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Kim Sawchuk (Goddaughter) posted a condolence
Monday, February 12, 2018
There is a song in our hearts today that we share, and this one is for Rita.
Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Sister-in Law, Auntie – Friend.
Born on Jan. 1, 1939 to Bill and Pauline Sawchuk, Rita lived her childhood in the flat splendour of the Riding Mountains, on a farm perched on the precipice of the Manitoba escarpment over-looking the wide checkered expanse of the prairies. Wow. What memories on that farm.
After high school in Neepawa, Rita found employment in Saskatoon and then in Winnipeg, the city she called home.
We live in a world where a lot of people make noise and are known for the flashy showy things they say and do. Our crazy world of social media encourages this behavior.
With Rita, it is the quiet subtleties that matter, the small details that draw attention. Her chuckle, her smile, the beauty spot on her cheek, apparently made with a pencil (or so the lore goes). It is the perfect crunch of the sugary boiled icing on those cakes that Rita made with so much love for the birthdays of her beloved children, Cheryl and Tyson. Plain old butter icing was never good enough for Rita or for you, my cousins Cheryl and Tyson.
You all have your quiet memories of Rita. Take a moment. Breathe, Remember.
Mysterious, lovely Rita.
Please do not think it trite if I say that Auntie Rita could carry off an outfit like nobody else, a trait she shared with her own Mom, Pauline, and her aunties Lina, Annie and Stella the beauties of Big Valley.
Born a Sawchuk, married a Buors, Rita was part of a long line of strong Boyko-Baraniuk-Sokolik-Sawchuk women who were known for their looks and their ways in the kitchen. To this day Auntie Rita’s cooking and her perogie prowess are a source of both admiration and slight tension in the family. Tressa, Derek, do you salivate just thinking about an invitation to a meal at Auntie Rita’s? I do. Sorry Mom. Sorry Auntie Brenda.
Rita had the ability to carry clothes as well as a tune. For Rita, superb musician and homemaker, this pride in appearances was not about vanity.
Auntie Rita had this inherent inner dignity which she carried like a queen.
This regal presence bespeaks Rita-values and her lessons for us: the many ways that we communicate to each other, not only in words, but in our everyday actions and our everyday deeds.
Auntie Rita understood that how you present yourself to others says something to the world.
As I child, I was intrigued by my Auntie with her dark eyes, her coiffed hair, her perfectly manicured fingers and toes and her wicked sense of dress. How did she make everything match? Why did it always look so perfect? Why did she never have a spot or a grease stain on a sleeve or her front? Why was her kitchen so clean?
That was Rita-magic: an elegance, grace and coordination that so many of us (with spots on our shirts or chins or floors) can never hope to achieve and she made look so easy. This disguised the work and the care she took in living her chosen life as a homemaker, although she did work many jobs outside of the home.
These qualities did not mean that Rita was unapproachable. Never. Auntie Rita was cool, but she was not cold. Auntie Rita was warm, and Auntie Rita was always welcoming.
She knew how to have fun. She was fun.
Who else would buy a powder blue Volkswagon? How cool was that? Classic.
You knew that life was good if you were ever so lucky to be find yourself in that car. If you got to drive about town with Rita, especially in the front seat, you had made it.
When Tyson and Cheryl came along (and took my seat) we, the Winnipeg cousins on the other end of town, were ever so envious to see this incredible happy, tight-knit family squished into this tiny car often eating their ice cream cones, which we imagined never dripped on those vinyl Volkswagon seats.
What a kooky loving troop of happy Charleswood campers.
So, not only was Rita obviously smart, musically talented, and not only did she have impeccable taste in clothes and in cars, but of course Rita had taste in men. Or man. Uncle George.
I learned from Tyson that his Dad and his Mom actually met in the sixties, through a cousin, but started their blessed union and life together in the seventies, a decade of crocheted ponchos and bell bottoms and side burns, which only Rita and George could carry off.
What a magical moment when Rita met George, her soul mate.
Uncle George. It will be hard. The void is deep, as deep as that valley as and as wide as that escarpment. But know this.
Your care for Rita throughout her life, and in these past years, has not passed unnoticed amongst your family and your friends. In all of the hardship, the joy, the labours day in and day out, we have witnessed and understood love. In the reciprocity, the give and the take, the take and the give, and the give, and give and give and give that gives more. You gave.
Uncle George, unprompted you would shrug your shoulders and say to anyone who visited these past years “she never complains” in wonderment and awe of Rita’s courage and her strength as she tried to move, communicate.
Uncle George, I say this to you: you never complained. You, and she, taught us to listen carefully and to know that even when someone can’t speak like they used to speak, or play the violin like they used to play, that they are this person, that they are the person in all of their pride, their dignity, and their beauty who in every small gesture and every detail continues to give to others in so many ways, if we sit, and we take the time and we focus. Oscar, who Rita loved, understood. With Rita, in these final years, we learn something the world needs more of. Don’t be distracted. Take your time. Be patient. Focus.
We are blessed to have been in your wise presence Rita. In your Rita-ness.
Auntie Rita, you are a woman of many (quiet) talents and today we loudly honour you and we carry a song in our hearts for all that you gave, all that you have given and will give because you live in all of us.
Maybe it’s in a fiddle tune, even though quite often we had to beg you to play for us. You would object: “I haven’t practiced.” But then you would put bow to string and somehow the fingers would remember.
In my head, I hear the voice of Don, saying “Rita play Maple Sugar” and I hear you laugh and answer back cheekily, “Get lost Don” while Todd would surreptitiously tinker on the accordion in the background (and pretend not to hear) while the rest of us, the musically untalented Sawchuks, would wait for you to do your musical magic.
Okay, so maybe it is not Maple Sugar that you will play. Let me shift musical registers.
Maybe, instead, its Auntie Rita fiddle on hip, Melody Makers behind her, the rest of us dancing while she’s belting out “Its all Right Mama”.
Oh yeah. You rock, Aunt Rita.
We are here today, but it is only to say good bye to Rita’s earthly body, not her soul and her heavenly spirit, which lives forever in all of our hearts and in the memories that we share of this wonderous woman, maybe playing her fiddle for God, maybe doing the dishes with Auntie Brenda and Auntie Shirley in Grandma’s kitchen on the farm, really an excuse to gossip without the men, maybe having a dance with Tyson and if she was lucky with Uncle George, shopping with Cheryl and always outshining Elvis (the King) with her queenly ways.
Right now it doesn’t feel quite “all right” because the pain of loss is too raw. And we are sad. But happy sad. Cause it’s alright, Mama, or so the song goes.
We love you Rita Buors. And we thank you for sharing your songs, your style, your humour, your cooking, your dignity, your kindness, your life with us.
Never stop kissing her, she is such a beautiful soul.
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Darrin Novakoski and Liza Delbaere posted a condolence
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Our deepest condolences We are very saddened to hear of your loss.
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Gisele Mospanchuk posted a condolence
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
My condolences to you and your family Tyson
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Robert & Marie Mile posted a condolence
Monday, January 29, 2018
We wanted to share our condolences with Rita’s family. It is never easy to have to say goodbye to a loved one. The pain of loss can be unbearable. Our Creator promises us that one day this pain will be just a memory. That beautiful promise can be found at Revelation 21:3,4. Our pain and suffering will be a thing of the past, and we can cry tears of joy as we welcome back the ones that we love so much. We hope you find comfort in those promises.
C
Carol Hiebert posted a condolence
Monday, January 29, 2018
Dear Tyson,
So sorry to hear of you Mom’s passing.
She sounds like a lovely lady. I only know her from a few Christmas parties.
She raised a good son , may you find comfort in loving memories.
Sincerely
Carol Hiebert
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Susan churko posted a condolence
Sunday, January 28, 2018
My heartfelt condolences to you and your family Cheryl . May your beautiful Mom rest in peace .
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Lisa Bruce posted a condolence
Saturday, January 27, 2018
I am very sorry for your loss. I am happy I got to see Rita at the Bruce family reunion last summer. I will always remember the wonderful dinners your mom prepared for us around the holidays when we 1st moved to Manitoba. She always made your home in Charleswood so welcoming. You are all in my thoughts. xoxo Lisa
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Shirley McConnell posted a condolence
Saturday, January 27, 2018
To George and family:
My sister, Marg Wyborn informed me of Rita's passing. I have many fond memories of The Sawchuk Family Orchestra. They played at my late husband, Bev and our wedding dance in 1956. Sincere Sympathy in your loss.
Shirley McConnell, Neepawa, MB
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Patrick & Jeanne Gursky posted a condolence
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Our condolences to all the family. Rita was a wonderful lady and she will be missed by all those who knew her. Our prayers and thoughts are with you all at this sad time.
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Andrea DeRuddere lit a candle
Friday, January 26, 2018
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With our sincerest and deepest sympathies on the loss of your dearest Wife, Mother, Auntie who always had a smile. A twinkle in her eye and a foot that always tapped to the music of life. Unwavering with it's up's and down's to remain a beautiful, positive and caring person through it all. She will me missed.
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The family of RITA BUORS uploaded a photo
Friday, January 26, 2018
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