Michael (Mike) Senkoe, 1919-2007

Michael Senkoe was born Oct. 16, 1919 on a farm 15 miles south of Loyalist, Alta. to Fred and Anna Senkoe. Michael was the seventh of nine children. He had four older brothers: William, John, Stephan, and Alexander; two older sisters, Pauline and Martha; and two younger sisters, Irene and Annie. In 1921, the Senkoe family moved to a farm south of Kirriemuir, Alta. A year later in 1922, they moved again to another farm west of Altario, where there was a school and better farming land. In 1937, because of a drought and the hard times of the ‘Dirty Thirties’, the Senkoe family moved once more to homestead land in High Prairie. They brought a carload of cattle, a carload of horses and their machinery. Mike, along with his brothers John and Bill, accompanied their father in the boxcars with the animals. They settled on a bush quarter southeast of High Prairie, where they would soon build a log house and a barn. Mike farmed with his family until 1941 when he joined the army. He served with the Royal Canadian Engineers on the west coast of British Columbia at Prince Rupert and Vancouver Island until he was discharged in April 1946. While in stationed at Maryhill camp in British Columbia in 1944, Mike met a young lady named Marjorie Gilmer. On Nov. 6, 1946 Michael and Marjorie were married at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Edmonton. They then returned to High Prairie by train and settled on the farm. During the next few years, Mike worked for neighbours and farmed his own land with four head of horses. He also kept busy clearing the brush, breaking the land, and picking the roots from the home quarter. In 1957, with the help of his brother John, Mike built the family home, where he would spend the next 50 years of his life. Mike was a farmer. He was fortunate to witness many advances over his lifetime, from using horses, steel-wheeled tractors and threshing machines, to the modern machinery we use today. He always had help from Marjorie and his young daughters, and later his grandchildren, with the farm work. There was always a fence to be fixed, water to be pumped, cows and pigs to be fed and, of course, square bales to be stacked. His ideas and practices were very traditional; he was never convinced that new farming innovations were worthy in comparison. In 1970, Mike ventured into hog production, but abandoned this idea to build the cattle herd instead. In 1973, he began driving school bus for the High Prairie School Division. He drove school bus for 12 years, first in Banana Belt, later in Enilda. Mike was a story teller, never taking himself so seriously that he couldn’t tell a funny or embarrassing one about himself. Whether it was at home or at John and Annie or Martha and Orest’s kitchen table, reminiscing about the “old” days was a favourite pastime. The stories often took on epic proportions and were filled with laughter. Mike’s closest friends were: Marjorie, his wife of 60 years; his brother John; and his sisters, Martha and Irene; and of course, his animals. Howard Greer once said that if he died, he would like to come back as one of Mike’s cows because he knew he would be well taken care of. Mike passed away on Friday, April 13, two months and two days after his wife, Marjorie. He left this world as he lived: stubbornly, with a sense of humor, plenty of conversation, giving orders, and most importantly, surrounded by his family. Mike was predeceased by: his parents, Fred and Anna Senkoe; brothers William, John, Stephan and Alexander; and his sister, Martha Basarab; infant son, Douglas Alan; infant grandson Nicholas Senkoe; and most recently, his wife, Marjorie. He is survived by: his sisters, Pauline Baker, Irene Turions and Annie Poitras; his son, Keith, and his wife Gwen; his daughter, Chris Pollack and her husband, Dwayne; his daughter, Bev Ferguson and her husband Doug; and his daughter, Pat Olansky and her husband Michael; grandchildren Ryan Ferguson, his wife Emily, Dawn Ferguson, and Shannon Ferguson; Tanner, Erin and Leslie Pollack; and Talon and Chad Olansky; along with his great-grand- children including Jacob, Kelsey, and Kaylee Ferguson; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

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