Constantine Kotchonoski was born at Tarnopal, Poland in 1886. In 1907, at the of twenty-one, he and an older brother, John, emigrated to Canada and settled in Estevan, Saskatchewan, where they were employed as coal miners. In 1915, John moved west to Hillcrest, Alberta, and worked as a contract coal miner. The previous year in 1914, a mine explosion at Hillcrest had killed 179 miners. The mine was located under Turtle Mountain where a major rock slide had covered the valley in 1903 and buried fifty-nine people.
Tekla (maiden name Michalyshyn) Raitz, later Kohanowski, was born in Poland in the Lwow-Vilna area on Christmas Day, 1888. In 1912, her husband, Michael Raitz, emigrated to Canada and settled in Estevan, Saskatchewan. In 1914 Tekla sailed on the last passenger ship to leave the port of Danzig before the outbreak of World War 1. She had four children with her. In 1915-16 Tekla had two more children in Estevan.
In 1917, Michael Raitz died of a massive heart attack at the age of thirty-nine, leaving Tekla with six children. In 1918, in Estevan, Constantine (Gus) Kohanowski married Tekla Raitz, now a twenty-nine-year-old widow with six children.
In 1919, Michael Kohanowski was born in Bienfait, Sask. The family (Gus, Tekla, Michael and stepson Edward) then moved to Hillcrest, Alberta. In 1920 Gus found employment at the Hillcrest mines, working as a coal miner with brother John. Uncle John was a quiet sober man with some schooling. He established the family surname as Kohanowski. He died of cancer in 1923.
Three more children were born to the family in Hillcrest: Steven in 1921, Mary in 1922 and Lena in 1924.
In 1925 Gus developed a ten acre potato farm while he was employed at Hillcrest Mines. He sold potatoes by the wagon load to restaurants in Blairmore and Bellevue.
Tekla was responsible for the livestock: two dairy cows, two horses, hogs and the poultry (chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks). The acreage location was ideal with a mountain stream and a pond.
Early in 1925, stepson John Raitz arrived to work for the Crowsnest Power Company. He was twenty-one years of age.
In the spring of 1926, stepson William Raitz, age eighteen, was killed by lightning while ploughing on a farm in Saskatchewan during a thunderstorm. His mother Tekla received a double indemnity insurance of $4000.
In 1927 the family moved to Lethbridge where William was born in 1928. Gus, at this time, decided to buy a car, a 1928 Overland Whippet Six Sedan with glass windows for $1300. He had previously owned a used 1921 Model T Ford (price $200) and a used 1924 McLaughlin-Buick touring car.
Bill was only four weeks old when Gus decided to travel with the family through the Crowsnest Pass to Kimberley and Trail hoping to find work. Mining jobs were scarce in B.C. A Trail miner, originally from Bankhead, informed Gus that there were job openings at the Canmore mines.
After travelling through the Kootenays and Radium on narrow gravelly roads, the family arrived at Banff on June 9, 1928. On June 10, Gus drove alone to Canmore and signed on as a coal miner with the Canmore Coal Company. The family arrived in Canmore the next day in the middle of a severe snow storm. During the night fourteen inches of wet snow fell, collapsing the roof of the local skating rink.
On February 9, 1930, Tekla gave birth to the last member of the family. Philip was born at home with the help of Doctor Worthington.
In 1932 Tekla sold an orchard in Poland for $3400. This property was inherited from her first husband, Michael Raitz. Tekla had additional farmland where her two sisters lived with their families. She refused to sell this adjoining land because it would deprive her sisters of a means of making a living. The Depression was worldwide then. The worst years were 1932 and 1933.
Michael, Edward, Steve, Lena, Bill and Phil all attended school in Canmore. The boys worked, at one time or other, at the Canmore mines. Of the boys, Phil worked there the longest. He worked at the Tipple, No. 5 mine and No. 4 mine. He also played hockey for quite a few years and then moved to Banff in 1956.
Constantine (Gus) Kohanowski passed away in 1963. Tekla Kohanowski passed away in 1964. Both are buried in the family plot in Banff with Mike and the ashes of John Raitz. Michael Kotchonoski, at age nineteen, died from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident at the Banff East Gates.
Edward Raitz married Yvonne Cormier from Canmore and now lives in Penticton, B.C.
Steve Kotchonoski married Joann Gillis and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Mary Kotchonoski married Eric Pearsall and now lives in Calgary, Alberta.
Lena Kotchonoski married Mike Boychuk and now lives in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Bill Kotchonoski married Joyce Best and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Phil Kotchonoski married Joyce Conner and now lives in Victoria, B.C.
The reason for the different spelling for the Kohanowski family name was no one could really read or write in English so whomever was in charge wrote down what the name sounded like. When the birth certificates were made out to the family some had different spelling. When the children went to school some teacher decided to spell it Kotchonoski and that is the way it is spelled to this day.
I would just like to mention that Canmore was a great little town. People were friendly and everyone knew each other and were always willing to help one another in times of need. The town was also very sports-oriented and I am glad to have been born in Canmore.
Constantine and Tekla Kohanowski
Ed Raitz, Bill Kotchonoski, Mary Pearsall, Lena Boychuk, Phil Kotchonoski, Steve Hardy
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p.147-148.
