With heavy hearts, we announce that Lisa passed away on August 8th, 2020 during her sleep at home at the age of 65 years.

 

She was born, Elizabeth Katherina Sobistiansky, on August 20th, 1954 to Mary (nee. Sirman) and Joseph Sobistiansky in Vita, Manitoba. She married Larry Gel on October 26th, 1974 and had two children and later divorced. She is survived by her children Richard Gel (Alison Gel) and Carolynn Gel (Daniel Papineau); her beloved grand-girls Ashlynn and Kaitlynn Papineau; her brother Walter Sobistiansky and sister Oresia Ogloza; and her cat Boots. Lisa was a free-spirited, fun loving, intelligent woman who loved her children and grandchildren passionately. She enjoyed making people happy and easily made friends wherever she went.

 

Growing up rural Manitoba helped foster a life-long passion for animals and nature. Always a good sport, she would go on canoe trips and camping trips with her family and friends. There were many tales told about some adventure in the deep bush of the Whiteshell. She always enjoyed going to parks, especially to feed the geese and ducks. She shared this passion with her children and her grand-girls.

 

She moved to North Kildonan in Winnipeg as a young girl and attended Maple Leaf Elementary School and graduated from Miles MacDonald High School. She embraced her Ukrainian heritage by speaking the language, making a variety of ethnic dishes, and participating in Ukrainian dancing. She loved to dance and was thrilled to participate in the Dauphin Festival, where her troop won various recognitions and awards. For many years she attended St. Anne’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, her father helped to build it, and Holy Eucharist Church. Her favourite part of church was to celebrate the blessing of the baskets at Easter.

 

Lisa enjoyed travelling as often as she could. One of her biggest adventures was a mother-daughter road trip to Sarnia, Ontario to visit family. She loved the mountains and would fondly share tales about her adventures to BC to visit her brother, Walter, where she experienced wilderness camping, boating, and fishing. She loved catching the fish. She always said that the beauty of the mountains took her breath away. When she couldn’t get to BC, she enjoyed camping at Riding Mountain National Park with her children.

 

Lisa was a very intelligent and independent woman. While working as a taxation clerk for the CRA, she detected a fraud scheme and was acknowledged in the newspaper for her clever detective skills. She was a very strategic player at board games and cards. She spent many evenings playing games with her family and friends. She was a ruthless Monopoly player and loved playing cribbage.

 

This enthusiastic, intelligent, loving, kind woman left us earlier than we would have liked, but she left us with message: Live, Love, Laugh. She will be deeply missed.

 

Friends and relatives are encouraged to take a few moments to honour Lisa's memory by sharing photos, memories, and stories, using the comment section on this page.

 

A celebration of her life was held for her immediate family at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, August 20th, 2020 at St. Vital Park near the duck pond. There is a bench at the park in her honour at the following site. (49°49'42.3"N 97°08'41.5"W)  Please visit the park and enjoy the ducks and geese that brought her so much joy.