Eugene Sabesky

On April 21 1949, Eugene was born to Leon and Olga Sabesky in Birtle Manitoba. He was the 6th sibling born out of 7 children. He was baptized as a Ukrainian Orthodox. Growing up he always had stories about riding his bike to the pasture and milking cows before and after school. Working with horses on the farm to put the crop in and take it off. He grew up working with cows and had chickens and turkeys. He was proud that he made his first dog house when he was 5. At school he was a social butterfly and made many friends and continued to make many more throughout school and beyond. He enjoyed going to picture shows as he called them and helping neighbours. He would also go to their house often to play cards and Crokinole. He hung around friends and made many more stories.

He was a great cook, growing up Mechelle would make the cakes while Dad would tell her how much of each ingredient to put in, nothing was measured, and there never was a recipe, but they always tasted great! One time Dad and Mechelle were doing handstands in the house and while she was going against the wall, Dad didn't think that she needed to do that so he showed her how it's done. He ended up going over and hitting a chair and breaking his toe next to the big toe. The next little while he went to school and on the days he curled he would wrap it up and curl the best he could.

At Christmas time the neighbours, Harry and Les, would come over for a Christmas Dinner with the family, Dad would go over to Harry’s house and help him shave and get cleaned up before Harry came over.

Dad attended school in Foxwarren and then attended in Birtle for high school where he finished his grade 11. Instead of finishing high school he decided to move to Winnipeg for the winter as he had a job lined up with the Victoria Curling Club. Dad curled through high school and that's where love of the game started.

Dad attended and completed Ice Maker’s School in 1972 in Winnipeg, where he was able to spend a couple decades working on the curling ice. He lived in different apartments around the city. He made many more friends and obviously made a great impression as he is very well missed by the people that he met working there. Dad curled and as a spare and also part of a team.

In 1974 Dad met Mom in Winnipeg, They got married on June 30th 1979 in Winnipeg, Mom worked at a Window and Door Company and Dad continued to work at the Victoria Curling Club. Dad wasn't one who traveled, but he did go as far as Fargo around that time.

While working at the curling club in the winter he farmed with his Dad during the farming seasons. He did a lot of bulldozing and discing for many people around the miniota area as well as other areas. The farm had hired help that he worked with for many years.

On February 22, 1985 he became a father to Charlene and exactly four years later on February 22, 1989. Dad was blessed with another daughter named Sheena. Around a year later Mom and Dad made the decision to move back to foxwarren and make this our permanent home. We lived in a house trailer on his parents property that Dad bought 10 years prior and then a year later we moved into the house in Foxwarren and the trailer was sold. Dad took us fishing and we walked around town at night. He played cards, he would win and there were times we would try and cheat but he would catch us and still win. Dad built a swing set for us that his grandkids still use.

At that time Dad started on his own farming when he was 40, and had always regretted that he never started sooner. I can't forget to mention that he was one of the biggest fans of the Canadian Wheat Board. He mainly grew canola and wheat, but he also grew barley and lentils many years ago. He was also part of a group called the Banner County Marketing Club. He would drive around with his window down a lot and forget to put it up and it would rain later that day or night and his seat was wet, he would sit on a jacket and go to work. Throughout the years he ended up knowing a lot of people everywhere he went, and it didn't matter where he went he always knew someone and would always visit with them.

In the 90’s Dad got into the trucking business for a handful of years. He owned and operated under the Atomic Transportation System. Rollie and Bernie traveled all over Canada and the States. Dad got out of the business when his last truck got into an accident.

Dad Started working at the Birtle Curling Rink, when we moved back to Foxwarren, he was there for many years. He also did the curling ice for the Miniota Bonspiel in July for a couple years. He left the Birtle rink in the Mid 2000’s and decided to curl on a team for a couple of years. By then

both his girls were graduated or close to graduating high school. Dads favorite sport was curling. A couple years later he started working as well as volunteering at the Foxwarren hockey rink, and stayed until recently. Dad enjoyed working with many people there. Teaching them about the Ice. Dad was a great teacher and he had the patience.

Dad enjoyed visiting the neighbours he had around the farm. There were many more who would always stop in and have a chat with Dad too. Dad always had time. He always enjoyed going to customer appreciation suppers and crop tours.

He was very outgoing and was a hard worker and would always put us to work when we were around him. He would call and tell me to come over for a couple hours and 8-10 hours later he said we were finished for the day. His farm that he built was his happy place, it was where he was at home. It was peaceful. He would always be working on something that needed fixing, and there was always a to do list. He had an endless amount of patience. He taught us how to fix stuff, how to knit using pencils, how to cook without measuring, he would get mad if we tried, and spent endless hours helping with homework, he was always at school functions watching us. He liked eating Hot hamburgers and Chicken. Mom and Dad had a garden in Foxwarren but it eventually got moved out to the farm. One year he planted potatoes in a spot out in the field where he missed seeding.

Once in a while Dad would go fishing, he took us when we were kids and he went with the grandkids as well. A few years ago we went and he was stubborn as usual and wouldn't listen. He took a rod and ended up walking away from us to go fish on his own. He came back very quickly and didn’t have a rod in his hand. What had happened is he started to go down the bank and slipped and fell, while throwing the rod in the river. He spent the rest of the time fishing that day using a different rod trying to catch the one in the river but he never got it back.

Dad appreciated the neighbours that helped with the harvest, and the people who helped him on the farm, and the many truck loads that were hauled for him to the elevator.

His grandkids were a highlight of his life, he enjoyed many hours of babysitting, Selina liked playing board games like chess and go fish. She enjoyed baking and cooking with Grandpa. Ellis enjoyed eating Grandpa's food that he baked. Patrick misses farming with Grandpa.

His Famous words were “I'm not sleeping, I'm just resting my eyes”

He will be missed by his family and friends and everyone else whose heart was touched by him. He leaves behind his wife Evelyn, daughters Charlene (Marvin), Sheena (Grant), grandkids Patrick, Selina, Ellis. His siblings Margaret (Jack), Mechelle, Marion, Ivan (Melva), and many more family members.

Eugene’s service was held on July 5th at the Foxwarren cemetery. We would like to thank Braendle Bruce for being there for everything, and the patience they had. Pastor Joel for the lovely service and N & L for catering the lunch, and the Foxwarren Leisure Center for letting us have the lunch there. The many phone calls, the food and the cards. Thank You!