Bill Adamowski

William John Adamowski (Billy), age 64, passed away suddenly in his sleep at his home in Dauphin on Saturday November 11, 2023.

Billy was born January 3, 1959, at the Dauphin General Hospital to Joseph and Mary Adamowski (nee Hrominchuk)

He was the 4th of 5 children.  From a very young age, he was a sweet, happy, impish trickster.  He was always looking at the bright side.  When his little sister would get reprimanded and be sad, he would tell her “Just think happy thoughts”!  He was a wonderful, generous son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend.  

Billy started school in a one-room country school in Rosa district as a pre-primer and finished his elementary school at Pine River.  He did his high school at Ethelbert Collegiate.  He had a large group of very close friends--many who became life-long friends.  Over the years, he has been pre-deceased by some of his closest friends, most importantly Gerald Romaniuk, his friend from birth onward.

Although small in stature, he was an enthusiastic and agile athlete, winning a few MVP awards and joining every sport he could.  He was captain of his high school basketball team.

After leaving school, he married his high school sweetheart, Eileen Oliver.  They were together for a short time.  They took a trip to Europe and visited many countries. They lived in Calgary where Billy worked for a school division doing maintenance and construction. They moved to Keremeos BC where he worked for the town.   After they separated, he moved to Golden and worked at logging with his friends Gerald, Ralph and Brian.   He then returned to his passion for fruit and produce and opened a fruit stand in Golden, Rocky Mountain Fruits and Veggies.  He would always watch for a Manitoba licence plate and if the people were from anywhere near Dauphin, he would give them a great deal on their purchases and then send boxes of fruit “home” for us.  It was the best fruit we ever tasted.  His generosity knew no bounds!  He worked for his brother Joey and Linda and friends Ralph and Karen at their IGA store in Golden where he continued his passion for produce.

In 1987, he took a trip to Australia and stayed for 6 months. In fact, he considered returning to Canada that winter, but upon learning it was -30 degrees, he decided to stay ‘down under’ for another month! It was a time of rejuvenation for him.  He enjoyed many trips to Mexico before his Lupus caused reactions to the sun.  

In 1998, he moved back to Dauphin, driving daily to Winnipegosis where he worked at the Locker Plant.  He soon got a job as produce manager at Extra Foods in Dauphin.  He excelled at this.  His humour, work ethic, and customer service skills endeared him to many of his customers and co-workers.  He took great pride in having a beautiful selection and variety of produce.   He continued working for them after they changed over to No Frills.

He retired in July of 2022.  He enjoyed the freedom from stress and his leisure time.  He could watch Coronation Street any time he chose.

He dearly loved and was loved by his siblings and especially his nieces and nephews and great nephews and great nieces.  He kept in close contact and always celebrated all their achievements.  He acknowledged and appreciated all their various uniqueness.  No holiday or special occasion will be the same without our Billy.  We will all miss his phenomenal meals.  He was an accomplished cook, and his fish fries were out of this world.  As he would say, “Pick Caw Rall”.

In January of this year, we lost our older brother Joey who was Billy’s buddy for life.  This affected him deeply.

Billy is survived by: his mother Mary Adamowski of Dauphin, sisters Marge Knowlton (Bruce) of Delta B.C., Elizabeth” Ezzy” Winters (Craig) of Dauphin, Mb., and Mary Ellen “Tootsie” Parsons (Kelly) of Swan River Mb; his nieces and nephews Mandy and Chelsey Adamowski, David , Shannon, and Nicholas Winters, Brooke Knowlton, Kathryn, Christina and Sara Parsons.  Great nieces and nephews Emmett and Everleigh and Peter and Annie.  Many cousins and friends.

He was predeceased by his father Joe Adamowski, brother Joey, sister-in-law Ruth and his nephew Brucie.  He was also predeceased by his much-loved dogs Missy, Brownie, Donald, and Squeak.  

Special thank you to Hank Gorzala for your friendship and kindness to Billy during his illness.

A memorial is planned for early summer.  Details will be announced closer to that time.  

Donations may be made to http://lupuscanada.org.  

As Billy would say, “XNY556 A for Apple, Over and Out”.

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