Tribute

Our mother, Katarina Skukan, was born in the village of Slunj, Croatia (at the time, Yugoslavia) in 1936.  She was born on the eve of World War II, a time of great hardship in the region.   Of the eight children born to our grandmother, only four survived, including our mother, brothers Josef and Anton, and younger sister Ana.  Her parents perished in the war and our mother was raised by her aunt.

As hard as her life was, she often talked to her children about her good memories of her girlhood:  of the deep winter snows and candle-lit Christmas trees; swimming in the river; laughter and food; and especially of the rituals and traditions of the local Catholic Church, which was the center of the community. 

However, with limited options for bettering her life in post-war Europe, our mother left her country with a sense of adventure, romance and faith and moved to Canada to marry our father. 

In 1965, she arrived in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) to begin her new life. After having lived a life surrounded by family and friends, moving to British Columbia proved to be a difficult adjustment.  In 1966, our brother Andrej was born. 

Our parents moved to Powell River soon after and it is here that she made her home.   She worked at the Beach Gardens Resort for more than 20 years where she met many of her good friends.  

Katarina worked hard, gardened, cooked and baked, raised her children and loved her faith.  After her girls had moved out of the home, she enjoyed travelling to Europe, Mexico and many other destinations.  The last few years of her life she suffered from dementia and lived at Inglewood Care Centre in West Vancouver.    

She is survived by her children, Andrej, Nada and Dana (Richard), her grandsons Nicholas and Antony, many nieces and nephews.  We will miss her wisdom, her humour, her sweetness, and her cooking.