Obituary of Ronald John Stanek

Ronald John Stanek was born in Rosetown Saskatchewan on April 10, 1932. When Ron was only 4, his mother died and so his older sister and an aunt and uncle were instrumental in his upbringing. Ron attended a small country school travelling on horseback in the summer and horse and sleigh in the winter. He told of using his dad's truck to take all fifteen students and the teacher to a neighboring school for a ball game. The kids were crammed in the box of the truck with Ron driving - at the ripe age of 13. In his youth, he played hockey in the winter, ball in the summer and raced stock cars. Ron spent 3 months in the hospital with Rheumatic fever. Ron's talents of inventor and entrepreneur began at an early age. He had an interesting money making venture of trapping skunks in the winter. He would ship them frozen through the elevator agent who would put them on the train. For some reason, by the time the skunks arrived at their destination they had unthawed and were shipped back to the elevator. The agent phoned Ron saying "come and get these skunks, they were unloaded a mile from the elevator and we can't stand the smell!" That was the first and last "trapping for sale" venture. After he graduated from high school, he obtained his journeyman electrical certificate. At that time, rural Saskatchewan was just getting electricity so he worked on many farmsteads. He wired the buildings on the family farm and it was the only farm in the area with underground wiring. The original wiring is still intact today and has never caused a problem. It was very innovative in the early 50's. Ron was offered a job running cat for an outfit that did road construction. He loved running cat and was proud to be on the first machine that built the road to Diefenbaker Dam in Saskatchewan. Another one of his accomplishments was converting a gas powered tandem truck to a diesel using a motor out of a cat. Diesel powered trucks were rare at that time. On April 24, 1956 Ron married the love of his life - Donna Smith from Rosetown. In 1962, they had the opportunity to move to Farmington to farm. Having grown up on a farm, Ron was happy to get back to farming. The family travelled from Rosetown to Farmington in a single cab pickup - five persons in total, three of which were pretty small, Don, Tim and Greg with Don standing all the way. All their worldly possessions were packed in the back of the pickup and little trailer that he had constructed. The addition of Tracy and Michele arriving after they moved to Farmington, completing their family of seven. April 20th was when they arrived in Farmington. It was spring and a very busy time on the farm with getting seed and machinery ready. After seeding, the first job was getting the house wired and a hoist on the grain truck. There was a forge in the shop which he fired from time to time. He subsequently wired a few homes in Farmington and put a hoist on a truck for the neighbor - Joe Shinder. An early purchase was a welder and over the years Ron welded for neighbors, often daily, during seeding and harvest. He was involved with Farmington Hall and fabricated the sign for the original hall. The sign and coffee urn were the only items saved when the first hall burnt down. The sign was put on the new hall in Farmington and still remains today. Ron was involved with the building of the new hall and he also did the metal work on the cairn at Mathews Park. The cairn was constructed by Joe Vopica Sr. During the farming years, Ron often worked off the farm driving cat, painting in Taylor, and welding at Tidy Tanks. Growing up, Ron was always a jokester and his family has recounted many funny stories and this trait continued even after they moved to Farmington - many of you here today may have been on the receiving end of his practical jokes. (The family would love to hear about some of those stories). Ron had many parlor tricks to entertain his children and their friends and many fell victim to his pranks in the community and in the workplace, such as stars through a coat sleeve, toothpick racings, a soot covered quarter rolled across the face or a fake mouse in a bank deposit bag. One of his memorable pranks involved electricity. He wired up a metal bed frame so the occupants would get little shocks. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt and even the victims found the joke humorous. In Farmington, Ron's inventions began to flourish - he made a mini bike for Don with a long seat so the boys could all sit on it to travel back and forth to the school bus. He also made the fastest sleigh in the world - according to Tracy - it was a chair bolted down to two long wooden skis. They would slide down the dugout bank - it went like the wind. Ron liked to cook. He was known as the official soup and gravy maker. Thankfully, Uncle Norm saw the humor when Ron fed him horse meat. Uncle Norm repaid the trick by adding caviar to Ron's bowl of stew allowing him to think that the entire pot being served at the family reunion was a bust. Ron was always available for advice and was eager to lend a helping hand when the boys were working on a project and it usually involved a vehicle motor. Michele, being the only girl, learned to ride and drive anything the boys could, from dirt bikes to the homemade go-cart. There was always something in various stages of construction or repair in Ron's shop. He made hames for Jim Doonan's harnesses and the story goes he was paid in whiskey - but there was never any whiskey left when Jim went home. Ron loved playing cards and partaking in a beverage. Countless cards games were enjoyed with neighbors, especially Bert & Jean Babcock and Bill & Etela Strasky. Until recently, Ron and Donna enjoyed 3 card games with their morning coffee: one of crazy eights, low card rummy and golf. Ron finished farming in 1981 and it was time to relocate to a section beside the Farmington hall. In preparation for building a house, Jake Browne, George Strasky and Ron went down south to purchase cedar shakes for the roof. George took his grain truck "Lucky Louis" and they visited with Jake's friends' en route. It was a trip to remember by all accounts. Tim, who had just become a journeyman carpenter, and a friend framed the house. Friends and family helped Ron complete the house. This beautiful property was host to numerous Stanek and Smith reunions, fishing at Ron's stocked pond, baseball games, pitch and putt golfing, hot dog roasts, skidoo gatherings, college BBQ's, Easter egg hunts, and New Years gatherings. Ron worked at other jobs after farming, such as driving the Norland bus to and from Tumbler Ridge, the city transit bus and at Northern Lights College in the maintenance department taking mandatory retirement at age sixty-five. Ron's last employer was his son Greg. He drove cat for the logging operations. He said Greg was "the best boss he ever had and the only one he ever loved!" Over the years Ron created items such as a land leveler, rotary snow blower, skidoo trailers, swimming pool heater, revolving clothes line, many small trailers, swing sets, huge slide, a bridge, a wharf, zip line, can crusher, etc. He was reluctant to finally say something needed replacing as he preferred to repair. He replaced the stove only when it was so old he could no longer repair it. In 2009, Ron and Donna moved into Dawson Creek, a lovely little place along the creek that the beaver and deer still visited. Our family gatherings continued but our outdoor activities relocated to Tim and Gisele's property. Grandpa taught us how to have fun and to have a sense of humor. He often mentored about life skills or how something could be repaired. It was not uncommon to find an empty snuff can hidden in a shoe or coat pocket. The smell of Skoal Bandit Wintergreen will always remind us of him. Ron was a huge sports fan and loved hockey. He went on many road trips with Michele to watch the grandkids play hockey. Plenty of the grandchildren and great grandchildren played hockey in Dawson Creek, Tumbler Ridge, and throughout Alberta. He was a curling enthusiast and the ultimate Blue Jays fan. His last trip from bed was to the couch for a game, ten days before his passing. Our family was privileged to care for Ron at home. We were part of a journey no one chooses to take, but he helped us every step of the way. He was patient and good humored, grateful for small things, back rubs, his apple juice, and in the middle of the night he would always say thank you. From the smallest great-grandchild often saying "How you feeling today Grandpa?" to the grandchildren and partners popping in daily to see how he was doing, and his children and spouses moving home to help in his final days. He had a mischievous moment with one of the home care nurses when she asked if he was having any pain - he nodded his head indicating yes - when she started to question where it hurt he gave a little grin and shook his head no. Ron's final gift to his family was one of dying with dignity which he did "in spades." Rest easy Ron. Service 11:00 am Tuesday, October 13, 2015 South Peace United Church 1300 104 Ave DAWSON CREEK, British Columbia, Canada V1G 2J6 Interment Brookside Cemetery 108 ave DAWSON CREEK, British Columbia, Canada