Nicholas George Olanski, 1926-2008

The following is the obituary read at Nicholas Olanski’s funeral: Today we celebrate the life of Nicholas George Olanski. Nick was born May 10, 1926 in Silver, Man., to Michael and Catherine. Nick passed away peacefully in J.B. Wood Nursing Home with family by his side Dec. 24, 2008. He was pre-deceased by: his parents. Michael and Catherine Olanski; brothers Frank and Walter Olanski, Joe Korol; sister Nellie Chocko; and grandson Nicholas Senko. He was the youngest of five half-brothers and sisters: Frank, Walter, Joe, Mary and Nellie. His family moved to High Prairie to homestead when he was just three years old. After completing school, Nick helped his parents on the farm until leaving for Drumheller to work in the coal mines. When he returned he had dreams of becoming a police officer, but his mother discouraged him from enlisting. When the Second World War began, Nick wanted to join the army with his brothers, Walter and Frank. His application was rejected for medical reasons. After Anne’s mom passed away in 1944, Anne and Frank Olanski took Anne in, and one day Frank’s half-brother Nick came riding in on his horse. “Buckskin” and Nick gazed upon Anne with his blue eyes - Anne-gazed back - thus the beginning of their courtship, until their marriage in 1949. In 1951, after a pregnancy that nearly claimed Anne’s life, their first son was born but taken at birth. The doctors told them they were to have no children, but the very next year in 1952 their first daughter, Cathy, was born, followed by five more children: Darlene, Susan, Robert, Raymond and Dennis to complete the family. After Nick’s parents retired to High Prairie, he took over the family farm. During the following years Nick worked a variety of jobs, hauling pulp wood, working on the Alaska Highway, the oil rigs and sawmills. Speaking of sawmills, there is a story of Nick the Survivor. It goes that Gordon Buchanan of Buchanan Lumber had asked Nick to build a new road in the Cadotte Lake area. Nick was supplied with a cat and skid shack and away he went. After about two weeks and no word from Nick, Anne got worried about her Nick and phoned Carmel at Buchanan’s inquiring if they had heard from him. They had not, but would send someone out to check on him. Sure enough, they found Nick working diligently on the new road which was just about completed. He had enough food and fuel to keep him going, so he stayed and finished the job. The story goes that the only thing Nick was short of was paper to fill in his timesheet with. But Nick was always thinking: he used pieces of bark to keep track of his hours. When he got back to High Prairie he turned these timesheets in to Carmel, she accepted them as OK and paid him accordingly. This was kind of a joke around Buchanan’s for many years about how important it was to keep good timesheets. In 1977, he formed his own company and proudly bought his first skidder. Along with his three sons he enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the logging company, but as time went on, he said he was getting tired, so he decided it was time to retire from logging and focus more on the farm. In 1992, Raymond and Dennis purchased the logging company from their parents. At first he missed working in the bush, so he would go out on weekends to “supervise”. Eventually, he stated, “By God, that’s hard work, I can’t work that hard any more.” Nick was never one to sit around and do nothing, so he picked up his other passions, such as hunting, fishing, and hiking with his beloved dog, “Joe”, or spending the winter trapping with his son, Robert. He also found great joy quadding with his grandchildren and taking them to his favourite strawberry patch, or playing golf with his sons and sons-in-law. Nick would always enjoy a night out with his friends. If he returned home too late, he would throw his hat through the door first. If it came flying back out, boy was he in trouble! But the things that really remind us of Nick were his love of reading, especially Zane Grey and Louis Lamour pocket books, dancing to country music and telling stories. You could always hear Nick whistling wherever he went. I remember when Mickey and I were courting in the early 1960s. We would go out to visit Nick and Anne. I really enjoyed going there because I was always made to feel so welcome. There was always the insistence we stay for dinner and, of course, an odd beer or so. I really did enjoy the great hunting stories, I did not realize moose were really that big and so hard to hunt and so much preparation was required. My brother, Arne, would talk of his hunting stories and told me of the direct hits on moose he made at 400 yards, etc. When I told Nick this he told me he could hit them dead on at 450 yards while they were running. I guess this makes you the champion, Nick! Many people believe a person is successful only if they have accumulated great wealth, but I believe that success should be measured by devotion and love of family and good friends. In my opinion, Nick has achieved this. I would like everyone here to take a few moments to reflect on their acquaintance and friendship to remember Nick as a devoted husband to his beautiful devoted wife Anne of 59 years of marriage, as a father to his children Cathy, Darlene, Susan, Robert, Raymond and Dennis, as a grandfather to his numerous grandchildren of which there are 12 and seven great-grandchildren, plus two additional adopted grandchildren, as a business man in his many ventures, as a hunter, and finally as a friend and confident. Anne told Mickey that on Christmas morning she looked out her window and saw a big beautiful stag deer looking in at her. In my opinion, Nick, the great white hunter, came to say good-bye to her and to make sure she was OK and all right. It was very difficult for all of us to watch this once strong man start to fail. The last thing I will remember is visiting him in the nursing home and realizing how physically strong his hands still were. At times he seemed to recognize us. We all knew recovery was not to be, so farewell my dear brother-in-law and friend, rest peacefully until we meet again!

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