Artist, community activist.
Born at Fraserwood in 1933 to Ann “Annie” Tkach (1916-2003) and John Shymkiw (1913-1980), she was raised in Winnipeg, where she worked at the Women’s Pavilion and a Marshall Wells store before marrying William D. “Bill” Trynacity (1929-2005) in 1952. They moved to Gimli where they raised their two daughters. There, she was a clerk-typist at the Canadian Forces Base Gimli until it closed in 1971, and then later worked for the Canada Employment Centre, and finally at the RCMP detachment at Arborg.
One of her passions was art. She was not only a painter, but also served as President of the Gimli Art Club numerous times. In that capacity, she was a driving force behind the creation of a mural gallery on the Gimli seawall in 1997. Up to then, it was a plain, concrete, 997-feet-long, six-feet-high protective wall running along the town’s harbour. Together with the Art Club, she helped to establish guidelines for artists to paint murals on the seawall that depicted the history and culture of Gimli, resulting in the harbour becoming a popular feature for tourists. The first three of the 36 original paintings, depicting the history of Gimli, will always remain constant, while the others can and have sometimes been replaced, in keeping with criteria set by the Art Club.
Shortly after her husband died, a freak accident caused her to become a quadriplegic. Despite the struggles that ensued, she defied naysayers and lived independently with help from a support system and innovative technology. She continued to keep her regular appointments, see her hairdresser, and paint.
She died at Gimli on 17 August 2009 and was buried in the Gimli Community Cemetery.
Obituary [William Trynacity], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 June 2005.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 August 2009.
“Margaret ‘Marge’ Florence Trynacity,” Bishop-Herechuk Family Tree, Ancestry.
Margaret F. Shymkiw Trynacity, FindAGrave.
The Gimli Seawall, Gimli Art Club.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 25 August 2025
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