Rose Yaskowich

Rose passed away peacefully surrounded by the love of her family on February 19, 2024. Her Funeral Mass, Interment, and Celebration of Life will be held on August 3, 2024 at 10:00 am at St. Gerard Roman Catholic Church, 125 3 Ave North, Yorkton, SK: the community she fondly called home for many of her 95 years.

She was born on August 6, 1928, the 9th child to Anton and Nettie Lewandoski at the family farm near Wishart, SK. With her siblings, Helen, Victoria, Mike, Billy, Mary, Tilly, Jean, Bill, Carl, and Stanley she spent her formative years happy and busy with family, farm, church life, and attending Honeybank School. As a young woman she worked a variety of jobs, often reminding us that during WWII she proudly worked on the railroad fixing the lines.

Rose married her one and only love, Joseph Peter Yaskowich from the Wynyard area, on October 26, 1947. They lived and worked in several communities close to their hometowns until 1954 when they settled in Yorkton. There they raised their 6 children Ernie, Iris, Barb, Wanda, Gayle, and Bev.

These years were busy for Rose as a young mother dedicated to nurturing her growing children while also making time for extended family, church, friends, and community. Even though she was busy, she would always take time to stop and have a coffee or play cards with friends or family who dropped in. She didn’t like to miss Front Page Challenge and would love to watch ballgames whenever she could. She also crafted beautiful creations through crocheting and needlepoint. She developed many friendships as an Avon lady and thoroughly enjoyed her years of selling shoes. As a faithful member of St. Gerard’s RC Church, it was important to her and Joe to dedicate their time to the work of the CWL and the Knights of Columbus. It is hard to imagine the number of perogies she made as the parish raised money for their new hall. She was known for her bountiful raspberry patch, her cooking, canning & baking, her generous hospitality, her love of cabin-life at Sunnyside beach, fishing, playing cards and games, celebrating all occasions with joy.

Rose taught us all to work hard and play hard. She enjoyed watching the Riders but reminded us that ‘you can’t always win.’ Having survived Joe for over 33 years, she continued to be a model of unconditional love, strength, independence, commitment, and endurance. She sold the family home in 2002, and moved to Fairview Arms where she thoroughly enjoyed the senior community and her new friends on the fourth floor. As the loves of her life, she tried to spend as much time as possible helping out and doting on her beloved grandchildren and their families. One always felt like you were the most important person in the world to her. Her last decade took her to live with Wanda on Vancouver Island, then in care homes in Saskatoon and Regina. When asked ‘how are you?’ she smiled and said, “I’m like an old twig, you can bend me over, but I always spring right back up.” In this last decade her motto naturally became, “growing old isn’t for sissies.”

Rose grew old with grace and fortitude. We know she was warmly welcomed into her eternal home by her loving husband, Joseph; her beautiful daughter, Barb; her grandson, Michael; and son-in-law, Daniel; along with her parents; all her siblings; so many others from her extended family and countless friends.

Rose had 6 children, 20 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. Left to cherish her memory are her children Ernie (Rhonda & their children, Shalene [David] and Rosanne [Matthew and son Ethan]) Yaskowich; Stacey (Iris) (Steve & their children Barbara [Mike & their children Sydney, Kaila & Alaura], Joe [Stephanie & their children Peyton, Tanner, Landon], Beverly, and Tony [Elle]) Garrison; son-in-law Dean (and children Jamie [Ryan and their children Teddy & Arthur], Brian [Sara and their daughter Vetra], Andy [Melanie and their daughters Scarlett & Wren], Dani [Mark and her children Jack, Atticus, & Hugo], and Jesse) Bauche; Wanda (and her son Jim [and his sons, Geoffrey and Shamus]) Stoltz; Gayle (Shane & their children Dusten [daughter Alaura and granddaughter, Makinley, son William, and daughters Paige & Emersyn], Bryce [Sara and their children Bella, Brielle, Sadie and Samuel], Ben [Leah and their children Finn and Isla], Jeana [Kade and their daughter Tilly]) Brodie; Bev (Perry and their daughters Anna [Sheldon and their son Jasper], Sarah [Cory and their son Fox], and Rebecca) Toderian.

Rose was a loving mother and grandmother, a dedicated wife, and a loyal friend. She will be greatly missed.