David Yurkiw

DAVID  THOMAS  GEORGE  YURKIW

Dave was born at Radway, Alberta on April 5, 1955 to his loving parents Katherine Meleshko Yurkiw and Paul Yurkiw, who lived on a farm 3 miles north of Radway.  In 1955, the TV show Davy Crockett was very popular, and everyone was singing the theme song, “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier”, so Dave was an obvious name to be called in that year.

Dave has two sisters and one brother: Patricia (born 1950), Teresa (born 1952), Lawrence (1954 to 2007).  The four siblings were called “the Four Musketeers” by relatives and friends, as they did everything together growing up, both good and naughty.

Growing up on the farm was extraordinary, as many of the skills and passions that Dave acquired came from these formative years, especially his love, appreciation and caring of animals, his love of gardening (from vegetables to flowers and trees), preserving nature’s bounty, his respect for nature as it was all around us, his creativity and ingenuity in improving any need that arose (as this was a necessity on the farm), and his love of family and friends as we were all dependent on each other. It all required lots of hard work, determination and perseverance, and Dave never shied away from any of it.

In school, Dave was a great student and a voracious reader on a wide variety of topics and was a walking Wikipedia of knowledge.  He won awards in his school years at Radway and Thorhild, Alberta, and later he attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton.  At university, the Four Musketeers were all together for one year as students, and loving that precious time.  In 1974, Dave’s parents sold their farm at Radway and moved to Edmonton, which then became a special place to gather. In 1975, Dave made a career decision to join the Edmonton Police Service, which he loved doing, and was very proud of, and was the start of a life-fulfilling career that continued with the New Westminster Police until his retirement. 

Dave was always in terrific physical shape. In school, we admired his stamina in his competitions in track & field events.  His daily routine involved long walks, which continued when he had dogs, including police dogs.  Keeping up with Dave on his walks was always a challenge, due to his enthusiasm, fitness and stamina.  During these walks, Dave loved to talk about everything.

Dave excelled at whatever he undertook to accomplish.  He was an avid artist, his photography of his travels were exemplary, his gardening knowledge was beyond impressive, his love of building, carpentry and woodworking to create masterpieces of furniture and toys was amazing, and his culinary skills included pickling, his famous Big Barr Chili and his super Lemon Pies.  Dave was asked if there was anything that he could not do, and he answered, “Play an instrument and swim”, and the response was: “Seriously, that’s it?”  We know that if he had tried, he would have excelled at that also.

Dave had that beautiful smile that matched his kindness, thoughtfulness and his sincerity, as he approached every step in his life.  His great love of his children, Ben and Bethany, his over-the-moon love of his grandchildren Xavier and Autumn, his love of family, colleagues, and his great zest for life, was infectious. Everyone loved and enjoyed being in his presence.

Dave has left all of us with a large hole in our hearts and in our lives.  However, we know that little by little, it will start to heal as we remember all those precious memories that we are all honoured and privileged to have experienced with him.  To say that he made a difference in our lives is an understatement.  We were all blessed with that bright light that was Dave, and he made this world a better place for all of us. Now, as we look up to heaven, we can say: “Dave, Thanks for the memories.  We love you so much, and always will”.

Written by Patricia Rusnak, Dave's eldest sister.