JEAN DUDAR

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JEAN (GENIA) DUDAR It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, grandmother, sister and aunt, Jean (Genia) Dudar. Jean left this world in the early morning of July 8, 2015, at Holy Family Home, where she has been living since February of 2015. Left to mourn are her son Michael and his wife Joanne Peters; her daughter Janice Koverzin, and her beloved grandchildren Kim and Mark. Jean will also be remembered with love by her sister Alice Wichart, many nieces and nephews, their spouses and their children. Jean was born on September 1, 1925 to homesteading Ukrainian pioneers, Anna and Michael Szczepanik, who lived and farmed on a section of swampy, stony land in Broad Valley, in Manitoba's Interlake region. The eighth in a family of 13 surviving children, Jean helped to raise her younger siblings, before leaving Broad Valley at the age of seventeen, to work in Winnipeg. She started work, first as a "housemother" for student residents of Rupert's Land College (now Balmoral Hall School), and later, as a seamstress. In 1950, she met Walter Dudar at a dance in Winnipeg's North End - it was love at first sight and they married on June 2, 1951. Jean and Wally celebrated 55 years of marriage, before his death in 2006, and during Wally's retirement years, they enjoyed summers at their Jessica Lake cottage and travels throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as cruises in the Caribbean with the family. Family was always foremost in Jean's life: she was a loving and caring mom and grandma, and a stalwart support to so many of her family, especially when times were difficult for them. Jean had a true gift for touching the hearts of everyone she met, and anyone who has known her will feel the loss of her warmth, kindness, optimism, and generosity of spirit. After Wally's death, Jean continued to live independently at their home on College Avenue, tending her flowers and vegetable garden, sewing, knitting, and crocheting, and enjoying visits from family and friends. But, in 2011, she decided that she was tired of living by herself and became one of the first residents in the Fred Douglas Courts. She enjoyed life there, until suffering a serious accident in November 2014, after which she was hospitalized for a time. However, she worked hard at rehabilitating herself sufficiently to move to Holy Family Home, earlier this year. The family is especially grateful to the staff of Holy Family Home for their dedicated, professional and compassionate care. Through their work, they truly live Holy Family Home's mission: "to serve is to love." Funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, 2015, at Glen Eden Memorial Gardens, 4477 Main Street. A reception will follow her interment. Flowers are gratefully declined, instead, donations may be made in Jean's memory to the Lubov SSMI Foundation c/o Holy Family Home, 1085 Main Street, Winnipeg, R2W 3S1. Glen Eden Funeral Home & Cemetery 204-338-7111

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 11, 2015