Mourning the death of community advocate

Family and friends are mourning the loss of a lifelong community advocate, wife, mother, sister, grandma and great-grandma.

Patsy Kozak died at the age of 81 on July 30.

A correspondent for The Carillon for more than 54 years, Kozak cared deeply about her community.

She was born in Elma in 1943, attended Elma School, met and married her husband Ed at Holy Cross Ukrainian Church in Elma and was deeply involved in the community.

Her obituary, published by Sobering Funeral Chapel and Crematorium outlined how important the role of correspondent was to her.

“Every week, Patsy would sit at her kitchen table with pen and yellow notepad, and with her beautiful cursive, she would record the area’s important events and happenings,” the obituary stated. “For the past five decades, Patsy has been the community’s keeper of precious memories, dedicated to sharing news of births, weddings, anniversaries and birthdays, as well as events that impacted the community like trail derailments (right in her backyard).”

Kozak was featured by the Winnipeg Free Press in 2012, for what was then described as 45 years of covering the district.

At that time, she was 69, and was thinking of retiring from her weekly duties.

“One day I say to myself I’m quitting, and the next day I want to keep going,” she told feature writer Bill Redekop.

But keep going she did and would file her columns by mailing them to The Carillon or sending them with people she knew were driving to Steinbach.

With her trademark sense of humour, she explained to Redekop in that 2012 interview, just why she continued to make the effort.

“I do it because I like writing,” she said. “It’s rewarding until someone phones you and says you spelled someone’s name wrong.”

At that time, she was saving every column she wrote, enough to fill five orange garbage bags.

But she also revealed what kept her at her notepad.

“I do it for my friends who really want to read what happens in Elma.”

Kozak has also been in the news.

In April 2020, she and her husband Ed were interviewed after a vehicle crashed into their yard, for what proved to be the sixth time since they started their lives there. A train derailed near their property in 1989, spilling lumber and oil.

But by family and friends, it’s her social nature that will be missed most. She loved to dance, visit and sing and loved her Ukrainian and country music. She was also willing to get on the stage and sing her heart out.

An animal lover, the family encouraged people to donate to the Winnipeg Humane Society in lieu of flowers.