Annie left this world peacefully in the dawn breaking hours of July 7, 2010 at the Davidson Health Centre where she had resided for a brief two and one-half months.
Annie was born on January 5, 1920 to Mary (nee Pillipow) and Fred Byke in the rural area called Horseshoe Lake east of Kenaston. She attended Horseshoe Lake School completing her Grade Eight. Life was hard and Annie learned her hard work ethics at a very early age. She worked as a housekeeper and farm labourer for several families in the community until she met and married Michael Florian Nizinkevich on July 4, 1943. They moved to the farm and began raising their family and building their life together.
Wayne Michael was born on Oct. 29, 1944, Frank Robert was born on Oct. 28, 1945 and Diane Louise was born on Nov. 16, 1950. Annie had a love for the land like no one I’ve ever known. Her greatest joy was toiling in her garden and making things grow. She had the greenest thumb. She could make anything grow and just had a sixth sense on how much to water or what that plant needed. She would save egg shells and coffee grounds and who knows what else to put on her garden to rejuvenate the soil. She was “green” long before anyone else was. Her gardens on the farm seemed to be everywhere. Friends and neighbours never left our yard without some of her bountiful garden, either a bag full or a trunk full. Kids usually got a handful of sweet peas or a bouquet of glads. Many a bouquet of flowers were gathered from her garden for the altar at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Kenaston. She had her own little welcome wagon when someone new would move to town. She would deliver a bag of fresh produce to the new folks as her way of saying welcome.
Annie had so many talents. Sewing had to be her favourite. She sewed all her daughters clothes until she left home. She would sew Barbie clothes for her daughter’s friends for their birthdays. In her later years she became a “master patcher”. She could put a blue jean zipper in almost in her sleep.
People would hang grocery bags on her door knob with instructions on how to fix it and she would quickly repair it and anxiously await their return. It became a social thing for Annie. Crocheting and quilting were other passions of Annie’s. She has crocheted hundreds of doilies and tablecloths and many, many afghans. She always had a project on the go. You rarely, if ever, found her sitting idle watching TV without her crochet hook moving in her hand.
I tried to think of one word to describe my mother and “spunky” came to mind. She had a sharp tongue if you crossed her and she would not hesitate to let you know what she thought. But on the other side she would do anything for you if you asked.
Annie’s greatest joy were her grandchildren and especially her great-grandchildren. Her brightest days were when her grandchildren stopped in for a visit. She would love to have her great-grandchildren rush into her arms with a bear hug for “GG”.
Annie is survived by her loving family: children, Frank (Barbara) Nizinkevich, Kenaston, Diane (Bill) Wall of Fillmore, and daughter-in-law Linda Nizinkevich, Kenaston; grandchildren, Michelle (Aaron) Ringdal, Joanne (Ken Premech), Susan (Shane) Mamer, Robert Nizinkevich (MacKenzie Kadlec), Angie (Dan) Courtney, Ryan (Shelley) Nizinkevich, Sherry and Melissa Nizinkevich, Greg (Jodie) Wall, David Wall and Dana (Jason) Wall-Smith; and great-grandchildren, Brodie, Sierra and Kash Ringdal, Christopher Premech, Adyson and Ayden Mamer, Hailey Courtney, Brandon and Shawn Nizinkevich, and Ethan, Kiera and Ryker Wall.
Annie was predeceased by her mother and father, Fred and Mary Byke; husband Michael in 1983; son Wayne (Feb. 23, 2010), brothers, Bill (1994), Andrew (1977), Pete (1957), Mike (1980) and John (2006); and sisters, Mary (1995) and Olga (1983).