Elzbieta Rozkowiec-Specjan was born on 13 September 1922 in a small village in an area called Semekhovichi in what was eastern Poland. Life was good on their small farm, her parents and siblings were happy and safe, until Stalin's army came one day and took all their land, their house, their stock and possessions and gave them one hour to pack and put them on a train to a gulag in Siberia.

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It was a long time before they were able to escape the Soviet Union, and once they did, they spent many years in refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa. They were eventually given an opportunity to leave those camps, and some of her family was reunited in England in 1948, more family met together in Canada, and several more were left behind and lost in Russia. Such is the ravages of war.

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Elzbieta met and married Wladyslaw in London in 1949. They came to Canada in 1951 and settled in the north end of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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Elzbieta was very involved in her church and sang in it's choir. She was also involved in humanitarian efforts for those back in the old country, and toiled at sometimes three jobs to help make a go of it.

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Elzbieta passed away in Winnipeg on 17 February 2018 at the age of  96 years. She was buried at Brookside Cemetery

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Copyright: Specjan family