With great sadness, Nick’s daughters wish to let friends know of his passing on January 5, 2014. He led a very active and healthy life until suffering a stroke in mid-December. Dad was predeceased by our mother Joyce in 1994. He is survived by his daughters; Jennifer Mikula (Randy), Laurie Bessette (Robin), Katherine Thomas (Guy) and Sally McKay (Steve) and by his ten grandchildren.
Dad was born in Romania and immigrated to Regina at age eleven. He served in the air force from 1943-45 before embarking on his university education. He graduated from UBC with a BSc in Forest Engineering in 1949 and a Masters in Forest Management from Oregon State College in 1952. He married Mom that same year and began his life as a forester – a career that he was always passionate about. His work took us to various locations around BC and on a three year stint to Taiwan on a United Nations forestry project. He has been “living the life” in the Shuswap area since 1974. There are many things that we will remember about our Dad: his love of travel, languages, storytelling, reading and all things academic; his natural curiosity especially in the areas of world history and science; his exceptional woodworking talent that has resulted in our houses being furnished with his many handcrafted items; the energy with which he attacked any and all projects; and the log cabin he built on Little Shuswap where we spent our childhood summers. We admired the enthusiasm with which he pursued golf, skiing, bridge and a good blaze throughout his entire life.
We would like to thank the staff at Shuswap Lake General Hospital and Bastion Place for their compassionate care during this difficult time.
A celebration of life will be held at Bowers in the Mountainside Room at 1:00PM on Saturday, January 25th, 2014.
If family and friends wish to make a donation in Nick’s memory, please donate to the Shuswap Hospital Foundation at PO Box 265, Salmon Arm, BC, V1E 4N3,.
Email condolences may be sent through Nick’s obituary at www.bowersfuneralservice.com