January 9, 1923 – July 7, 2013
at the age of 90 years

 Celebration of Life Mass will be held at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church (#60, 1^st St SE, Salmon Arm) on Friday, July 19^th at 11:00 am.

We are sad to announce that the earthly journey of Rudy Sikora ended on July 7, 2013 at the age of 90 years.

Rudy was born in Atwater, SK on January 9, 1923 to Steve and Ida (Nagy) Sikora.  He grew up and helped on the family farm in Willowbrook, SK until 1947 when the family moved to Abbotsford, BC.  Rudy had  a talent for mechanics and held several jobs in the field — first in Abbotsford, then Prince George and Dawson Creek, which is where he met Peggy Coutts.  They were married in 1955.  The young couple moved to Kemano and enjoyed 4 years of life in the company town.  The first two of their children were born while living there.  In 1959 Rudy and Peggy moved to Sorrento and became permanent Shuswap residents.  Rudy built Sorrento Esso and operated the service station for several years, until he sold it to his cousin Arnold Nagy.  After that the family, which had by then expanded to 6 children, lived in a house they built on Notch Hill Road and Rudy built a large shop where he continued to do mechanical and auto body repairs for several years. A move to Tappen occurred in 1981 with another large shop built to house his continuing projects.   To quote a cousin, Rudy had “an ingenious ability to create something out of nothing.”  Many will remember the travel trailer he built for family vacations, and then the motorhome and camperized van that followed.

Rudy was one of the founding (charter) members of the Sorrento Lions Club and was active and dedicated for many years.  He was instrumental in some of their major projects including expansion of the Sorrento Hall, the pit barbeques, parade and casino every August long weekend. One achievement of which he was most proud, was the building of the Sorrento Lions Manor senior’s complex, a project which he conceived and led through to completion.

Rudy will be remembered for his quick wit, twinkling eyes and wonderful sense of humour.  He truly loved striking up a conversation with anyone he met, and in very short time would often discover they had mutual friends or relatives. He had a passion for fishing, music, dancing, painting, and travel. He was interested in almost any topic and loved to watch or read about astronomy, space travel, and world geography.

Rudy is survived by Peggy, his wife of 57 years, and his children; Karen, Marion (Eef), Evelyn (Greg), Donald (Sandra), Anne (Duane) and Doug; also by 6 grandchildren, one great-grandson, nieces, nephews and many, many relatives.  He will be sadly missed but we know his parents, sister Edith, grandson Ryan, and many other departed souls were there with open arms to greet Rudy on his arrival.

The family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the wonderful staff at Community Care, Bastion Place and Shuswap Lake General Hospital for the loving care that helped make Rudy’s last years and days as comfortable as possible.

A Celebration of Life Mass will be held at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church (#60, 1^st St SE, Salmon Arm) on Friday, July 19^th at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Special Account # 899914 at Salmon Arm Savings & Credit Union, a “Rudy Sikora Memorial Senior’s Fund”.  Rudy would be very pleased to know that funds will be used for necessary supplies and equipment for needy and palliative seniors in the Shuswap area.