Helen was born in Lamont Alberta to Mary (nee Urchyshyn) and Zofirko (Albert) Rakowski on May 28, 1933. Her father ran a small shop in Star, Alberta until his untimely death at the young age of 27, leaving Mary with three small girls to raise. (Her sisters, Louise and Olga predeceased her).This was a challenging time, but she did remarry and eventually settle in Calgary, Alberta. At that time her youngest sister, Kathy was born. Helen had to leave school after grade 9 and worked as a maid and in a knitting factory before meeting a 27 year old Maciez (Matthew) Kaliciak and wedding September 28, 1952 at the age of 19. They both worked hard to own their first home, with Helen working at the Post Office and Mike working up to three jobs to build a secure home for their two boys. Mark Albert Kaliciak was born June 26, 1953 followed by Henry Alan Kaliciak July 14, 1955.
They continued to work hard and bought their dream farm in Langley in 1972. Helen enjoyed her chickens and sold eggs as well as cattle. She had a large garden with fruit trees, berries and vegetables which she loved. This was a happy time on the farm and in 1989, Mark gave them their first grand daughter, Susan and quickly after, Henry, their first grandson, Jared. Months later the pleasant life on the farm was challenged when Mike developed liver cancer and passed away in October of that year.
This might have caused many to sell the farm and move somewhere more manageable. Those who knew her would not be surprised that she learned to drive and continued to manage the farm on her own. She continued to enjoy the solitary life dividing herself between her farm, her children and her church. In 1991, another grandson, Braeden was born followed by a granddaughter Jillian in 1996.
She continued to prefer life on her own with family and friends helping out when needed. At one point it became clear that her dream could not continue. She was a strong woman and her daily chores included sorting hay from the loft in the barn. While transporting hay from one side to the other she slipped and fell to the cement floor where she lay alone 100's of feet from the home. Her hip and leg were shattered and she lay unable to walk. To her there was only one solution and over the next few hours she managed to drag her body back to her home. She was fortunate that a neighbour's dog who knew her continued to bark until neighbour's followed and found her. Still, her move did not follow quickly as she recovered and did not finally agree to move until 2009.
After moving she divided her time between church and family until she began to experience challenges to her independent lifestyle. As time moved forward, Braeden married Lauren West and Jared married Jennie Henshaw. Lastly, Jillian married Christopher Carter. It was apparent in about 2019 that her memory was beginning to fail and she had to be moved to independent living, then to full time care as her vascular dementia slowly robbed her of her precious memories. We were fortunate that Jared and Jennie were able to introduce her to her great grandson, Grayson before her condition worsened. At the time of her passing it was time for the Lord to take her home. The last month she had no memories and was sleeping most of the time. On February 3, 2023 she drifted away and slept peacefully with the Lord.
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