Elaine Onufreiciuc

Elaine Onufreiciuc was born on July 9th, 1936, in the RM of Boulton. She passed away at the age of 84 on July 4th, 2021, at the Fairview Personal Care Home in Brandon, MB.

Elaine was the seventh of ten children born to Nistor and Paulina Onufreiciuc. She attended Shell Bank School in Lennard until the eighth grade. The Onufreiciuc family were active members of the St. Elijah Romanian Orthodox Church, and Elaine would carry on this tradition. She attended church regularly and was active in the Romanian Orthodox Women’s group preparing meals for church dinners.

She worked hard on her family farm - gardening, preserving, milking cows, and all the farm chores - but most enjoyed crafting. She loved spending time quilting with her mother Paulina, embroidering pillow cases, and watching their favourite soap opera with their cups of tea. After her mother passed, Elaine moved from the farm to Inglis in 1996. Her love of crafting continued into adulthood and after taking a ceramics class, she made tons of ceramic figurines and plates and proudly displayed them on her shelves and out of reach of her many nieces and nephews. 

Elaine was known as “auntie” to many. Her nieces and nephews recall Auntie ‘meow’-ing like a cat to entertain them, and great nieces and nephews could always count on a loonie and a candy from Auntie Elaine’s purse on Christmas Eve. Elaine’s love of children is evident from her willed wish for donations to the Children’s Hospital.

Anyone who spent time with Elaine knew that politics was her passion. She was a stalwart Conservative and politicians at every level were her celebrities. She enthusiastically worked the polls for federal elections and proudly told stories of meeting important political figures. In fact, the one positive of dementia taking her short-term memory was that in her later years, she excitedly recalled the ‘recent’ political events she’d attended (which of course were really decades passed). When her niece complimented her blue scarf and new boots, Elaine proudly announced she’d just bought them to wear on her trip to Dauphin to see ‘current’ Prime Minister John Deifenbaker. She also chalked up the lack of Bingo at her nursing home to a Liberal government scheme.

Though dementia took her memory over the last decade, it did not take her joy. Elaine loved Fairview and considered it her home, happy to share the space with other residents who she thought were her houseguests. She maintained a positive outlook and was always happy to have visitors. The care home staff returned her love and affectionately called her “Auntie.”

Elaine is survived by three siblings - Vicki, Peter, and David - as well as many nieces, nephews, and dear friends. She was predeceased by her parents Nistor and Paulina (Paulencu) and siblings Violet, Martha, Jim, Alice, Martin, Marion, and many siblings-in-law.

Memory Eternal.