Mike and Stella Sowa

    Mike Sowa was born October 15, 1920 in the province of Volin , Ukraine . He has four brothers (two living) and two sisters. His parents George Sowa and Yohanna Waytiuk were farmers and were born in the Ukraine . Mike remembers when they came to Canada in 1927 on the Ship Regina, how there were many children immigrating with their parents, and how the parents got sea sick while the children ran around and played. The Sowa family first came to Kuroki to farm when Mike was six years old. Mike helped his father on the farm, worked in an airplane factory in Fort William , and also joined the army in June of 1942. He was shipped over to England and joined the Lord Strathcona Horse Regimen. He went to Italy where he was wounded twice and spent lots of time in the hospital. He also aided in the liberation of Holland . He married Stella Woloshyn on October 16, 1948 “when she came of age”.

            Stella was born March 3, 1929 on the farm in Kuroki. She grew up with her two brothers and parents. Her father John Woloshyn and mother Mary Tataryn were also from the Ukraine . They came to Canada in August, 1928 and settled in Kuroki to farm. Stella helped around the house and later cared for her bedridden grandmother.

            When they married Mike bought some land (some was from his father) and he farmed west of Kuroki while Stella cared for the house and children. They have three sons and two daughters, and they have 8 grandchildren. They retired to Wadena eleven years ago, while two of their sons took over the farm.

            Mike enjoys chopping wood, cutting grass at the church, and reading the newspaper, and Mike and Stella like to garden together. What Mike remembers about the farm was the irony of how the price of the crop would be high when his crops failed, and low when they succeeded and we hope that your years of happiness together have never failed or dropped in value.