Mar 4, 2018
On March 4, 2018, Verona Szpajcher of St. Paul Extendicare passed away at the age of 96 years.
Verona Lucille Bozek was born in Coleman, Alberta in 1921, the third child of Martin Bozek, and his wife Veronica, both of whom had immigrated from what is now Slovakia, just before the First World War.
In the early and mid-1930's, Verona moved with her parents to the Evarts district of Alberta, west of Red Deer, to farm.
In the late 1930's and early 1940's Verona moved with her parents back to Coleman, because of the Depression.
In 1943, she graduated as a Registered Nurse from the Holy Cross School of Nursing, in Calgary.
In the years that followed, she practiced Nursing in a number of locations, starting at a tiny hospital in Eckville, Alberta.
After leaving Eckville, she spent the next two decades nursing at different hospitals in: Alberta, B.C., Washington State, Oklahoma, and California.
She worked in Montana with the American Red Cross.
She returned to nurse in Red Deer, Sundre and in Eckville.
In 1964, she married Jan Szpajcher.
In 1969, she started working as a head nurse in Rimbey, at the Auxiliary hospital, and nursed there until her retirement.
In 1986, she retired to Sylvan Lake.
She was very proud of her two granddaughters.
Her husband Jan passed away in 2012.
In 2014, she moved to the Sylvan Lake Lodge. In 2016, she moved to Vegreville Manor, and in 2017, she moved to St. Paul Extendicare.
She is survived by her sister Mary (Bozek) Boomer, of Red Deer and her sister-in-law, Mary (Weida) Bozek, of Calgary.
She is also survived by her son Jim (Ann), of St. Paul; two granddaughters: Kathie (Jordan) of Whitehorse, Yukon and Elizabeth (Marc) of Orleans, Ontario; one great-granddaughter Isabelle.
She was very fond of the many nieces and nephews of her extended family, and many old and not so old friends that kept in touch with her.
A celebration of Verona's life will be held in Sylvan Lake in late spring, and a notice will be placed in this paper when the date is confirmed.
Condolences may be forwarded to www.sylvanlakefuneralhome.ca