By Rick Pusiak
There's a very special couple in Sudbury who can honestly say they danced through a good part of the last century and held hands all the time.
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| bottom Anne and Mike Kuinka were married in Timmins on a cold Feb. 1, 1942. |
Mike and Anne Kuinka celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with family and friends at a big party at the Jubilee Centre Feb. 2.
Anne said one of the keys to the couples 60 years together is doing a lot of things together.
"We enjoyed Ukrainian dancing, we toured and we had a lot of things in common," says Anne.
"We loved to travel, we went to Cuba several times. I enjoyed him, and I loved him because of his personality and his friendliness with other people and with me...I guess it was just a combination of everything together."
Mike is a fun character and likes to kid.
"I've always said, 'how could I put up with her after all those 60 years'...whoops, just a minute now, it should have been the other way around. Of course, I'm always kidding. I think she put up with me."
It was definitely fate that Mike and Anne should connect all those years ago. They grew up on almost opposite sides of Canada.
Mike was born in Prince Rupert 82 years ago and was raised in Vancouver. Anne's home was in Timmins.
As members of Ukrainian families, they both developed a passion for the traditional dances and customs of their ancestors.
When Mike was about seven years old, a group of dancers from the old country came to Vancouver to perform. He was enthralled by the concert and the music that emanated from an accordion like device.
"From then on I thought 'oh gosh, I've got to learn how to do something like that'," he recalls.
In the 1930s at the height of The Depression, Mike hopped a freight train and headed east looking for work. He found employment in the gold mines of Timmins.
And we know who was living there. Anne and Mike met and found that they had a lot in common.
They both liked to dance and there was plenty of that at the Ukrainian Union Labour Temple, a thriving community centre in the mining town.
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| bottom Mike and Anne on their wedding day |
Romance blossomed and the two were married Feb. 1, 1942. Anne remembers the temperature that day. It was -29 F.
The couple didn't have a chance to be together for long. Mike, like most other young men at the time, joined the army and fought in the Second World War.
He served with the 19th Army Field Regiment and landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
He and his comrades got a savage reception from German troops manning gun emplacements on the cliffs overlooking the Allied landing area.
"Right up against the cliffside there, by a big house (the Germans were) sniping at us," says Mike.
"Anyways it was real hot, a hot engagement there for a while. We were all just digging deep (for cover). Everyone was scared. Seeing all the buddies of mine bobbing in the water there. It was awful."
Mike served in the army for three years. After being discharged from the service, he rejoined Anne in Timmins and the two headed for the West Coast.
"He came out of the army and he hadn't seen his parents for a long time, so he thought we'd go to Vancouver," recalls Anne.
"We went there for what we thought was going to be just a 'short hello' visit but they insisted we stay."
Mike's dancing abilities were noticed in Vancouver and he got an invitation to try out for the New York City-based Don Cossack Chorus, a professional entertainment troupe that featured Russian dancing and singing.
Mike met up with the group while it was performing in Seattle. His audition was a success and for the next year he crisscrossed North America for a series of one-night performances.
The highlight was a Jan. 2, 1948 show before a packed house at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Mike brought the house down with his high kicks and gyrations.
"You just want to give the audience extra, all you've got. I felt like I was floating on air."
He was also proud to be one of the first, if not the first Ukrainian-Canadian, to perform at Carnegie Hall.
Anne couldn't travel with Mike because the Don Cossack Chorus was an all-male group.
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"So in the meantime, I went back to Timmins to be with my parents," says Anne.
"Mike said 'what am I going to do all by myself, I think I'll join you in Timmins'."
The couple, who had no children, opened a dance studio on Third Avenue above a business called The Tropical Nut Shop. And they performed professionally in places such as Montreal and Lake Placid, N. Y.
The Kuinkas would probably still be in Timmins to this very day if it weren't for an interest in starting up an electrolysis business in the early 1950s.
Anne went to New York City to study the removal of excess body and facial hair by passing an electric current through the root.
Upon returning to Timmins she discovered the power system in the town was not compatible with the voltage required to operate the electrolysis equipment.
The closest community with a compatible power system was Sudbury.
The Kuinkas moved here in 1952 and set up Sudbury's first electrolysis practice in their home.
They've been in town ever since.
The Kuinkas are known in their New Sudbury neighbourhood for their beautiful flower and vegetable gardens.
They have continued to be active with the Ukrainian-Canadian community in Sudbury. Anne plays mandola in the Jubilee Folk Ensemble. The couple have danced in many productions produced by the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC).
Last year, Anne made a beautiful Ukrainian costume and dressed a life-sized doll. She donated the doll to the AUUC for a successful fundraising raffle.
About 200 people attended the Kuinkas' 60th anniversary party. Sudbury actor and friend Ron Tough, accompanied by Iona Pukara on the accordion, sang I Love You Truly, a song sang at their wedding on that cold day so long ago. The Kuinkas then danced together to another favourite, The Anniversary Waltz.
The love birds have some advice for other couples: After an argument, make sure you make up before the day ends.
Happy Valentine's Day Mike and Anne.
