Obituary of ANNE KARASINSKI

ANNE KARASINSKI After a brief illness, our dear Anne peacefully passed from this life to Eternity on February 8, 2013, fortified with the Last Sacraments of The Church. She was predeceased by her husband Joseph. She is survived by her daughter Angela (Jeff) and her nine grandchildren. Prayers will be on Monday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m. at Cropo Funeral Chapel, 1442 Main St. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 12 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church, 480 McKenzie St. Interment to follow in Holy Ghost Cemetery. ANNE KARASINSKI Died February 8, 2013 As I try to write these words about my mother's life, I struggle. Anyone who has lost someone dear knows how impossible it is to truly express that person's life in a few short words. Anne was born on October 8, 1937 in Garson, Manitoba to Walter and Antonina Moroz. She was baptized a Roman Catholic and remained in the Faith all her life. She had three siblings - sisters Jean and Sophie, and twin brother Joseph. Her parents and brother have since passed on. Life was tough for this family, growing up in hard times. "We were poor, but happy," were words I heard often. Indeed there were happy times - many stories. Swimming in the quarry, picking blueberries and hazelnuts in the bush, sledding down hills in cardboard boxes; having to wear her brother's boots to school, being too poor to afford new ones ("I was so embarrassed."), Sophie leaving the Easter Paska in the confessional ("The whole church smelled like garlic sausage!"), Jean going to a barn dance, my mom too young to go ("I cried and cried."). Simple times, but indeed happy ones. The family later moved to Selkirk, MB, and my mother, after some time, moved to Winnipeg. There she worked for various places (Eaton's mail order, Melrose Coffee), until she met my Father, Joseph Karasinski. They were married in 1976, and for the next 17 years they lived their lives together, having one daughter (myself). My mom worked for a short time for Home Care, and in later years she babysat children. She loved children ("They are so innocent, so happy and full of life.") After my own marriage to Jeff Pagee, and my children arrived, one by one, she took great joy in being with them. Joseph, Veronica, Ursula, Alexis, Vincent, Claudia, Mary-Jane, Marcel, and Robert were all very special to her. Grandma was always there to read a book, tell a story, share a laugh, comfort, (and can't forget feed!) her grandchildren. They loved her, and she loved them. If there is one thing that stands out for me in my memory of her life, it is her fight to keep the Faith. She was bothered by the changes in the Church in the late 1960's. She prayed and searched and questioned ... and she found the Society of St. Pius X. There she found the Mass of all time, the unchanging doctrine; the way she had been raised in all her life ("Hold on to the traditions that you've been taught.") I look back and realize I would not be where I am today without her "fight". Her sickness came quick, and before we knew it, Our Lord called her to Him. Tears fill my eyes as I think how well He saw to it that His daughter received every possible Sacrament before her death. Mass was being said for her at the very moment of her last breath. How He takes care of those who love Him! If we could but have such a peaceful, serene death as her! "For it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life." I here now would like to thank the priests of Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church, Fr. Rusak and Fr. Lillis. Thank you, thank you for being there for my mother, for the Sacraments you brought her, the Masses you said for her, and your words of comfort. May God bless you for your faithfulness to your vocation in bringing souls to Him. Thank you, also, to all those people who prayed for Anne, visited her, helped her in any and every way. "Charity covers a multitude of sins." Please pray for the repose of her soul. May she rest in peace, until we meet again.