Mom wrote
thousands of letters during her lifetime.
(Long-distance telephone calls were only used for emergencies.) She wrote to her brothers and sisters,
friends, her children when they had left home, and even distant relatives in Ukraine
Divided by thousands
of miles, wars, the Iron Curtain, and many, many years, the Leschyshyns, like
so many other immigrants, could have lost touch with their family in the Old
Country. That they didn’t was due, at
first, only to Mom’s father, John.
John was a
well-educated man who knew 4 languages.
He taught Mom how to read and write in Ukrainian.
Communication between relatives in
Ukraine and Mom’s family depended, at first, only on John, but, when he passed
away, our link was maintained through Mom’s letters.
In the
1990’s, Maria Kalin, one of the cousins with whom Mary corresponded, came to
visit the family in Canada.
Mom was
overjoyed.
In a letter to me, dated September 7, 1990, Mom wrote:
I thought I would write even I
don’t have much to say.
I thank girls for a nice sweater
and you & Bryan for a lovely picture.
Thanks very much.
On Tues Matt took
Marie & me to town so she bought a nice blue dress and 10 yards of white
cloth for Ukrainian blouses so she started to do Nellies on Tues she got the
front done I gave her the embroidery thread and canvas. On Wed we took Lee Nicholas and me to Mirons
to Roblin.
Katie gave me ice cream pail of
home grown apples, 8 head cabbage and some onion.
I cooked the apples for pies to
freeze but cooked on high to long that become mush I froze it and wondering how
to use as its no good for apple sauce as it has everything in it for pie I will
figure out how to use it today I shredded the cabbage for sourkraut
Today I washed 3 loads of
wash. And kraut before 11 oclock as I
got up at 5 oclock. I could not sleep so
took advantage and worked
The men will be finished this
week combining in this area. They finished
Matts barley and went on Lornes. They
should be in Solsgirth tomorrow
Diana brought books for you but
perhaps you didn’t know. They be till
you come some times and you didn’t look at magazines.
I started to knit again today but
perhaps I will knit two pairs of slipperets the rest is short pieces so I will
crochet it all in round rug. As they
don’t make that yarn any more.
We been lucky not having frost
till now every body have cucumbers Marie said that
cucumbers don’t grow as the acid rain kills them.
I had lot of fun
with her she a jolly girl.
I tried to read the paper this
morning but it was hard I guess I was to tired.
May sunshine guide you all the
way Love Mother
*******
I
was very sad to hear this week that Maria passed away on July 14. In my mind’s eye, she is wearing a pale pink
blouse and smiling up at the windows of the tour bus. When I step out, she will give me a hug and a
kiss to welcome me to Ukraine.
May
sunshine guide you and your family all the way, Maria.
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