Stefania Pacula

Stefania Pacula was born on October 9, 1932 in the village of Zhukiv, Zolochiv raion, L'viv oblast, Ukraine. She was the second oldest with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. Her father Mykhaylo Kurpita was born in Delmenhorst, Germany and spent most of his time working there as a tailor while her mother Anna Hrycak looked after the family farm in Zhukiv. After the war in 1947 she joined her four aunts and two uncles who left Delmenhorst and moved to Brazil while her parents and siblings remained in Ukraine. Stefania worked as a sales lady in a jewelry store in Porto Alegre, Brazil owned by the Shupp family and babysat their children. She met her future husband Michael Pacula after answering a pen pal ad in a local Ukrainian newspaper. After several years of correspondence, Michael proposed to her and she immigrated to Canada. They married in Woodstock, Ontario on April 18, 1959 and rented an apartment at 380 Hunter St. Her husband worked in construction and she worked for two years at York Mills. After saving their money, they bought a house on 346 Simcoe St in 1967 and their only child Taras was born in 1968. Their marriage lasted for 44 years until Michael passed away in 2004 at the age of 82.

In the final four years of her life, Stefania gradually developed vascular dementia and became confined to her bed and was taken care of by her son. She passed away peacefully at Woodstock General Hospital of kidney failure on the morning of June 9, 2023 at the age of 90. She is survived by her youngest sister Tekla (b.1944) in Ukraine and many nieces, nephews and cousins in the USA and Ukraine. Her siblings, Maria (1931-2011), Sofia (1934-2000), Iwan (1937-2017), Yaroslav (1939-1943), Helena (1941-1942), Wasyl (1946-1946) and Yaroslav (1948-1948) predeceased her. Her son would like to express his gratitude to all the Personal Support Workers at CarePartners and the nurses at St Elizabeth for the excellent care they provided allowing his mom to stay at home.

Friends will be received at Brock and Visser Funeral Home, 845 Devonshire Avenue, Woodstock on Friday, June 16th, with visitation from 6-8 pm and Panakhyda at 7pm officiated by Rev. Myroslav Shmyhelskyy. On Saturday June 17th visitation will be at 10am followed by Funeral Mass at 11am and then burial at Hillview Cemetery, Fifth Avenue in Woodstock. Online condolences at www.brockandvisser.com.