Lila Cherniawsky

The family of Lila Cherniawsky, beloved wife of the late William Cherniawsky, passed away on Thursday, December 2, 2021. She was 89 years of age.

A Public Visitation will be held on Friday, December 10th from 1:00 - 3:00pm at the Chapel of Preeceville Funeral Home. 

The Private Family Funeral Service will take place on Saturday, December 11th with Rev. Miles Russell officiating. 

The interment will follow in the Sturgis Community Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Norquay Health Centre as gifts of remembrance.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Preeceville Funeral Home.

Lila Teresa Cherniawsky was born on December 12, 1931 to Mary (nee Lozinski) and Joseph Firomski in a granary on the family farm. It was so cold that day that the water froze in a pail inside the granary.

Lila started school in Danbury and stayed with her Aunt Nelsie who lived only a mile from the school. She returned home a year and a half later and attended Kopje School. But now she had to walk three and a half miles to the school along with her neighbours. In the winter, Tom Kalenchuk would take a horse and toboggan and they would all get a ride to school. After three years at Kopje School, Lila and her brother Marion switched schools and attended Goodhue School where her father was secretary. Lila completed Grade 9 in 1947 but her eyesight was quite bad and she couldn’t continue. Lila was also needed at home as her mother was ill. Her mother passed away on June 17, 1949. Lila was only 17 years old at the time (she hadn’t had her 18th birthday yet).

Lila was now dating William Cherniawsky. He had asked her to marry him but Lila’s dad asked her to wait a year and help with the younger children.

Lila and William married June 8, 1950 and she moved just three miles away from her family home. Mom and Dad lived with Dad’s mother (Dokitsa) and 5 children in one house until January, 1964 when they moved into their new home that Dad built. Dokitsa continued to live on the farm in her own house. Can you imagine living with your mother-in-law as a newlywed and then for another 14 years in the same house? Somehow, they made it work.

Mom and Dad had 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls. Dad and Mom celebrated 70 years of marriage in June 2020.

Mom worked right along Dad’s side on the farm. She milked cows, drove the grain truck during harvest, had a huge garden, volunteered for Cancer and Lung Donation drives, was a member and president of the Legion Ladies Auxiliary, cooked 3 meals every day, and most of all, raised 6 children.

Mom and Dad went on many trips to British Columbia to visit family, to Thunder Bay, Detroit and Florida. They travelled to the Ukraine in 1993. Every summer they had lots of relatives come to visit and spend time on the farm. There was never any shortage of food. Mom would make a meal for everyone who came to visit. Mom never just sat and watched TV. She was always doing something from knitting to crocheting, sewing and quilting. Like everyone else during these years, she did lots of canning of fruit, jams, pickles, beans, baking bread, raising chickens and turkeys, etc.

She loved when the children would come home to visit for the holidays. She always wanted to send something home with you. If you showed interest in one of her quilts, rest assured that it would be going home with you.

Mom and Dad remained on the farm until August 31, 2020 when they both moved to the Norquay Health Centre. Dad passed away within the first month of them moving to Norquay. Mom’s health continued to decline after Dad’s passing to the point that she didn’t know her children. In late November, 2021 she suffered a stroke which took her life in the wee hours of December 2, 2021.

Leaving behind to celebrate her life are her 6 children, Don (Joan) Cherniawsky of Regina, Lloyd (Renee) Cherniawsky of Saskatoon, Fay (James) Klemchuk of Sturgis, Irene (Ed) Ubell of Regina, Linda Dupperon of Saskatoon and Ruby Sapieha of Saskatoon, 13 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, sister Jeanette Cheremkora, brother Victor (Mildred) Firomski, brother Delmar (Marianne) Firomski and many nieces and nephews.

Lila was predeceased by her husband, William in 2020, her parents Mary and Joseph Firomski, Lila’s inlaws Dokitsa and George Cherniawsky, sister-in-law Mary Cherniawsky (at birth), step mother Sophie Firomski, brother Marion Firomski, sister-in-law Caroline Firomski, brother-in-law Sam Cheremkora, step brother Donald Hryhorash and step sister-in-law Mavis Hryhorash.

Memorial donations in memory of Lila may be made to the Norquay Health Centre as gift of remembrance.