April 5, 1928 – April 20, 2019
Fred passed away on Saturday, April 20th, 2019, at the age of 91 years, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was born in Ukraine, village of Shatki, on April 5th, 1928, during an era that promised great challenges. His parents were Emil and Emma Neske. In 1937, the Communists banished his father to prison, and the family, never able to meet with him again, later learned he had not survived. Being the only son of six children, the absence of Fred’s father brought immense responsibility prematurely upon him – a child of nine years one day in Ukraine, a man the next in Soviet Russia. His mother educated him and his five sisters, and at the time of his father’s early death, the children’s ages ranged from eight months to 16 years. Food scarcity and starvation were not only fears, but very real foes. To support the family, Fred’s two eldest sisters sacrificed their formal education for employment within the Soviet Kolkhoz - government owned farming collectives. Dark times were not yet over, as the Second World War brought terror and suffering in 1941. As the Red Army advanced in 1943, Fred, his sisters and mother fled to the West and arrived in Poland, city of Babenwald, in March of 1944. This first attempt at freedom was ill-fated, so the family then raced for the borders of Berlin. While on the River Oder, the family’s unarmed wagon and horse were no match for the Russian Army – their second escape effort also fell short. At the pleas of his sisters, the Russians spared Fred’s life, and all were loaded onto cattle cars and transported to Siberia, village of Akuticha, in the frigid month of October. There, Fred worked in a glass factory, as well as in the unhospitable forests of this new land. It was here, in a place of exile, that God blessed Fred with marriage to the love of his life, Adolina Bartel. They were married in early April of 1951 and welcomed two children, Natascha and Walter, shortly thereafter. Wanting a better future for his children meant once again searching for a new homeland; In 1968, Fred moved his young family to Estonia. In 1970 in Estonia, Fred found faith in God. This faith helped him rebuild his life with Adolina in Canada in 1974. Natascha and Walter later joined them in Canada – a country as vast as the one they left behind, yet with the assurances of freedom and safety. He enjoyed planting ample amounts of potatoes and dill in his garden, to which he would share with all of those around. Fred was a devoted member of Temple Baptist Church in Calgary, making many friends in the Christian community. The struggles of his early life did not harden him, instead, he served his God for the remainder of his life in all that he did with patience, kindness and generosity.
A Funeral Service will be held at Foster’s Garden Chapel, 3220 – 4 Street N.W., Calgary, Alberta (across from Queen’s Park Cemetery), on Friday April 26, 2019 at 2:00 P.M.
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