Lolek Morawiecki, 74, of Big Bras d’Or, NS, passed away peacefully at the Northside General Hospital on Tuesday 24 May 2022, after a brief period of illness.
A child of the Baby Boom, he was born on 14 January 1948, in a part of the world still suffering from the catastrophe of the Second World War. His birthplace was a Displaced Persons (DP) camp near the town of Helmstedt, in what was then East Germany – where his parents had met and married not long after war’s end, having themselves been displaced by the conflict from their homes in Poland and the Soviet Union. The young family soon moved on from the DP camp to western France, where they settled for a few years. In 1952, with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration, they obtained the documents and other support needed to start a new life in Canada, and boarded a ship for Halifax, NS. On arrival at Pier 21, they travelled onward by train to Toronto, ON – just one amongst the legions of refugee families welcomed by Canada over its history.
After finishing his secondary education at Western Technical School in 1969, Lolek found his way to a career in the manufacturing sector. He joined Norton Safety Products in Rexdale, ON as General Manager in 1971. In 1981 (ironically, at the height of a severe global economic recession), opportunity knocked in the form of a job ad he spotted in the newspaper from R.T. Sainthill & Son Ltd, a small company seeking a manager to kickstart its industrial rainwear manufactory in North Sydney, NS.
Now married with a young family of his own, and seeking an escape from big city life, he landed that job and relocated to a 54-acre rural property in Big Bras d’Or, NS, close to the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes. Over the following decades, he bought the business that had brought him to Cape Breton (renaming it National Work Clothing Ltd and moving it to Sydney Mines) and pursued the outdoor hobbies he enjoyed: gardening, fishing, cutting trees for firewood, and later owning standard bred horses, which were raced out of Northside Downs and other harness-racing tracks around the Maritimes.
Lolek is survived by his wife, Jeannette (née Keating) of Big Bras d’Or; children, Jennifer (Andrew Morrison) of Halifax, NS and Bryan (Lisa Northen) of Kitchener, ON; grandson, Roderick Morrison; siblings, Al, Ronny, Kathy and Johnny; and many nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his parents, Janusz and Tania Morawiecki.
Cremation has taken place. According to Lolek’s own wishes, there will be no funeral service. A private family memorial will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of the ongoing plight of refugees around the world who are forced from their homes by conflict, please consider a donation in Lolek’s memory to the International Organization for Migration(donate.iom.int) or the Ukraine appeal of the Canadian Red Cross (www.redcross.ca).
Words of comfort can be sent to the family at www.sydneymemorialchapel.ca or e-mail sydneymemorialchapel@ns.sympatico.ca
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Lolek Morawiecki 2022..
Death notice for the town of: Sydney, Province: Nova Scotia