Obituary of Steve Lekach

STEVE LEKACH EULOGY MARCH 29, 2017 - ST. VLADIMIR'S UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - KELLIHER, SASKATCHEWAN DELIVERED ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILY BY HIS SON, GLEN LEKACH A LIFE WELL-LIVED Introduction How do you best remember, pay tribute to, honour and reflect on the long, fulfilling, well-lived life of my father, Steve Lekach, who lived an extraordinary life for almost 90 years. This is a very difficult thing to do. As Dad's health was declining, he often was very concise and efficient in his use of words, often distilling matters to their very essence in a few clear and insightful comments. One of the things he said in one of the meetings we had with his attending physician that resonated with me, was his comment to the Dr. and I quote: "I am my own man". This sentiment was best expressed in the Frank Sinatra song "I Did It My Way", and as I reflect on these words and the statement they make, I think they really best describe Steve and the life he lived - he always did things his way and on his own terms. Dad will be lovingly remembered by our family for living his life his way and for the many accomplishments that are his legacy, by so doing. In the Gospel, Matthew 7:16, Matthew states "You shall know them by their fruits" or as it sometimes also expressed "By their works shall you know them" and this passage applies so well to Steve. Throughout his life, he let his work and actions and the good results they produced and achieved, speak for themselves. In this regard we will remember him for his unconditional love for his family, his strength and ability to work hard, his dedication to excellence, his intelligence and love of learning and knowledge, his love of farming, his love for adventure, and his strong character and sense of humor - a life very well lived. He will be truly remembered in our minds as a hard worker with a genuine loving heart. I would like to take a few moments to tell a few anecdotal stories to remember and reflect on Dad's life. Strength and Hard Work Besides being of strong character and strong in intellect, Dad was blessed with great physical strength and the ability to work hard and these two things, are among the first I remember about him. Dad was strong even as a kid growing up. He liked to tell the story of when he was either in grade 7 or 8, the health nurse came to Lunville Country School to take inventory of the children and their vital statistics, including their weight. The nurse was quite surprised, as was Dad that he weighed 185 pounds at age 13. Dad had a sense of humor about this, as he would also go on to mention that what was even a greater surprise to everyone was that one of his female classmates bested him by 10 pounds! Because of his endurance and strength, Dad was able to work for the CNR building the track near Ituna starting by age 14. As I recall, he was paid $2 a day and was given the hardest job on the gang, operating the vibrating tamping machine. He quickly learned that working for somebody else was no panacea. Another story I remember Dad telling us was about the time shortly before he started farming, when he and Uncle Bill would work at lumber camps on Vancouver Island during the winter months to earn extra cash. At the time, logging involved using an axe and Swed saw, not chain saws or other mechanised machines. Dad could cut and pile 4 cords of wood a day by hand while Uncle Bill and most others at the camp, only 1 or 2. Dad took pride in working harder and smarter than others throughout his life and was very competitive that way! When Dad went to Portugal, he just couldn't believe how lazy the men were there---having a siesta in the afternoon was just not in his DNA. Because of his strength and determination, he did many things that others wouldn't dream of doing - like windrowing 300 acres of breaking in one year and hand picking all of the roots and stones on those fields that same year so that a crop could be grown on them the next year; or shoveling thousands of bushels of grain out of barns, quonsets, old houses and open piles (hardly any free grain flowed out of any of those structures) and he did so without any help and with only a short auger with no bin sweep. With all of the technology used in farming today, I don't think many people understand or remember just how hard and physically demanding farm work was back then. Whenever it came to lifting anything heavy at our farm, Dad was always on one end and Garry and I together on the other end stumbling over one another by the weight of the load. Dedication to Excellence But Dad also had great strength of character. He never half-miled on anything he did. He never took short cuts and always persisted on doing things thoroughly and correctly even if it took a lot more time and much harder work; he would never accept any half-baked ideas that Garry or I would often have when it came to working the land, fixing machinery, building shops and other farm buildings or many other farm tasks, which we thought would make them easier or quicker, but in hindsight, we were usually proven wrong. One example of Dad's determination to do things right that I remember was getting rid of quack grass before the advent of round-up. Pre-existing quack grass seemed to be a problem in many fields Dad bought over the years. And he hated quack grass with a passion. His solution to get rid of it was to set the deep tillage so it would go down all the way to China, work the field length ways and cross ways, pull out all the roots as well as every stone that ever existed on that field, then harrow up the roots and burn them and spend a week picking stones. Then repeat the process for good measure; but it sure worked because the crops those fields produced thereafter were always astounding. Love of Learning and Knowledge Dad did not have the opportunity to receive an education beyond a basic grade 9 diploma offered at the local country schools. But he was a compulsive reader and always had a thirst for knowledge and that thirst led him to become an avid life-long learner. He always attended trade shows, he would often order literature on all manner of topics, mostly related to farming, and read them many times over, he would take farm courses over the winter whether it be for marketing of grain, welding, new crops or new crop production methods, so that he was always up to date on current farming trends, and so that he could then implement the best ideas on his farm. On Sundays after church, he would sit in this easy chair in the living room, hours on end reading about farming and other matters that would interest him. He would often say that a good education was something that no one could ever take away from you, and was the best investment you could ever make in life. Dad and Mom always insisted on or encouraged us and their grandchildren to further their education, as much as possible, and we are greatly indebted to them. Farming Dad's life has transcended so much technological change, it is really mind boggling. Raised by a Ukrainian immigrant pioneering family in what was then mostly parkland made up of meadows and forest and growing up without any modern amenities, building shops and other farm buildings or many other farm tasks, which we thought would make them easier or quicker, but in hindsight, we were usually proven wrong. One example of Dad's determination to do things right that I remember was getting rid of quack grass before the advent of round-up. Pre-existing quack grass seemed to be a problem in many fields Dad bought over the years. And he hated quack grass with a passion. His solution to get rid of it was to set the deep tillage so it would go down all the way to China, work the field length ways and cross ways, pull out all the roots as well as every stone that ever existed on that field, then harrow up the roots and burn them and spend a week picking stones. Then repeat the process for good measure; but it sure worked because the crops those fields produced thereafter were always astounding. Farming Dad's life has transcended so much technological change, it is really mind boggling. Raised by a Ukrainian immigrant pioneering family in what was then mostly parkland made up of meadows and forest and growing up without any modern amenities (Mom used to say that she and Dad basically camped for the first dozen or so years of their marriage), and seeing the technology available today is truly remarkable. This is nowhere more evident than in farming. Thinking back to when Dad cleared much of his land by hand, and ran his own threshing crew seems so far removed from the large farms now in existence and the robot tractors on the horizon. But Steve's passion was farming - and he did it for 63 years until age 85. He often said he could think of no better or honourable way to live and earn a living than being a farmer; for him it offered everything - physical exertion, working with nature, mental stimulation and entrepreneurship - it was a place where he could be in charge of his destiny and do things his own way and enjoy the fruits of his labour - for him it was heaven on earth. And Steve embraced innovation and technology when it came to farming. He was an early adopter and risk taker, being one of the first farmers to grow crops such as canola, flax and mustard (he often said that it took 40 years for canola, the successor of rapeseed to catch up with the yields of the early varieties of Swedish rapeseed he started growing in the early 1960's). He also raised exotic cattle (Dad started a greenfield Charlais heard of cattle in the 1960's using artificial insemination). He also adopted a comprehensive fertilizer and pesticide program for his crops long before it became common place to use anything other than 2 4 D and a little bit of phosphate fertilizer. He often sent soil samples with Rita to the soil testing labs at the University of Sask. He also supported the fundraising campaigns for the new Agriculture College on campus as he saw that as a place of innovation. He also loved leading edge, modern or revolutionary equipment (which he enjoyed immensely - especially his combines, as bringing in the harvest was perhaps the thing he enjoyed most about farming; over the years he owned many combines of various makes and models - for urban dwellers to understand why he did this, his combine was to him a status symbol - the equivalent of owning the best sports car or luxury vehicle. For all of the equipment be bought over many years, he often stated that it was his International Harvestor Super W6 tractor that he bought new from Bill Bat when he first started farming that made him the most money, as it was the tractor that established the base for the farming operation as it grew and prospered over the years into one of the more successful farms in the Kelliher District. Steve was blessed with many bumper crops over the years as a result of all of these efforts and his foresight, wisdom and good judgement. And right to the end he seemed to always grow better crops than me and more often than not, Garry. Community Service Steve was also community minded. He served as a Councillor for the RM of Kellross #247, as a long time School Trustee for the Cupar School Unit, as a Board Member of the Yorkton Credit Union, as a Board Member of the Canola Growers Association of Saskatchewan, as a founding Board Member of the Kelliher Rail Loading Corporation and as a long term Board Member and volunteer with St Vladimir's Ukrainian Catholic Parish, where, among other things, he was instrumental in raising funds for and dedicating countless hours to the construction and maintenance of this Church. He loved coffee row and was a long time dedicated daily attendee - if life time achievement awards were ever given out for dedicated attendance at coffee row, Dad would have been one of the first inductees. He was also interested in hockey and supported minor hockey while Garry and I were growing up, driving us everywhere to play hockey with five other stalwart hockey dads, Melvin Bolton, Scott Clark, Paul Bashutski, Joe Pawelec and George Horvath. I remember that Rita would buy him a box of white owl cigars and a bottle of cheap cologne as a Christmas gift each year while she was at University and Dad could think of no better place to enjoy these gifts than on our hockey trips! He also enjoyed attending senior hockey games at the Kelliher arena for many years. Travel and Adventure Although I have been focussing on the impact that Dad's work ethic had on us kids, Dad was certainly not all work and no play. He also enjoyed seeing how people lived in other parts of the world and travelled extensively - he knew how to balance work with please. What I recall when I was young was that on Sundays, if Dad was not reading, he enjoyed watching the Horst Koehler Travel Show on TV and I think this may have been an influence on him and his desire to travel. The trips I remember most are the ones Dad recorded on his camcorder. When they first came out, Dad immediately bought one to take on his trips, thinking there wasn't any reason he couldn't video tape trips as well as Horst Koehler! Remarkably as a very young man at a time when travel was more difficult, he travelled a lot - to Edmonton for school, and to Winnipeg, Vancouver Island and Sudbury for work. And his love for travel and adventure continued throughout his life. I remember him and Mom travelling to Oshawa in 1967 to take delivery of their new two door Cheverlot Impala super sport car and making a vacation of it by travelling to Chicago to visit Mom's sister, Jean and her husband Al Wilson. I also remember the trips to Vancouver by train and by air to visit Mom's parents and to Seattle and Lake Tahoe to visit Mom's sister after she and uncle Al relocated to the West Cost, and the trip to Alaska with Uncle Joe and Auntie Doreen, and the trip to Nashville with Uncle Steve Karol, and the trips to Hawaii, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Spain and Portugal, some taken with mom but also sometimes with Eddie Faye or as a group, with Eddie and Josie Fay and Joe and Kathy Pawelec. Dad and Mom also enjoyed cruises throughout the Caribbean, through the Panama Cannel and to South America, with stops at Buenos Aires and Rio De Janerio - they told me that they really enjoyed the night life and clubbing in Rio! Garry and Dad also went to Germany to tour the Klaas combine factory. Travel became more difficult once Dad was in his 80's but he still travelled with Garry and Patti to Australia, a place Dad always wanted to visit and a place where my grandfather's two brothers immigrated to from Ukraine, and he also travelled with me to Phoenix to watch NHL Hockey and Spring League Professional Baseball. Marriage and Family And now for the soft side of Dad-----Of all the things Dad did, the most important was to marry Mom. Together Sophie and Steve complemented each other so well as they journeyed through life together for over 67 years. Mom and Dad met at a dance when Mom came from Vancouver to visit her brother, Joe Purcha who farmed north of Kelliher. Dad always was a very handsome man who fell in love with our pretty mom who chose to follow him to Winnipeg where they both worked and ended up getting married there. They decided to move to Kelliher and worked together side by side trying to build up the farm and made lots of sacrifices in the early years to make a life for themselves with lots of hard teamwork. Mixed farming gave them some household cash and Mom proved that she could keep up with Dad. Dad's motto was always "it's not how much you make - It's how much you save." They raised a family with Rita being born first and the "twins" Garry and myself 6 years later. They gave us everything they could and supported us in most anything we wanted to do. They encouraged education and being involved, and supported our choices including our marriages and life. We always felt loved and we always felt the love they had for each other. Whether it was Dad "teaching" us about farming or the advice he gave us about anything---the impact on our lives is immense and we will miss our Dad so much. Dad and Mom had lots of friends, they travelled, they were active in the community and church, they enjoyed going out to eat, going for coffee and they were always there for each other. We had lots of family gatherings at Christmas, and Easter, and birthdays and family weddings and anniversaries where there was an abundance of food and fun and lots of energy and lots of talking which Dad enjoyed, especially when the grandchildren came around--- and they all loved their Grandpa. And he loved them all . When they moved to St Volodymyr Villa in Saskatoon last year after living in Kelliher for 66 years, they were always together, helping each other out. Mom was with Dad every day that he was in the hospital and he held her hand and sometimes didn't want to let her go. They were a team till the end---strong and inseparable. Conclusion In conclusion, Dad's final days can be best summarized in scripture : 2 Timothy: 4-7 "I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith." We love you Dad and we will miss you. Thank You. Service Information Tuesday, March 28th, 2017 7:00pm, St. Vladimir's Church Wednesday, March 29th, 2017 10:00am, St. Vladimir's Church Interment Details St. Vladimir Parish Cemetery