Stephanie Wolski

She was born in Verbka, Poland, part of a region that was absorbed into Ukraine after a forced mass deportation of ethnic Poles. She was thirteen years old when she accompanied her mother and three siblings between two and eight years old in cattle trains to a labour camp near Syktyvkar in northern Russia at the onset of WW II.

After a couple of years they became displaced people travelling through refugee camps in Kazakhstan, Persia (Iran), India, and Uganda. She left her family in Uganda to work in Nairobi, Kenya with the British RAF for several years and immigrated to Brandon, Manitoba after the war.

She married Matthew Wolski in 1951 and lived in Sudbury for most of her life. It was difficult for her to recover from the trauma of war, but there were many times of grace and happiness. She was always protected and supported as a widow by her three children, Edward, Genevieve, and Henry, and her beloved grandchildren, Patrick, Alex, Grace, Andrew, Emma, Emily, Ian, and Matthew.

Many thanks to the caregivers and staff at The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre, The Ottawa Hospital, and the Canadian Red Cross Home Care Services in Sudbury.