Obituary for Stella Rose Swiddle (Piaskoski)
SWIDDLE, Stella Rose (nee Piaskoski)
With deep sadness we announce the sudden passing of Rose, on Saturday 27 June, 2020. She was 98 years old.
Rose’s parents, Karol and Mary Piaskoski, were Polish immigrants. Rose was born in Sudbury in 1922, and raised in Worthington, until the mine collapsed, when the family moved to Levack and began the Levack Dairy. For over 40 years, until 1975, Rose worked full-time in all roles of the Dairy. She was book-keeper and office manager, bottled milk and delivered it, even to the miners’ bunkhouses. At one of these she met Frank Swiddle. They married in 1940, starting over 74 loving years together, until his death in 2015.
Rose was predeceased by her Piaskoski brothers, Eddie (spouse, Nora Camron, predeceased), Joseph (spouse, Elsie Kernicky, predeceased), John, Frank, Albert, and Stanley “Champ” (spouse, Yvette Chevrier).
Rose’s surviving sisters-in-law are: Nellie Srutwa Petryshen (spouse, Charles) and Minnie Srutwa Carver (spouse, Arthur predeceased), and brother-in-law Arthur McLellan (spouse, Catherine “Katie” Srutwa, predeceased). Rose was predeceased by sister-in-law Annie Srutwa Lazarenko (spouse Sameon Lazarenko, predeceased), and brothers-in-law Mike Swiddle, Carl Swiddle (spouse Dorothy Baker, predeceased), and Jack Swiddle (spouse Audrey Doyniuk, predeceased).
Rose’s three children are: Merry Tunney (widow of Edward Tunney, d. 1995), Frances, and Ronald (spouse, Elizabeth Kari). Rose was a loving Baba and adored by all her grandchildren and step-grandchildren: Glen Tunney (spouse, Leah Sta. Ana), Catherine Tunney Braeken (spouse, Richard Braeken), Gregory Tunney (spouse, Vanessa Lobo), Shannon Kari, and Siobhan Kari (spouse, Mark Manzer), and by her great-grandchildren and step-great grandchild, Matthew, Rebecca, Mariska, Kaylee, Jenson, Ainsley, Carys, and Thomas. She is sadly missed by many nieces and nephews, and a great many other relatives and friends.
As a younger woman, Rose played baseball, tennis, curling, and bowling. She followed her interest in sports and her favourite teams all her life. She especially enjoyed summers spent at the family camp on Windy Lake, where many happy times were had. As an outdoors woman, she never stopped walking and gardening.
Rose had a special ability to balance and enrich the many aspects of her life, inside and outside the home. She cared in her home for her parents until their deaths. She was a full-time worker and full-time mother, devoted to her husband and dedicated to her children, and then to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a skilled homemaker with an artistic flair for colour and design that she expressed through sewing, embroidery, hand and machine knitting, and décor. She taught traditional crafts to her family, from painting Easter eggs to making pierogies, often to much laughter around the table. She understood machinery and tools, from dairy and canning machines to computers. She could twist the lids off pickle jars that no-one else could budge. She loved solving puzzles and was a formidable dominoes and card player. Her interest in crafts expanded to the internet, for communicating and banking, local and national news, updating medical information, and researching unusual patterns and recipes. As a cook, she had no equal, especially when it came to the fish and wild game that Frank would bring home.
As a life-long active member of St. Bartholomew’s Church, the Catholic Women’s League and the Royal Purple, Rose ceaselessly gave her time and effort. Every Remembrance Day, she would lay a wreath at the Levack cenotaph on behalf of the Silver Cross Mothers, an activity she took over when her own mother passed away. Rose was a kind, thoughtful person with an inclusive attitude and a generous spirit, who invariably put others ahead of herself. Her character was well and truly the model for those who knew and loved her.
In recent years, Rose and Frances had been spending winters with Merry in southern Ontario. They were together in Mississauga for the coronavirus lockdown and supported each other through its rigours. Away from the isolation, Rose enjoyed her final days at a Parry Sound lodge with her two daughters, and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Because of the Coronavirus, there will be no Funeral Visitation. However, the family plans for a Celebration of Life when future circumstances permit. A Funeral Mass will be held in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Levack, Friday, 3 July, 2020 at 11:00 A.M., followed by Interment in the Maplecrest Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to Health Sciences North would be appreciated. To light a memorial candle, or send donations or messages of condolences on-line at www.lougheed.org http://www.lougheed.org
With deep sadness we announce the sudden passing of Rose, on Saturday 27 June, 2020. She was 98 years old.
Rose’s parents, Karol and Mary Piaskoski, were Polish immigrants. Rose was born in Sudbury in 1922, and raised in Worthington, until the mine collapsed, when the family moved to Levack and began the Levack Dairy. For over 40 years, until 1975, Rose worked full-time in all roles of the Dairy. She was book-keeper and office manager, bottled milk and delivered it, even to the miners’ bunkhouses. At one of these she met Frank Swiddle. They married in 1940, starting over 74 loving years together, until his death in 2015.
Rose was predeceased by her Piaskoski brothers, Eddie (spouse, Nora Camron, predeceased), Joseph (spouse, Elsie Kernicky, predeceased), John, Frank, Albert, and Stanley “Champ” (spouse, Yvette Chevrier).
Rose’s surviving sisters-in-law are: Nellie Srutwa Petryshen (spouse, Charles) and Minnie Srutwa Carver (spouse, Arthur predeceased), and brother-in-law Arthur McLellan (spouse, Catherine “Katie” Srutwa, predeceased). Rose was predeceased by sister-in-law Annie Srutwa Lazarenko (spouse Sameon Lazarenko, predeceased), and brothers-in-law Mike Swiddle, Carl Swiddle (spouse Dorothy Baker, predeceased), and Jack Swiddle (spouse Audrey Doyniuk, predeceased).
Rose’s three children are: Merry Tunney (widow of Edward Tunney, d. 1995), Frances, and Ronald (spouse, Elizabeth Kari). Rose was a loving Baba and adored by all her grandchildren and step-grandchildren: Glen Tunney (spouse, Leah Sta. Ana), Catherine Tunney Braeken (spouse, Richard Braeken), Gregory Tunney (spouse, Vanessa Lobo), Shannon Kari, and Siobhan Kari (spouse, Mark Manzer), and by her great-grandchildren and step-great grandchild, Matthew, Rebecca, Mariska, Kaylee, Jenson, Ainsley, Carys, and Thomas. She is sadly missed by many nieces and nephews, and a great many other relatives and friends.
As a younger woman, Rose played baseball, tennis, curling, and bowling. She followed her interest in sports and her favourite teams all her life. She especially enjoyed summers spent at the family camp on Windy Lake, where many happy times were had. As an outdoors woman, she never stopped walking and gardening.
Rose had a special ability to balance and enrich the many aspects of her life, inside and outside the home. She cared in her home for her parents until their deaths. She was a full-time worker and full-time mother, devoted to her husband and dedicated to her children, and then to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a skilled homemaker with an artistic flair for colour and design that she expressed through sewing, embroidery, hand and machine knitting, and décor. She taught traditional crafts to her family, from painting Easter eggs to making pierogies, often to much laughter around the table. She understood machinery and tools, from dairy and canning machines to computers. She could twist the lids off pickle jars that no-one else could budge. She loved solving puzzles and was a formidable dominoes and card player. Her interest in crafts expanded to the internet, for communicating and banking, local and national news, updating medical information, and researching unusual patterns and recipes. As a cook, she had no equal, especially when it came to the fish and wild game that Frank would bring home.
As a life-long active member of St. Bartholomew’s Church, the Catholic Women’s League and the Royal Purple, Rose ceaselessly gave her time and effort. Every Remembrance Day, she would lay a wreath at the Levack cenotaph on behalf of the Silver Cross Mothers, an activity she took over when her own mother passed away. Rose was a kind, thoughtful person with an inclusive attitude and a generous spirit, who invariably put others ahead of herself. Her character was well and truly the model for those who knew and loved her.
In recent years, Rose and Frances had been spending winters with Merry in southern Ontario. They were together in Mississauga for the coronavirus lockdown and supported each other through its rigours. Away from the isolation, Rose enjoyed her final days at a Parry Sound lodge with her two daughters, and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Because of the Coronavirus, there will be no Funeral Visitation. However, the family plans for a Celebration of Life when future circumstances permit. A Funeral Mass will be held in St. Bartholomew’s Church, Levack, Friday, 3 July, 2020 at 11:00 A.M., followed by Interment in the Maplecrest Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to Health Sciences North would be appreciated. To light a memorial candle, or send donations or messages of condolences on-line at www.lougheed.org http://www.lougheed.org