Obituary of Eileen Viglas

Eileen Viglas passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the age of 88 years at the Lloydminster Continuous Care facility. Eileen was born on November 16th, 1931 in Leipzig, Saskatchewan to John and Justine Kolenousky moving to Waseca, Saskatchewan in 1942. Eileen will be sadly missed by: sons, Darcy (Lisa) and Brian (Donna); Grandchildren, Chris (Elysia), Luetta (Marty), Ashley (Colton), Angela (Jefferson), Jesse (Kelsey) and Jayme (Ben); and great grandsons, Carson, and Jake; and great granddaughters, Abby, Brooke, Emma and Hailey; numerous nieces and nephews. Eileen was predeceased by her husband Mike of 57 years of marriage in 2014, her parents John and Justine and sister Chris; brothers, Leo, Adolph and Johnny and have two surviving sisters Mary (Saskatoon) and Francis (Vernon). Eileen was a mom, sister, grandmother, friend and loved to volunteer. Mom loved to attend auction sales and was a garage sale junkie; always wanting to negotiate never paying the asking price. She thrived on finding hidden gems in antique purchases, nothing was purchased that would not acquire some value. All of her purchases and keep-sakes were in pristine condition. Mom was a sports fanatic; hockey, curling, football, baseball; but only if it was a Canadian team, she wore her colors on her sleeve. Mom loved to knit, crochet and needlepoint; baby blankets, doilies, dresser runners, afghans, siwash sweaters, toques, gloves and slippers. Mom’s favorite sayings were “are you hungry” and “eat” always having food and sweets on hand for every possible ocassion. Mom was not one to sit idle and loved to always give a helping hand regardless if one was needed or not. Mom loved to walk and truly thought it was best thing to do for your health, she was not wrong. In the Care Facility even as dementia was taking her over she was always wanting to help clean up and even assist other residents of the home. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Doctors and staff at the Lloydminster Continuous Care facility for taking time and providing the best care possible for mom, it was very comforting to know the high level of care mom received. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in memory of Eileen to the Lloydminster Kinsmen Telemiracle or to the Lloydminster Interval House. On Sunday, January 26, 2019 a come and go is being held at the Kinsmen Hall, 5622-50 Ave, Lloydminster, AB, from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found T'was blind but now I see T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear And Grace, my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils and snares We have already come. T'was grace that brought us safe thus far And grace will lead us home Eileen's memorial card can be viewed or downloaded from the link below. https://indd.adobe.com/view/f30a51f9-5c6f-4714-8130-266ef8612502 Eulogy ~ My name is Brian Viglas and along with Darcy Viglas we are the sons of Eileen Viglas. It is our pleasure to tell you about the woman we are proud to call our “Mom”. Eileen Viglas was born to John and Justine Kolenousky on November 16, 1931 in Leipzig, Saskatchewan and later in 1942 moved to Waseca, Saskatchewan after her dad purchased the Blacksmith Shop there. Mom went to school in Waseca along with her siblings, John, Adolph, Leo, Christine, Mary and Francis. On December 26, 1958 Mom married Dad (Mike) in Waseca and rumor has it, this was the start of the annual Boxing Day dance in Waseca. Mom and Dad along with Dad’s family purchased the gas station on the north side of the highway in Waseca; some of us may remember it as the B/A Service Station, Restaurant, 4 Room Motel and the Bulk Fuel supply. Mom worked in the restaurant and cleaned the motel rooms while Dad was the mechanic. Our mom loved to knit, crochet and do needlepoint spending endless amounts of time knitting baby blankets, touques, mitts, slippers, siwashes, doilies, dresser runners and afghans. Mom made sure everyone in our families owned some form of her handy-work. Mom was so meticulous that if there was a missed stitch or loop, no matter how small, she would unravel the item, fix the problem then finish the item. As Mom got older she stopped knitting as the wool got too heavy for her to knit any more sweaters or afghans. Mom and Dad travelled the Lloydminster area to attend garage sales looking for little gems, trinkets, antique furniture or depression glass to add to their collection. Mom was very proud of the items she would find for a good price and would boast about it. Mom and Dad would take the time to restore antiques, then either proudly display them or sell them for someone else to treasure. Mom was tenacious at bartering, I really felt sorry for anyone holding the garage sale, if the asking price was twenty-five cents mom wanted to pay ten cents and would go as high as fifteen cents. As Mom and Dad grew older, Darcy would take the day and drive them to wherever they wanted to go. Once attending garage sales was over and if they were remotely close to a casino that is the direction the car was pointed for the rest of the day, where they seemed to have lady luck on their side winning some but never telling how much they lost. Mom was an avid sports fan, she would sit for hours knitting while watching the NHL, curling, the Olympics, baseball and even football. She was only interested if there was a Canadian or Saskatchewan team playing, proudly wearing her country on her sleeve. Growing up mom and her sisters played ball where mom was a pretty good short stop (according to Ann Smith – longtime friend). I can remember once watching mom play ball many years ago, using a bottleneck bat hitting the odd homerun. Growing up in Waseca we would often travel up to Paradise Hill where Uncle Johnny had a cabin at Perch Lake to go fishing. Mom enjoyed to catch and eat fish. Even if we did not have enough fishing rods for everyone to use, mom would get a 4 to 6-foot willow, tie some fishing line to the end add a J-hook and either an earthworm or bloodsucker for bait then sit on the dock for hours trying to catch some supper, if we ever caught any it was mostly perch. If we didn’t catch fish, it was then substituted with a warm, savory bucket of KFC – it was a win, win situation for all of us. Being in Waseca there were lots of times there was not much to do. Mom was always willing to sit down to play a game, whether it was Trouble, cribbage, rummy, checkers, snakes and ladders, mouse trap or any other game we might have or even to build a puzzle. Mom enjoyed watching and very supporting Darcy and I when we were playing ball, curling, hockey, football or slow-pitch. We never won very many games but mom was always there. Mom worked at the Co-op store in Waseca for many years. I remember in the winter months, at the end of the work day mom would go home and get supper together, while Darcy and I, were at the hockey rink playing around. Mom would holler out the back door (about a block away) “Supper”, we would go home to see our favorite meals, cabbage rolls, pork roast, or pork hocks and mushroom gravy and depending on the money situation sometimes it was creamed peas on bread. Some of mom’s other favorite things to do were walking, gardening, canning and baking (cinnamon knots). Mom made sure that she walked every day! She believed that walking was the basis for good health, and she could walk- - - and fast. Once she moved to Lloydminster mom volunteered at the Lloydminster Interval House, she loved helping out. As time progressed and dementia took her over she never lost the urge to help someone out either picking up dishes, washing the dishes, helping with another resident in the care home or even if you had a strand of hair hanging in your face she would gently put it behind your ear so you could see. Darcy and his family, living in Lloydminster with Mom and Dad were able to have frequent visits discussing the latest garage sales, auction sales, politics or life in general. There was a time Darcy and Lisa left for a holiday leaving their kids at home alone and there was an unsuccessful attempt at cooking rice, let’s just say the pot was destroyed and there is nothing like the smell of burning rice. Mom and Dad were able to fix the situation and making sure nobody went hungry – KFC was substituted as the staple. Hopefully, this gives you a little insight to our mom, her personality, habits and daily activities. We appreciate you taking the time to come say your goodbyes and to share some stories. We are who we are because of you mom! We Love You Mom!