Obituary of OLGA (OLLIE) MARGARET ELAINE KANCERUK

Olga (Ollie) Margaret Elaine Kanceruk passed away at the Grace hospital in the early morning hours of Friday, November 15, 2024. She was predeceased by her mother Mary Michalelenko and husband John. She is survived by her sons Terry (Wendy), Wayne (Kim, Darcy), David (Lucia), and grandchildren Steven, James, Jonathan “Jon” (Tiffany), Kristina (Nolan), Nathan (Chantal) and great grandchildren Dominik and Blake.

John and Ollie were married on Oct. 17, 1948 and remained such for 74 years. They started to raise a family in the 1950’s. Near the end of the decade she designed her dream home and had it custom-built in Transcona at the corner of Winona and McMeans. This is where she lived for over 64 years until her death.

She enjoyed gardening and planting flowers in her yard. She was considered to be a good driver and practised defensive driving. She taught her sons to drive and even taught some of their friends to drive. Some of her “students” passed their driver’s test on their first attempt.

She was also known to be frugal and quite persuasive. Evidence of this was when she got her oldest son into the Computer Analyst course at Red River College Polytech (formerly RRCC) without having to take the mandatory aptitude test required at the time. Her motto was “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. 

She was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1970 and looked forward to the resurrection mentioned at John 5: 28, 29.

She will be cremated and her ashes will be buried privately by the family. A memorial service is pending.

The family would like to thank Doctor Wheeler and the other staff members at the Grace hospital for the care and comfort they provided for Ollie during her final days. We would also like to thank the home care workers that cared for her while she lived her dream of staying in her house as long as she was alive.