Frances Marie Snitynsky

Grandma

Frances Marie Snitynsky (nee Woroneski) was born August 7, 1931 and passed away peacefully on April 3, 2022 at the age of 90.

Frances was born to Michael and Caroline Woroneski, the eldest of four children.  She grew up on a farm in the RM of Silver Creek.  When she was 14 the family moved to the RM of Russell to continue farming there.  She met the love of her life – Michael Snitynsky and they were married October 11, 1949.  It was then that she moved back to the RM of Silver Creek to farm alongside Grandpa.  Mike & Frances raised three children on that farm; Patricia, Theodore (Ted) and Thomas.

 In 1980 they moved off the farm and into Russell.  She started working at the Russell Personal Care Home where she was employed as a chef for 18 years.

She lost the love of her life on January 1, 2009 but was blessed with five grandchildren, six great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. 

Frances moved into the care home in Russell in the spring of 2015.  Even though she was in the care home, she was still very active and involved in her grandchildren’s and great grandchildren’s lives.   Debbie would pick her up and bring her for visits and cuddles with her great grandchildren, and she never missed an opportunity to help make perogies.  Even if the potatoes didn’t have enough onions in them.  She wasn’t afraid to tell you that too!

Frances loved to be outside in the summer.  She was always busy in her garden in town.  And if she needed more room there was always room at the farm.  There was a never-ending supply of potatoes, onions and radishes in her garden.  She also loved picking fruit.  Whether it was saskatoons, strawberries or raspberries, she would find them.  And with the ice cream pail tied around her waist with a scarf and her biggest straw hat she would set off to go picking.  She also loved tending to her flowers in town.  She always had the brightest coloured flowers on her street.

Frances was also an amazing cook.  She always made cakes and cookies of all kinds to have on hand for the grandkids or to send home to the farm for them to enjoy.  It was very rare to not find some kind of concoction to help with a sore throat or cough on her stovetop.  It never tasted good, but it always worked!  Her porridge was always the best and of course you needed to top it off with a good heaping of brown sugar!  She never measured anything in regards to baking or cooking.  I remember going over one evening before she moved into the care home to learn how to make pumpkin pie.  I had such a hard time writing down the recipe as it was ‘a little bit of this, and a little bit of that’, but also ‘you need more of that…’!  She did her best guessing measurements for me that night.

Frances also loved going to Bingo.  She would get together with her friends and off they would go.  She always had so many cards.  I never knew how she managed to go through all of those cards but she never missed a number.  And I loved going with her.  I always had so much fun.  It wasn’t so much going to Bingo for me but getting to spend that time with her and seeing what kind of treats she put in her purse for me.  Her purse was always so heavy and so big, but she knew where everything was and if you needed something, she had it!

Frances was always so full of energy and had a zest for life.  You could talk to her about anything and she would always give the best advice.  She never judged, she always just listened.  She would give her ‘2 cents’ though, and it was usually always the right thing to do! 

She was a one-of-a-kind woman.   The memories of her will always make you smile, and I know that’s how she would want to be remembered.  With a smile and a chuckle.

Frances is predeceased by her parents, her brother Leonard, husband Mike, sons Theodore (Ted) and Thomas.  She will be greatly missed by her daughter Patricia, her daughter-in-law Debbie, grandchildren Tanya (Jason), Michael (Dawn), Kerri (Mark), Chadd & Dylan (Stephanie); her great grandchildren, Amber (Russell), Shaye (Brian), Ty, Halle, Nash & Corbyn; and her great great grandchildren, Lucas & Sawyer; sisters Veronica and Wanda as well as many nieces and nephews.