Gladys Helen Bonchuk

Gladys passed away suddenly and peacefully at the Morley House personal care home in Shoal Lake on Sep. 2, 2025 at age 92. Gladys was born Dec. 28, 1932 in the RM of Silver Creek to Peter and Nellie (Sidoryk) Pushka. She was the second youngest of nine children, having 5 step-brothers Fred, Paul, William, John, and Michael; two brothers Peter and Eugene; and one sister Pauline. She was the last surviving family member. Gladys married Steve Stanchuk Dec. 29, 1950. They farmed in the RM of Birtle, and they had four children together Dennis, Terry, Grant and Kimberly. After Steve passed away in 1970, Gladys married Nick Bonchuk August 31, 1973. They also farmed in the RM of Birtle, but they had no children together. They moved a new house onto Nick’s farm in 1973 where they resided until 2010 which is when they decided to sell the farm and move to the Lions Village in Birtle. Gladys and Nick celebrated 50 years of marriage prior to Nick’s passing on Nov. 16, 2023. Gladys was a lifetime member of Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rossburn and loved family, religion, gardening, flowers, fishing, camping, travelling, music festivals, and making sure anyone who crossed her doorstep did not go hungry. She was a fabulous cook and still practiced her fine art of perogy and cabbage roll making close to her 88th year of life. Some family members are very grateful for having learned from her to make some of her traditional Ukrainian dishes that she could make from scratch. She enjoyed cooking and experimented with new recipes often. She also loved vegetable gardening and her flowers which she tended every year until she moved off the farm to Birtle. She was a very hard worker on the farm, her and Nick having two gardens, large flower beds, chickens, ducks, turkeys, cattle, and grain farming. After the cattle were sold from the farm and the farmland rented out, this left more time for travel which led her and Nick to many different places like Jamaica, Florida, California, Hawaii, Vegas, Arizona, Texas, and British Columbia. It took only one trip then they got the “travel bug”. After that, they would try to go somewhere every winter. They quite enjoyed all the places to which they travelled. Unfortunately, as time lapsed, macular degeneration progressively continued to constrict Gladys’s vision and arthritis continued to restrict her mobility, which led to fewer and fewer things she could do independently. Gladys then decided to accept help and became a resident in Morley House personal care home in Shoal Lake in January of 2024. Independency, pride, generosity, gentleness, and kindness were the bases of Gladys’s character. She never raised her voice except to call the cows or to call you in from outside for a meal. Surviving Gladys are her sons Dennis (Wendy) Stanchuk and Grant (Ramona) Stanton, and daughter Kimberly (Morris) Salmon; grandchildren Christa (Jamie) Lovas, Shelly Stanchuk, Sawyer Marshall Stanchuk, Jacob Stanton, Mitchell Stanton, Kayla Stanton, Stewart Salmon, Jenny Salmon, and Eric Salmon; and great grandchildren Feron Lovas, Jenna Lovas, Cali Lovas, Jacob Stanchuk, Jack Stanton, and Emily Stanton. Gladys was predeceased by her son, Terry Stanchuk in 2002, and her granddaughter, Jordyn Marshall Stanchuk in 2005.