Frank Hosek

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our father, Frank Hosek, who passed away on February 20th, 2022, at 99 years of age. As a long time resident of Kamloops, he will be remembered as a gifted musician, who introduced hundreds, if not thousands of students to the love of music during his thirty year tenure as a music teacher at Kamloops Senior and Junior High Schools.

Born on April 29th, 1922, in Hyrdlovka Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), the family of four immigrated to Canada in 1927. Settling in the Crowsnest Pass, in the tiny mining village known as Maple Leaf, Dad’s future may well have been mapped out as a coal miner. However, that was not the future that his father, also a talented musician, wanted for his son, so Dad’s musical training on violin and clarinet started at age six. Years of practice and dedication paid off and at seventeen years of age he received a scholarship to study music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in London, England. However, with the outbreak of war, alternate plans had to be put into place, so instead of sailing off to England, he boarded a train for Toronto to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Two years on, after completing his studies, he signed up and joined his father and other musicians from the Crowsnest Pass in the Royal Canadian Army Services Corps Band, based out of Red Deer, Alberta. Within three months he was deployed to Montreal to the ranks of what became known as The Canadian Army Show and from that time on served wherever required, be it Canada, The United Kingdom, Italy or Continental Europe. The purpose of the Show was to provide live Canadian entertainment to front line troops and with the infamous Canadian duo of Wayne and Shuster in the Show, Dad’s wartime stories were worthy of a prime time movie. Fortunately, this part of Dad’s life was chronicled in the website: spiritofcanada.com/veterans/stories

After being discharged from the war in 1946, Dad settled in Lethbridge Alberta, where, along with his father, they set up the Hosek School of Music. Many community bands and orchestras throughout Southern Alberta came into fruition under their tutelage. In 1948 he married Patricia Haz, who also arrived in Canada as a child from Czechoslovakia, or Slovakia to be precise. Surrounded by both their families and friends of Czech/Slovak descent, raising a young family of three was ideal, with just the right mixture of city life and farm life.

However, by 1957, an opportunity to move to Kamloops, BC and teach in the school system presented itself. So, with wife Patricia and three young children, the move was made. For the next thirty years or so, high achieving, award winning bands were the outcome of this career move.

Teaching in the schools also meant summer and winter holidays, which in turn, meant lots of time for Dad to indulge in all the outdoor activities that he loved. Whether that meant transporting us kids up to Todd Mountain (Sun Peaks) in tiny VW Beatle or loading up the motor home for a trip across Canada, Dad was always on the go. Probably one of his favourite pastimes was heading out into the back country around Kamloops and finding a nice little lake to go fishing on.

Dad was predeceased by his wife Patricia, of sixty years and his eldest son Brian. He is survived by his son Don ( wife Carolyn) and daughter Karen Jackson. For the last eighteen years Dad has resided in Kamloops Senior Village, first in Independent Living and for the last eight years in Residential Care. Even with a profound loss of hearing and the ravages of Alzheimer’s, Dad always managed to make his caregivers smile, laugh and hug him. For this care and affection, we, Don, Carolyn and I will forever be grateful. Now, we say goodbye to Dad and send him on his way; on his way to Mom and Brian and an eternity of music. There is much comfort to be had in believing that Dad may once again pick up his beloved violin and music may soar from it’s strings. He’ll be playing his favourite, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, if I’m not mistaken. Bravo Dad! We Love You.