ALEXANDER AND DORA STUPARYK 
Dora Stuparyk (nee Maksymniuk) was born in the Ukraine on June 12, 1904. In 1907 Dora and her only sister Nancy (Metrunec) came to Canada with their father. Their mother passed away in the Ukraine. After their long voyage they boarded a train to get to Mundare. Somewhere in Manitoba the train stopped at the station so Mr. Maksymniuk went looking for a store to get some food and milk for his girls who were three and thirteen years. While the father was gone the train left the station with the two girls alone. Dora recollects she was scared and clutched on to her sister Nancy, still remembering, at the age of eighty-three, how terrified she was as no one could understand her Ukrainian language and they didn't know if they would ever see their father again. Somehow their father managed to hop on a freight that came by going the same direction and in about three or four hours they were united.
Alex Stuparyk, hauling hogs to Derwent, 1944.
Mr. and Mrs. Alex Stuparyk on the way to visit friends, 1946.
They came to Mundare where the girls lived with friends, the Klabatski's, for two years while their father took whatever jobs he could find. The family then homesteaded in the Slawa district in 1909. She lived there until 1919 when she married Alexander Stuparyk.
Alexander Stuparyk was born in the Ukraine on April seventeenth, 1889. He came to Canada as a young man like most people seeking a better life. He arrived in Canada in the fall of 1910 and stayed with his brother Harry Stuparyk, who was homesteading in the Meadow district. Alex spent the first winter with his brother and his family. In the spring he went to Edmonton and worked there for approximately three years. In 1913 he then came back and took a homestead in the Meadow district. In 1914 he married. They had two girls, Annie (Mrs. Dan Mudryk of Derwent, Alberta) and Lena (Mrs. Peter Krysak of North Battleford, Saskatchewan). He lost his first wife in 1917. In 1919 he then married Dora Maksymniuk. They lived on the Meadow homestead until 1930 where Jennie (Mrs. Bill Metrunec of Mannville), Nick of Kimberley, British Columbia, Mary (Mrs. Albert Heinemann of Kimberley), Steve of Elk Point and Bill (who lived in Edmonton until his passing in 1962) were born. The family then purchased land from Harry Hyde in the Northern Valley district, some six miles north at the original homestead. Three more children were born here, John of Pine Point, N.W.T., Elsie (Mrs. Dave Gunn of Vancouver, B.C.),and Pat of the R.C.A.F. Base in Cold Lake, Alberta.
The children went to a local school, Yankee, where they all got their grades one to eight. Later on John continued his grade nine and ten in the Brierfield School. He stayed at his sister Annie's place while attending school there. Elsie continued her grade nine and ten at King George to which she walked four and one half miles. She took grade eleven at Elk Point and grade twelve, first and second year in Derwent. She then took nursing at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Like all pioneers they had their share of hardships and blessings. They cleared more land as very little was cleared when they purchased the land. In 1945 the family built a home on the farm. After they retired in 1962 the house from the farm was sold and moved to the south west part of Elk Point.
In May 1966 Alexander Stuparyk passed away. Mother (Dora) Stuparyk, still lives in her white house where she always has a beautiful garden and lovely flowers, a helping hand, and a cup of tea ready when anyone visits. The kiddies in her part of town know her as Baba as she always has cookies or candy handy for them.
