Orest Fodchuk Speaks on his Full and Active Life

Orest Fodchuk Speaks on his Full and Active Life

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Orest was born in 1923 where he grew up on a farm seven miles northwest of Vegreville. He had two older sisters and one younger brother. “My childhood was quite good. We were poor but we had no shortage of food. We grew a big garden and had livestock. We had no toys so we made up our own games.

“My parents were good. They worked hard. My dad did the farming and my mom did the housework.”

Later, Orest went to a two-room country school from Grades one to 10 where he used to walk three miles to school in the summertime, and his father used to drive them by horse and buggy in the wintertime. “I liked school as I liked to learn. My favorite subject was math. I also had a lot of friends at school.”

“When I finished Grade 10, I went to Edmonton Technical School to take Grade 11 and 12. This was sort of like a trade school as it taught woodwork and other trades. Then after I finished Grade 12, I came back home to the farm. This was at the beginning of the Second World War and I got called in 1943 to serve in the army but I was exempt because I was the only boy on the farm and someone had to stay home to produce food. In a way, I was happy not to have to go to the war. Then I went to work at a sawmill north of Edmonton called Chishon. My job was loading plain lumber into the boxcar.”

Then in the spring of 1944, Orest started working again on the farm with his father.

“In 1960, I married Alice Mills who was a widow with four young daughters. I knew Alice most of my life but I didn’t date her until she became a widow because after she finished at the country school, she went on her own and she took one year of university, and then she joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division.

Orest is 97 years old and he still has a full life. (Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

“After I married Alice, I took over the family farm from my father. Our marriage was very good. We worked hard on the farm. I enjoyed my four stepdaughters: Beverly and Barbara who were twins, Jo-Anne, and Lorna. They took to me well. As the girls grew up, I became very proud of them. All four girls attended university.

“Then in 1967, Alice went back to university to take education where she finished and got her Degree in Education, and then she taught school at Lavoy for 20 years.

When Alice retired from teaching, they went straight to grain farming alone because they wanted to do some traveling. So, they took tours through Europe. Then in 1990, they rented out the land and retired from farming where they toured all the continents and Canada. In 1999, they sold the farm and moved to Vegreville.

Orest has resided at Heritage House since 2013 with his wife until she passed away about a year and a half ago. Orest showed National Geographic films of different countries to residents at the home. Now, he plays music for the residents from a cd player he owns.

Orest credited his long life to having good genes. The advice he would give people is to take time off; don’t only work in your life. His final comment was he had and still has a wonderful life.