Alex Orest Mozelisky

Alexander (Alex) Orest Mozelisky of Yorkton passed away peacefully with his family at his side on June 18, 2023 at the Yorkton & District Nursing Home (Melody Manor).

Dad was born on May 15, 1931 on the family farm north of Rhein.  Dad was the third child of five born to John and Nellie Mozilisky. Once his schooling was completed he stayed and worked on the family farm until his marriage to Velma Jean Peppler on September 25, 1955. Grandpa gave Dad and Mom ¼ section of land to farm. In 1957 Dad’s first daughter Wendy was born. Second daughter Cheryl came in 1959.  In 1961, an opportunity arose through Dad’s brother-in-law Alex Scott, about jobs at a new potash mine being built in the Esterhazy area. Dad was hired by Tag’s Construction who were contractors at K1 Esterhazy.  He stayed on and was hired by IMC (Mosaic) where he worked shift work as a Hoistman for 32 years.  He took great pride in doing his job there.  He took early retirement at the age of 63.  His retirement gift was a set of golf clubs as apparently that is what you do during retirement. That was brief as he’d never golfed before and as we all know it takes years of practice to better yourself and Dad was very short on patience when all his buddies were good already.  Once Dad was home all the time they decided to start camping with a small hardtop camper. My husband Glen teased Mom that there would be a cheap camper for sale in the fall.  He was right.  They sold and upgraded several times into lightweight Bolers. They went camping, fishing and traveled to many polka parties before selling out when Dad was in his mid 70’s. They traveled to Branson several times with good friends and also became regular Hostfest visitors each fall. Dad and Mom enjoyed many minor hockey games watching Darren, Kris, Kevin, and even little Braxton. They were also avid Esterhazy Flyer fans. I’m sure all the grandkids learned new words when they were helping Grandpa in the garage. 

Dad was an avid car guy.  I think Mom quivered in her shoes whenever Dad went for an oil change on his current vehicle as he kept a close eye on the current models usually trading every three years.  He always sold his vehicles privately and they became a hot commodity in Esterhazy as his vehicles were immaculate.  He was a GM/Olds fanatic but switched to Ford in 1997 and stayed true to them.  The son-in-laws always teased him about the switch.  Dad got on the cell phone bandwagon and absolutely had to update every two years because they said he could.  He used his cell until about 2 weeks before he passed. Dad and Mom enjoyed cycling around Esterhazy each evening.  Dads favourite saying when you came for a visit was “2 for a quarter”, 3 for a quarter” depending on how many people stopped in for a shot.

In 2011 they sold their home in Esterhazy and moved into Yorkton, rented duplex for 2 years and moved into Fairview Arms. Mom passed away in January 2018. Dad remained living on his own in Fairview until September 2022. Mom worried about him if she went first that who would look after and feed Dad but he managed the housekeeping himself with a little help from Cheryl and he became a Grumpy’s regular for breakfast and dinner.  He moved into the Bentley for 4 months and ill health had him move into the Yorkton  Nursing Home at the end of January.

Dad is survived by his two daughters, Wendy (Glen) Soyka from Dunleath, SK, Cheryl (Jim) Graves from  Springside, SK; one granddaughter Samantha (Marcel) Beaudry from Nanaimo, BC, Three grandsons, Darren (Kristy) Soyka from Moose Jaw, SK, Kris (Angie) Graves from Springside, SK, Kevin Graves from Springside, SK.  Seven great grandchildren - Kali and Kyson Soyka, Emma, Gracie, and Kayden Graves, Alexia and Braxton Graves.