Nancy Tulick grew up in a two-room farmhouse with no electricity or running water. She was the middle child of 11 children and her family lived in a farm community started during the first wave of Ukrainian immigration to Western Canada. It was a truly humble background that didn’t always sit well with her. Nancy was taken out of high school to care for her younger siblings during her mother’s extended illness.
Nancy met Nick Hawrelak at a country dance in 1948. Nick was playing in the band and as soon as he spotted Nancy, he asked his bandmates to cover him for one song – he was going to “take his future wife to dance.” They married in 1949, and in a few years were able to take over Nick’s family farm. With their three children, Brian, Jacalyn and Sharon, the family settled into farm life. They raised livestock and tended a large prize-winning vegetable garden.
Nancy and Nick volunteered tirelessly in their community, including work with the Agricultural Society and 4-H clubs for the kids. Nancy sat on historical and cultural boards and she managed the Ukrainian historical village at Shandro. Nancy was also an eager political volunteer, becoming a member of Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski’s riding executive, through which she met Prime Ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. At home, she prominently displayed photos of herself with dignitaries.
Nancy discovered a talent for writing in her late 40s and she began reporting and writing columns for local papers in St. Paul, Two Hills and Vegreville. At 70, she wrote in 1998, historical fiction about a family of Ukrainian pioneers. It was one of her proudest achievements. She loved a good party, to dance, to play cards and she loved her family, especially her grandchildren. She always made perogies for them and held paska and bird-bun making sessions until she was 89. Nancy never considered herself to be old until her 90th birthday party last year. Then she said, “I’m old,” like it just dawned on her.
A lovely, very touching, article. It’s heartening think that there are billions of women, world wide, who, on a daily basis, do amazing things that may often go unnoticed (in the broader scheme of things) but have a powerful impact on the lives of those around them.
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