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Marian (Mario) Jan Furmanek

December 25, 2016

MarianFurmanekWeb

It is with great sorrow that Marian's family announces his

passing on Christmas day.

Marian was born in the village Huta, Poland. He married the love of his life, Maria Kosarynskyi in 1953 and in 1965 they, with their four children, immigrated to Terrace. Despite much hardship and a near fatal accident early on in Terrace he survived and thrived to welcome his fifth child in 1967. His first job was at the Pohle Lumber Mills and he worked hard until his retirement in 1994.

Marian loved his family. He loved people, jokes and stories and would not hesitate to raise a glass of vodka to wish his friends health and prosperity. Long before mushroom shacks for dollars became a familiar sight on the Terrace landscape, Marian spent many happy hours scouring the forests for the mushroom delicacies that completed his wife's delicious Polish dishes. Even in the last months of his life he chided his children for forgetting to bring a basket and knife for mushroom picking whenever he was driven anywhere. As a born and bred farm boy, he was of course, a consummate gardner. However, a gentle soul and despite his farming roots, he never reconciled himself to the fact that farm animals were often destined for the supper table.

He loved to tinker with tools and metals and often revealed his hidden artist with handmade gifts to his children. He wore hats so stylishly that even his grandchildren would steal from his fashion genius and start “new” trends. He was “Tata” to his

children and “Dziadek” to his twelve grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren. He inspired love not fear in everybody, even in the family dog who protected him until the time of his death.

Before his death Marian suffered from Alzheimer's. In his last months, Marian was looking for home. He would often pack a bag of his essentials and ask one or the other of his children to take him home. One of us would invariably comply. We would drive from one end of Terrace to the other looking for home and come back where he lived defeated in our quest.

We hope, we pray, that now he has found home.



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