Obituary of HELENA DEMBINSKI

HELENA DEMBINSKI (nee BOZEDAJ) February 26th, 1916 - March 13th, 2016 Following a long and well-lived life, our beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother Helena Dembinski passed away peacefully at the age of 100 years on March 13, 2016 at Misericordia Place. Helena is predeceased by her beloved husband, Zygmunt Dembinski, parents Wladyslaw and Stanislawa Bozedaj, brother Mieczyslaw Bozedaj and brother-in law Marian Debinski. She will be sadly missed and also fondly remembered by her two sons, Kris and Tom and their wives, Eva and Iga, grandchildren Barbara (and Ben), Robert (and Kristine) and Alex, and great grandchildren, Nicholas and Zachary, Connor and Carter, and her sister-in-law Krystyna Morawska and extended families in Poland, and many friends. Helena was born February 26, 1916 in Warsaw, Poland. She fondly reminisced of those early years growing up in the midst of family in a pre-war ‘free and prosperous’ Poland. The next few years would bring much hardship and change to her life. In war-torn Warsaw on February 3, 1940 at the age of 23 she married the love of her life, Zygmunt Dembinski (spending the next 56 years together until his death, January 6, 1996). Their first son, Krzystof (Kris) was born later that year. Both their initial union and involvement in the ‘Polish Underground’ would be soon curtailed by the gestapo, resulting in Helena’s deportation to Germany to work as a house maid for a miller’s family, while Zygmunt was imprisoned in Auschwitz and later in Buchenwald concentration camps, till liberation came in 1945. Following their reuniting, Helena travelled with her husband, an officer (Sapper) with the 1st Polish Armed Division to the west, starting a new chapter of their lives in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1950. Their second son, Thomas was born in 1954. For many years Helena worked as a full-time night shift nurse on a cancer ward of a local Edinburgh hospital. Retirement for Helena and Zygmunt arrived in 1978 with a move to the quiet rural setting of Peterchurch, Herefordshire, England, to be followed in 1987 by a final move to Winnipeg. Throughout her life, Helena was a woman of great joy, inner strength, faith, love and trust in God and people. Her maiden name ‘Bozedaj’ in Polish translates to “Lord, please provide”…to which God responded generously in giving her a long, healthy and well-lived life of providing good example and serving others, for which we give great gratitude! Her believe in God’s love for herself and all mankind was of great comfort to her, especially in her later years. Helena would always prefer to focus on others rather than on herself. This was most evident in the love and generosity she always showed to her family and friends. She loved all those social and spiritual interactions, and in earlier more physically capable years was always the most generous of hosts. As those who knew Helena in Winnipeg over the last 32 years would know she always had a good and encouraging word for everyone, a smile, a hug and usually at least a chocolate to give you! The family wishes to express their deepest gratitude to the dedicated staff of Misericordia Place Personal Nursing Home for their wonderful care and compassion. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10am on Monday March 21, 2016 at Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church, 341 Selkirk Ave with an Oblate Father officiating. Interment will follow at Holy Ghost Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Alex Marzec, Tom Marzec, Roman Marzec, Wes Kitschke, Alex Dembinski and Tom Dembinski. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Helena’s memory to the Misericordia Health Centre Foundation Inc. (https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/misericordia-health-centre-foundation-inc/) “Wieczny Odpoczynek Racz Jej Dac Panie”