Obituaries

CAROL LILLIAN JUSTL (nee FEDKIW)
February 18, 1942 – October 26, 2024 

On Saturday, October 26th, 2024, mom died peacefully in her sleep at the St. Boniface Hospital, at the age of 82. She will be celebrated as a loving and supportive mother to her three children Karen (Frank), Richard and Diana, and as a grandmother to Alexa and Mitch Justl.

Mom grew up in a lively Ukrainian home on Manitoba Avenue, run by her grandmother, Rose. She and her cousin, Bill ‘Butch‘, were nurtured on Slavic cuisine from the garden (varenyky, pyrizhky & borscht)—by her mother Lillian Fedkiw (nee Sadowy) and her Auntie Nellie. Mom thrived on the streets of east L.A.—that is what she liked to call her Logan and Arlington stomping grounds.

She and her friends, Judy and Pat, met at Tec Voc High School. Mom told many stories of she and her pals walking to the theatres (Bijou, Metropolitan, etc.,) dancehalls, and the famous Chocolate Shop on Portage Avenue, in a time when downtown Winnipeg bustled with activity.

Mom kept those friends close when she started work as a bookkeeper at Bristol Aerospace. This is where she met Karl Justl, her husband-to-be. She fondly recalled delivering his paycheques to him—wearing knit twinsets and heels—scaling the metal staircase down from her perch in “the offices” to Karl’s headquarters on “the floor of rocket scientists.” The pair eventually wed and became a bit of a workplace power couple—helping their team win the Bristol Bowling Championship multiple times.

Their three children were each sporty in their own right, (soccer, baseball, and hockey) and found unique careers in art & design, property maintenance & landscaping, and psychotherapy. No matter the endeavour mom supported us, whether it was a pre-Internet investigation involving clipping and scrapbooking the newspaper trail of our successes, or generous financial backing.

Mom had a sweet, gentle presence—yet she would also take us by surprise with her fierce vigour, wit, and playfulness. She liked to make everyone around her laugh and not take things too seriously. She fought through decades of physical ailments with a sense of humour and lightness that gave inspiration to those who knew her.

During her illnesses, CJNU 93.7 oldies radio gave her comfort and played 24/7. She loved to sing-along and dance to Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and The Beach Boys. She will be remembered through the poignant and irreverent humour that lives on in the chaotic beautiful world she left behind.