Educator.
Born at Juriw, Ukraine on 28 April 1892, he was a student at Dzurow within the Austrian Empire [later Dzhuriv, Ukraine] before he immigrated to Canada in 1909 and resided at Brandon. He attended the Ruthenian Training School and Brandon Collegiate Institute, the latter from which he graduated from Grade 10 with Honours and earned his Third Class Teaching Certificate. On 14 April 1914, he took his Oath of Citizenship and became a naturalized Canadian citizen.
He worked over 40 years in classrooms across rural Manitoba, teaching at Wheathill School (1917-1918), Plum Ridge School (1919-1922, Principal), Slawna School (1922-1923, 1924-1926, 1946-1955), Fisher Branch School (1926-1930, Principal), and Willow Plain School (1930-1946, 1957). He retired in 1955, though continued to do substitute teaching.
On 6 July 1920, he married Lena Porayko (?-?) at Winnipeg and they two children: Luba “Lu” Nykyforuk (1921-2014, wife of Theodore “Ted” Chornoboy) and Walter Nykyforuk (1925-1929). Both his children (along with a nephew and Stephen himself) were badly injured in a gasoline explosion in their Fisher Branch residence on 24 May 1929. Lacking any Canadian National Railway service that day, a local CNR employee drove them all, including the village's nurse, over primitive highways for seven hours to the Children's Hospital at Winnipeg.
He died at Bethesda Hospital at Steinbach on 4 November 1974 and was buried in the Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery.
Birth [Lubka Nykyforuk] and death [Walter NyKyforuk] registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Western Judicial District naturalization books and files (J 0308), #2995 - Stephen Nykyforuk, GR3045, Archives of Manitoba.
“Collegiate examination results [S. Nikyforuk],” Brandon Daily Sun, 20 January 1917, page 1.
“Five persons, three being children, are burned in explosion,” Manitoba Free Press, 25 May 1929, pages 1 and 2.
“Fisher Branch child succumbs to injuries,” Manitoba Free Press, 27 May 1929, page 9.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 November 1974, page 37.
St. Boniface estate files (ATG 0064A), #11840 - Stephen Nykyforuk, GR5705 Archives of Manitoba.
Obituary [Ted Chornoboy], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 March 1975, page 35.
Obituary [Luba Chornoboy], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 September 2014, page B14.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 7 May 2023
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