OBITUARIES (01/21/96)

OBITUARIES

Catholic Bishop Myron Daciuk of Edmonton

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Edmonton Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Myron Daciuk died in an Edmonton hospital on January 14 - four days before he was scheduled to be a consecrator at the episcopal ordination of Saskatoon Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Cornelius Pasichny in Winnipeg.

Bishop Daciuk had recently suffered from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital the weekend he died.

Born November 16, 1919, in Mundare, Alberta, Bishop Daciuk joined the Ukrainian-rite Basilian Fathers when he was 16. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1945, and handled pastoral and teaching duties in Mundare and Grimsby, Ontario, prior to becoming pastor of Montreal's St. Michael's Church in 1950.

In 1953, he was appointed master of novices for the Basilian order and returned to Mundare, where he served as superior of the monastery from 1959 to 1964. Bishop Daciuk was named provincial superior for the Basilians' Canadian province in 1964.

From 1970 to 1982, he held pastoral appointments at Winnipeg's St. Nicholas Church, Edmonton's St. Basil's and Vancouver's Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1982, he was consecrated auxiliary bishop to then Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk in Winnipeg.

A decade later, Bishop Daciuk became the third eparch of Edmonton following Bishop Martin Greschuk, who died July 9, 1990, and Bishop Neil Savaryn, who died January 7, 1986.

"He was a very good friend," remembered Bishop Pasichny. "He was a very dedicated man and will be missed."

The Rev. Isidore Dziadyk, provincial superior of the Basilians in Canada, first met Bishop Daciuk in 1951, when the provincial superior entered the novitiate in Mundare. "He was a pious, religious man who loved to work with people."

A requiem divine liturgy for Bishop Daciuk was to be held January 18 at St. Josaphat's Cathedral, which was followed by a prayer service at the Basilian-run St. Basil's Church. The funeral was scheduled for the next day at St. Basil's, with Canadian Archbishop Metropolitan Michael Bzdel the principal celebrant.

Colorful Winnipeg politician Slaw Rebchuk

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - During his record 28-year tenure on Winnipeg's City Council, he became known as the "Mayor of the North End." His unique way of public speaking earned his "Rebchukisms" a place in the annals of Reader's Digest. Slaw Rebchuk was found dead in his North End Winnipeg home the morning of January 15. He was 88.

Mr. Rebchuk was the youngest of seven children born to Ukrainian immigrant parents Karol Rebczuk and Anne Romanski on February 10, 1907. He grew up in North Winnipeg and graduated from St. John's High School.

Sporting a short, cookieduster mustache and bespectacled through most of his adult life, Mr. Rebchuk entered politics in 1925, when he became active with the Young Liberal Association. His first run at local political office was in 1938, under the North Winnipeg Tax Payers Association banner. The gravelly voiced Mr. Rebchuk lost to a Communist school trustee, Andrew Biletski.

In 1949, he tried again as a Liberal and was elected alderman to the Winnipeg City Council. Despite changing political stripes, and running unsuccessfully for the Manitoba legislature in 1969, he held office until 1977. During five of his 28 years on the council, he served as deputy mayor of Winnipeg; he held positions on 68 civic committees.

Former Winnipeg Deputy Mayor Bernie Wolfe once described Mr. Rebchuk as "a diamond in the rough." He noted, "he has a heart like a hotel and is generous to a fault."

While he served as deputy mayor to former Winnipeg Mayor Steve Juba, who died in 1993, Mr. Rebchuk often played the foil. He opted for his own brand of rhetoric, cajoling fellow council members to give him "the headlights" instead of the headlines on an issue and chastising them with such memorable lines as, "A verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on."

Reader's Digest had a field day, and Mr. Rebchuk became a modern-day legend in Manitoba's capital city.

Historian Dr. Stella Hryniuk said both Mr. Rebchuk and Mr. Juba became heroes. "They gave some reason for Ukrainians to believe they had some power. Both gave a sense of legitimacy to all spheres of life," she explained.

Mr. Rebchuk retired from politics in 1977, after he was defeated in his last civic election. An active member of St. Nicholas Church until his death, Mr. Rebchuk was honored by the Vatican when he was made a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1982. Two years later, the city of Winnipeg renamed the historic Salter Street Bridge in tribute to him and his legacy.

Mr. Rebchuk was predeceased by his wife, Olga, in 1982 and his son, Brian, in 1964. He leaves behind two children, Noella and Christopher.

Following a funeral mass at St. Nicholas Church, Mr. Rebchuk's remains were interred at Holy Family Cemetery, north of the city.

Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote, "Every moment dies a man. Every moment one is born." But few quite as memorable as Slaw Rebchuk.

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