Michael SwystunCourtesy of family
Michael Swystun: Musician. Machinist. Father. Friend. Born Nov. 11, 1921, in Nestanichi, Western Ukraine; died Feb. 18, 2023, in Edmonton; of natural causes; aged 101.
Michael Swystun finished high school in Zboiska, Lviv, where he graduated with a love of music and fluency in several languages, including French and Latin. He was a gifted tenor and dreamed of a career in music.
When Russia occupied Western Ukraine in 1939, 18-year-old Michael moved to a small village near Lviv, where he taught Grade 3 and music. When war erupted between Russia and Germany, Michael joined the Ukrainian Independence Movement and fled to Germany with three friends. They were sent to a labour camp and during this time, he learned German, as well as Russian, Polish and some Czech.
After the chaos of liberation, he and his friends boarded a crowded train. A Russian soldier shouted that all Ukrainians would be repatriated to the Soviet Union. Mike addressed the soldier in French, saying that his group was returning to France. His quick thinking saved their lives, and his friends never forgot it.
In 1948, while living in a refugee camp in Germany, he wrote a letter that changed the course of his life.
Mike’s oldest sister Katie had moved to Canada when he was very young. Armed only with her name and a town (Evansburg, Alta.), he wrote her a letter. Incredibly she received it, and paid his way to Canada. They remained close for the rest of his life.
Mike had learned machinist skills at the work camp and worked in Edmonton at a tractor shop. He also joined the St. Josephat men’s choir, where he was recruited by a professional choir in Toronto.
Mike lived in Toronto for six years and recorded a song that became popular among the Ukrainian diaspora. But making a living as a musician was hard. Seeking a more stable career, he began taking electronics courses, too.
Eventually, he moved back to Edmonton and opened Orbit Shoe Store. He also found work as a TV technician and life took another turn.
Mike Swystun, front row, second from right, founded the Kashtany Singers, which performed Ukrainian folk music.Courtesy of family
At a friend’s house on Boxing Day 1956, he met Stephie Chomyn, a beautiful young woman who mentioned her television was not working. Mike arrived at her parents’ house the next day to fix it. He noticed she had a record sung in Ukrainian. He asked if she liked this song. She said the singer was marvellous. This was the record Mike had recorded in Toronto a year earlier. He asked her out, and six months later, in July, 1957, they married.
The couple lived with Stephie’s parents for nine years, while they saved money for a house. During this time, Mike worked as a machinist and conducted the National Hall Men’s Choir in Edmonton.
He gave up conducting to build, by hand, the house he had dreamed of for his family, which now included two sons: Stephen and Donald and a daughter, Catherine.
In the 1970s Mike converted an old school bus and the family spent many summers camping in Radium B.C., Canada’s “Ukrainian Riviera.” He attended nearly every soccer game his kids played and was famous for yelling encouragement from the sidelines. He fostered a love of art in them and drove Steve to painting lessons for years. All three children learned to play and read music.
Mike was an entrepreneur, an artist and a technician. In 1968, he founded the Kashtany male ensemble which performed Ukrainian folk music. Under Mike’s direction, Kashtany recorded an album and toured Western Canada and Europe. In 1975, he opened a machine shop with friends, and five years later went out on his own running Hamco Machine Shop until he retired in 1988.
Mike planted and grafted apple trees, made potent cherry wine, excellent seedless raspberry jam and loved ice fishing. His three grandchildren loved their Dido’s famous fried fish.
Mike was an active member of the Ukrainian community in Edmonton. He said had he been younger, he would have gone to fight for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
It is difficult to imagine life without Michael Swystun. His family is grateful for his musical legacy and their memories.
Kerrie Penney is Mike Swystun’s daughter-in-law.
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