parties in that basement. The highlight of their travels was their trip to the Ukraine in 1991 where they were able to visit Sam's birthplace and that of their parents and meet relatives. Olga’s lifelong priorities were family, gardening, crafting and travelling. Nothing made her happier than having a house filled with family, with a huge meal on the table, always including perogies and cabbage rolls she made herself. She always had a huge garden and in the mid 90’s she decided she would sell the extra produce at the farmers market in Battleford on Thursday’s and in North Battleford on Saturday’s. This also gave her an opportunity to sell her crafts and sewing. This was a huge workload for her and Sam, but it was also an opportunity to visit everyone, and visit he did. She continued with crafting, gardening and farmers markets even after we lost Sam in 2009, probably more to keep her occupied and ease the loneliness, even though the workload was too much. She continued this path until 2013, when she decided to move to Caleb. Olga enjoyed her time at Caleb. She continued to do her crafts and craft sales. She enjoyed socializing and playing cards daily. She also enjoyed coming back out to the farm, and we always tried to celebrate her birthday with a meal in the field. In conclusion, Olga was first a wife and mother, putting family above all else. She left this world a very wealthy woman, if wealth is measured by the love of family and friends, the honesty and integrity of the life one lived, the humbleness and kindness of one’s soul and the absence of a single enemy, then Olga was a multi- millionaire. She left many things to her family, but the most tangible is an album of the family histories of both the Turuk and Bahniuk families, which took years to compile. In it she named us all and left a message which reads: “Very fortunate to have such a great family. Love you all forever. Sam and Olga Turuk.” We know, from the peaceful expression on her face when she passed, she heard Sam calling her at 3:30 on Friday morning November 8, and she decided we were all going to be ok, and went to rejoin the love of her life, and Sam would have said “there’s my sweetheart.” Together again forever. Funeral Service for Olga was held on Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. held at the Western Development Museum – Heritage Hall with Reverend Jo Ann Hills officiating. Memorial donations can be made to the charity of a donor’s choice. For those unable to attend the service, a recorded version has been posted at www.eternalmemoriesfunera.ca. Funeral Arrangements have been entrusted to Eternal Memories Funeral Service & Crematorium – Vanessa Macnab Funeral Director.
Card of Thanks
The Turuk family would like to thank the Villa Pascal for the kind, compassionate care Olga received during her stay there, Dr Campbell, and all of our extended family, friends and neighbors for the meals and kind messages we received during these difficult days. We would also like to thank Vanessa at Eternal Memories for her assistance in this difficult time.
