Obituary of ELIZABETH (ROZKOWIEC) SPECJAN

ELIZABETH (ROZKOWIEC) SPECJAN

September 13,1922  -  February 17, 2018

We sadly announce the passing of my mom, Elizabeth (Rozkowiec) Specjan in the early morning hours of February 17, 2018, at Holy Family Nursing Home.

Mom was born in a small village in an area called Semekhovichi in what was Poland or Belarus, as the lines on the map moved. Life was good on their small farm, her parents and siblings were happy and safe, until Stalin's army came one day and took all their land, their house, their stock and possessions, and gave them one hour to pack, and put them on a train to a gulag in Siberia.

It was a long time before they were able to escape the Soviet Union and once they did they spent many years in refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa.They were eventually given an opportunity to leave those camps, and some of her family was reunited in England in 1948, more family met together in Canada, and several more were left behind and lost in Russia. Such is the ravages of war.

Mom met and married my Dad Walter in London in 1949. They came to Canada in 1951 and settled in the North End. If anyone was a role model for hard work, it was Elizabeth. She was very involved in her church and sang in it's choir, she was involved in humanitarian efforts for those back in the Old Country, she toiled at sometimes three jobs to help make a go of it. She was an excellent cook, seamstress, gardener, homemaker, and more. Elizabeth worked hard her entire life, and if dementia hadn't robbed her of these last dozen years, she would have worked at something until her last day.

She is survived by her son Peter and daughter-in-law Darlene, sister-in-law Helen and her family. She was predeceased by her beloved Walter, her parents, brothers Joe and his wife Nadia and daughter Anna, and recently Alex, and by many other family members in Russia.

A big thank you to the staff in the St Francis Ward at Holy Family, we cannot name you all. You took wonderful care of Mom for a long time.

Funeral Service will be held Monday, February 26, 2018 at Cropo Funeral Chapel, 1442 Main Street at 10:00 a.m. with interment to follow at Brookside Cemetery.