farm and lived in town until he passed away in
1956. By this time, Anna was suffering ill health
and spent most of her remaining years in Winni-
peg at the home of her daughter Mary or in hospi—
tal. She passed away in 1957 and they are both
buried in St. Martin Cemetery.

The children all received their elementary edu-
cation at Karpaty School. Those who went on af-
ter Grade eight either took the high school grades
by correspondence at Gypsumville School or in
Winnipeg.

Of the children, four have passed away — Doro-
thy, who lived with her husband and daughter in
Detroit, U.S.A., Peter, survived by his wife, He—
len, and three children, Gerald, survived by his
wife Pat, and two sons, and Michael, survived by
his wife, Christina and three sons.

Dorothy with brother,
Alex Shabaga, 1943.

 

Mary and Nestor live in Winnipeg with their
families, Eileen and Helen both live in the U.S.A.
with their families, William in Toronto, Walter,
Steve, and Paul in St. Martin, and Alex lives in
Gypsumville.

Helen Shabaga, 1944.
(Nellie)

The Walter (Bill) Shabaga Family

My father, John Shabaga, immigrated to
Canada in 1905 from the Ukraine. He settled in
Winnipeg, where he married Ann Gluchy. He
made a living as a carpenter. He moved to a
homestead at St. Martin, Manitoba in 1912, when

 

570

 

I was a year old (the third oldest of thirteen chil-
dren). My father farmed and was a local carpenter.

I started commercial fishing with my older
brother, Mike, on Lake Winnipeg when I was six-
teen years old. The following year, 1928, my father
bought a Model A Ford truck in Winnipeg. It took
him all day and all night to bring the truck to St.
Martin. This included ferrying it across the Fair-
ford River by a hand winched barge.

J

h
a . Q
. , 4‘ ._
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‘3' "
J.

Walter (Bill) Shabaga, owner of St. Martin Transfer.

I started trucking and operated as St. Martin
Transfer for 47 years. I operated on a farm licence
plate for eighteen years, then bought a PSV in
1943. When I first started I drove along the Davis
Point lake shore road to Fairford with seventeen
gates to open and close. The trip to Winnipeg took
from seven to nine hours, depending on how many
times I got stuck. At first I freighted during the
summer and fished during the winter. In approx—
imately 1946, the highway was open during the
winter months. I also recall one year forgetting to
renew my driver’s licence for six months.

In 1943 I married Olga Hoshowski, who also
did all the bookkeeping until I retired in 1976, at
which time our son, John, took the business over.
We raised three children, John who lives in St.
Martin, Judy in Warren and Gary in Lockport.