Joyce Mildred Tracz

Born in Lacombe, Alberta to Winnifred Sheskey (nee King) and William Sheskey, Joyce was the eldest of their 14 children.

Joyce was a fantastic cook and baker, and family always gathered around on special occasions savouring whatever she was cooking or baking.

She loved her family, curling, bowling, camping, ocean cruises, vacations in Mexico, playing games, country music and the occasional rye & ginger.

Joyce spent her formative years on her grandparent’s family farm in Clive, Alberta. To get to school, she would sometimes ride a family horse. After her father realized he wasn’t taking over the family farm, he moved his young family to Edmonton in 1945, where he used his carpentry skills to support his family. William and his son Walter built the family home on 150th Street starting in 1954. Although Joyce never lived there, various members of Joyce’s family reside there to this day.

She met her future husband Orest, sometime in the early 1950s. They married in June 1954. Orest was a handsome young man enlisted in the RCAF. They soon were a young family of four, daughter Carlena born in 1955 and son Robert in 1957.

Joyce worked full-time and part-time into her 50s, helping to support her family. She operated the old-time elevator at the downtown Edmonton Woodwards department store in the early 1960s. After moving to Norman Wells, N.W.T. in 1966 she managed the liquor store for three years. Following a move to Calgary in 1969 she worked as a cashier at L-Mart and then spent close to 20 years as a cashier at the Mountview Co-op grocery store on 16th Avenue.

Joyce and Orest loved camping and with money being tight, Orest and his brother Morris built a tent trailer. That camper travelled Western Canada for summer vacations for 15-20 years. She remembers one fine day a wheel came off the camper and passed their truck as they were driving down the highway. That may have been that camper’s last vacation.

Summer vacations took the family to wonderful places such as Jasper National Park, Prince Albert Provincial Park, Wells Grey Provincial Park, Kananaskis Provincial Park, Canim Lake, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

The summer that her family moved to Norman Wells, N.W.T., Orest had applied for a job with the Ministry of Transport as a heavy equipment operator – Norman Wells Airport. This was culture shock times two. Edmonton had everything. Norman Wells had wilderness, two mountain ranges, aurora borealis, and the mighty Mackenzie River. What they didn’t have were a radio station, television stations or stores of any kind, and a lack of many grocery items. They had produce and meat flown in at hefty prices. Joyce found out from other families that consumables such as toilet paper, soap and a myriad of other stuff had to be ordered once a year and would arrive on a summer barge towed up the mighty Mackenzie. If she miscalculated on quantity she would have to bargain with neighbors. Liquor shipments would also arrive on a summer barge and Joyce would have to get a whole bunch of people to form an assembly line to get the booze from the shore to the nearby truck.

Side story – an interesting evening might be watching multiple black bears at the town dump.

Her family discovered early on that a shortwave radio was an absolute necessity. It was the only chance of finding a radio station to listen to music, probably originating from Yellowknife. That and a record player and some kind of record collection helped to keep her sane through the long cold winter. That and a sip of her favourite rye whiskey.

Norman Wells was a tight knit northern community. She knew her neighbours. Movies twice a week. Curling, skating, community hall, community events, and BUGS. Lots and lots of BUGS. Joyce found her footing and started to thrive.

Joyce embraced curling and besides weekly games, her team attended a couple of Bonspiels in Fairbanks, Alaska and Inuvik, N.W.T.

Forty below zero is another story. Darkness most days during winter and almost constant daylight in the summer gave a surreal feel to the place. Joyce remembers a breezy winter night of -40 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill of at least -60. The flip side - summer was a wilderness paradise for her free-range children, except for the BUGS.

Joyce was challenged one cold winter day when her son Robert came running home with a front tooth knocked out and gone. His pellet gun had malfunctioned. After frantic time on the phone talking to a dentist in Edmonton, they said there was nothing to be done except fly out to see a dentist come summertime.

Christmas time brought its challenges. Joyce relied on a contact she maintained with a Woodwards employee and a catalogue to get Christmas presents shipped from Edmonton. Somehow, she managed and Christmas time for her family was always special.

Joyce and her family embarked on an ambitious hike during the summer of 1970 or 1971 with the goal of climbing up one of the Franklin mountains to observe the midnight sun - a sun that never sets. Her family watched the sun never set, endured wind gusts well over 100 kms/hour and were almost blown off that mountain. Returning home after what was probably 20 hours of hiking, she and her family were VERY TIRED and slept a very long time.

Another memorable trip was hiring a Beaver or Otter float plane for a fishing trip to Trout Lake in the Franklin Mountains. Her family camped overnight and caught multiple large trout from shore, casting with a spoon. Orest loved fishing more than anything else!

The end of June 1972 her family moved to Calgary, Alberta. Orest got a transfer to work as a heavy equipment operator for the Department of Transport – Calgary Airport. Her family would spend the next 60 days at the Motel Village in NW Calgary while Joyce and Orest found a place to live. They bought a 64-foot Mobile Home and a few days before school started, the family moved into Midfield Mobile Home Park. She lived there for 48 years.

Midfield was a young family community and Joyce and her family enjoyed living there. She took up 5-pin Bowling, worked part-time and took care of her family amongst other things. She bowled in the Midfield league and became part of a senior’s women’s league for many years. Orest and she lived there together until Orest’s sudden death on May 30, 1992. Suddenly becoming widowed was a complete shock. She was very worried. However, she rose up, learned how to drive at 54 and started on the road to her new reality. Driving served her well for the next 25 years. Driving opened up Joyce’s world. She drove to Edmonton to help Carlena who was dealing with the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis. She would meet up with family to go camping, especially to Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park and Kananaskis. She would also drive to Edmonton to meet up with Orest’s family from time to time.

Joyce loved to spend time with her family. Her parents, her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, in-laws, friends and anyone else that might have been missed. When family showed up at Joyce’s door they were almost always in store for a scrumptious meal.

Sadly, the City of Calgary served an eviction notice to everyone in Midfield around 2015. The park became vacant in early 2018 and redevelopment started in 2023. The city paid a lump sum for Joyce’s home and provided another lump sum for other expenses. She was heartbroken.

Joyce’s family moved her to Willow Park on the Bow Residence in Bridgeland where she did alright for several years. After the meal program was terminated a few years back, Joyce was very isolated. She aged a lot in these final few years. She always tried to make the best of things but was clear that she felt things were so much harder after she was forced to leave her home of 48 years.

Joyce also loved to spend time with family pets: Nina the dog – Norman Wells/Calgary, Max the cat – Norman Wells/Calgary, Taffy the cat – Calgary, Buff the dog– Calgary, and Fluffy the dog – Calgary.

She was predeceased by her husband Orest; daughter Carlena; mother Winifred; father William; brothers Walter, Leslie, and Wayne; sisters Grace and Carey; granddaughter Terri; great granddaughter Mandy; and nephews Dionne and Corey. She was also predeceased by Orest’s family: mother Dorothy, father Nicholas, sister Olga, brother-in-law, Al, brother Morris, sister-in-law Edna, sister Mary, brother-in-law Clifford, as well as nephews, Ronald and Todd.

A Viewing will be held at Foster’s Garden Chapel, 3220 – 4 Street N.W., Calgary (across from Queen’s Park Cemetery) on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.

A Funeral Service will be held at Foster’s Garden Chapel, on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Queen’s Park Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to Calgary Health Foundation – Specifically to the Peter Lougheed Centre.