Serbu, Ion and Anita

Ion Serbu came to Canada with his parents Sava and Maria Serbu in 1899. The first winter they spent in a bordei near Whitford, but next spring they moved to Boian.
Ion had completed grade VI education in Bukovina and this helped him a good deal when he went out working at the age of eighteen in Alberta. He married Anija Skirka and they homesteaded just east of his parents’ quarter of land. Eight children were born to this couple; Katie, Harry, Bill, Kost, Doris, Jean, Rita and Sam.
One very cold winter day in 1929 Ion was returning from the Mundare flour mill with his sleigh full of bags of freshly milled flour, but for some reason, the load overturned and pinned Ion under. He could not pull himself free and he knew if help did not arrive he would freeze to death. Fortunately another farmer travelling on the same road saw the accident and after struggling for some time managed to free Ion. The unfortunate man never fully recovered and died a year or so later.
Anita was left a widow but managed to bring up the children on her own. One of the sons, Constantine, became a chef in Toronto. Doris, who married Tom Zaharichuk, has become a wellknown artist in Western Canada. Anita passed away in 1940. Both she and her husband are buried at Boian.