Introduction
Introduction
This document is an autobiography written by my grandfather (“Gido”) I believe sometimes in the 1980s, after the death of my grandmother (“Baba”). My mother typed this out for him and I have a copy that was quickly fading and in danger of being lost. I've tried to be true to the original document in all respects, except for the odd place where I fixed a typo in the original. Hopefully, this one doesn't contain any and I've managed to get the names down correctly.
It covers his life and experiences from 1896 to 1945, so obviously misses that part of his life that I was familiar with. It is a very interesting read to see the kind of hardships and challenges the early Ukrainian settlers went through. My Gido was not an author, but I'm so thankful that this autobiography had been created. Future generations will appreciate how life was for these people that tried so hard to become good citizens of Canada and recognized as such while at the same time working to preserve their ethnic identity.
My Gido was a businessman through and through and this is reflected in his ability to remember the costs of everything. Maybe when one starts with so little, the value of things takes on a more significant meaning? It is unbelievable to even comprehend the work he did to earn $5.00 in a month, or the work he did, with one arm, setting up farm machinery.
He truly loved my Baba and tells us how he “fell in love at first sight” in the section titled “My Present”, but as the reader will see, he wasn't much of a romantic writer and in that short section immediately gets into the money she earned. We don't learn much about his wedding, but do learn what it cost for the orchestra. There is little doubt however that he really valued her and was proud and grateful of her contributions to the family and community. As they say, “behind every great man is an even greater woman” and indeed, she was.
His recounting of the story of his first car is hilarious and nowhere do we get a glint of any frustration with it, although it would surely bring about road rage in today's drivers. His story is full of experiences which we'd find intolerable, but he appeared to just take them in stride. He was a very courageous and determined man and as we see in the little that he opens up in regards to his political outlook, he believed in fair play, justice and community. He was a leader in that community of settlers.
The original document contained no photos. I don't have photos from the very earliest times, but have included some from a little later period showing the children and couple and some more general images to give one a sense of the area discussed. I've also added an Addendum, to give further reference to the area.
I hope that readers will appreciate this autobiography and pass it down to future generations of the family, so they can better understand their roots.