The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Antoni Wasyliuk was born in Grandview to Fred Wasyliuk (from Kiev, Ukraine) and Ann Leisuk (born in Canada). The family farmed in Grandview until the Depression and things got so bad that they moved to Pine River where Toni was raised. They lived 2.5 miles from school and Toni walked every day across the fields to school. "Sometimes the snow would get so deep that I'd have to miss school, it was too hard to walk," said Toni. He was the third eldest in a family of 12 kids. When Toni was 18 he went to work at a sawmill in the Duck Mountains, but he wanted something more permanent. He had heard of Flin Flon, so in 1953 he hopped the train and headed straight to the main office at HBMS. Mr. McLaughlin told Toni that there were about 100 people on the list ahead of him, so he decided he had better look for temporary work. His first job was at Flin Flon Motors working for Cardell. Then he got a job with Lew Parres, a geologist, working in the bush. Toni worked at Beaver Lake for two years and then all over northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, even all the way to Sept Iles in Quebec. During that time Toni worked with Johnny Johnson, Albert Stoltz, Neil Thurber and Olaf Hanson blazing the Hanson Lake Road, prospecting and diamond drilling. See 'Home' P.# Con't from P.# In 1955 Toni met Joyce Streitle at a grocery store at Denare Beach where she worked. Joyce was the daughter of Ralph (shift boss in the leaching plant) and Ann Streitle, long time residents of Beaver Lake. Toni and Joyce were married in 1955 at Denare Beach by Reverend Horsefield. They were the first white couple to be married at Denare Beach. In 1960 Toni got a call from HBMS and he hired on right away, but he was still very interested in exploration. He hired on in the zinc plant and he worked there until 1987 when he got injured and was transferred to the Smelter where he retired after 31 years at HBMS in 1991. Toni continued to 'dabble' in exploration as a sideline until 1974 when he went into mink ranching with Eric Cook. They bought out Gisli Norman who had mink ranched for many years. They got most of their feed for the mink from the filleting plant at Beaver Lake. Once that plant closed down Toni had to make a decision Ñ either make his hobby of mink ranching a full-time career and quit HBMS or give up the mink. He gave up the mink. Toni worked with such shift bosses as Len Dixon, Jim Harburn and Bob Booker, as well as Nystrom, Hemmings and Bill Waite. Toni said there was a big turnover of men as lots of the young guys would come and go. Toni and Joyce raised four kids: Bill (who works on surface at HBMS), Louise (mill), Wendy (nurse in Edmonton) and Ken (geologist in Saskatoon). The family has always lived at Denare Beach. Toni was on the Denare Beach council when Denare Beach was changed from a resort to a hamlet. There were 800 permanent residents at that time. Then it went to a village because financially it was more stable. They hired an administrator, and Toni was appointed by the government as the first mayor. He held the position for one year until there was an election and Toni didn't run for the job. He just found it to be too much. He was also on the volunteer fire department, local school board and council. He laughs, "When I first took over, I was sanding the streets on my own! Once we became a village we were able to hire employees. I quit council when the sewer and water project began because I felt that the Saskatchewan government was wasting money. They exceeded their budget and then ended up hiring private contractors to finish the job." Toni loves to ice fish in the winter ("I go about five times a week!") and garden in the summer. Joyce passed away in 2001. Toni has eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He says, "I have no plans of leaving here. I love it here, I can fish, hunt and work in my garden, plus I have some of my kids and grandkids close by." Thanks for sharing your memories with us Toni!
