Ralph’s Obituary
« My father, Ralph Heck, passed away at his home on January 22, 2021 – last Friday.
Dad was born October 1, 1930 in Russia. He was the youngest of ten children born to Peter and Teresa Heck who were German settlers in the region now known as the Ukraine. As some of you may appreciate, farming in the Ukraine in the 1930’s was not an easy endeavour and soon, the waves of war would wash over his childhood home. Displaced and struggling to survive, Dad and his family would spend most of WWII moving from place to place. By the grace of God, most of his family would survive. Eventually, Dad, along with some of his siblings, made their way to Canada and on September 21, 1955, Dad became a citizen of Canada.
With only a grade 6 Russian education, and little knowledge of Canada, her people, or the language they spoke, Dad was not presented with a wealth of work opportunities. However, relatives who had already made it to Canada spoke of a place out west that offered honest, hard working immigrants a new life. Dad certainly fit the bill and soon made his way to the Peace Region – a place he would call home for the rest of his life.
I doubt he knew that would be the case when he first arrived. As a simple labourer, life still wasn’t what we would consider easy. However, I imagine Friednestahl, as it was then known, started looking more like home on July 2, 1958 – the day he married our mother, Mary Dukart. Life happened fast after that and they welcomed their first child, Peter, in May 1959. Kathy, Jo-ann, and Ralph Jr, would follow – with me bringing up the rear in 1966. Now, that’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed for a man who had never known higher education. But he was no stranger to hard work – and work he did – as a farmer, a school bus driver, a gas station attendant, a partsman, a gravel truck driver – often doing more than one at the same time. So there was enough food, enough clothes, enough shelter; and with our mother at his side – always more than enough love.
We lost our mother on February 19, 1988. Many things changed that day and one of the biggest changes we saw was in Dad. What sometimes seemed a hard hard exterior was gone – in its place something softer, kinder, more vulnerable, more loving. But I would eventually come to understand that this was not a change at all. It was a part of Dad that had always been there – now rising to the surface to help us all through our loss. And it remained – became ubiquitous – and came to define who he was to the very end.
Dad always said he was so proud of all his children – and that he loved all of us very much. I just hope he knew how much we loved him – and how very proud we were to call him our Dad. »
A Private Family Service will be held from St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Fairview on Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 2:00 PM.
If friends so desire donations may be made to the Fairview Food Bank as expressions of sympathy.
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Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Ralph Heck October 1 1930 January 22 2021..
Chapel of Memories Funeral Homes & Crematorium
Décès pour la Ville: Fairview, Province: Alberta