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Frank Kriz, who died last year, is pictured here with his sister Bohuslava.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very special guy that way. There\u2019s no one like him that I know. Everyone has a little piece of him, in a sense, with how he fixed something for them or helped them out with something. That was his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The list of people Kriz helped over the years was a lengthy one.<\/p>\n
In addition to his many friends, it also included a number of charitable causes, including Jocelyn House Hospice, the Prostate Paddlers dragon boat racing team, Siloam Mission, Meals on Wheels and Folklorama.<\/p>\n
Jackie Bouvier first got to know Kriz 14 years ago when she began volunteering at Jocelyn House and worked closely with him when she was hired as the hospice\u2019s manager of volunteers, spiritual care and development nine years ago.<\/p>\n
Even though he had a full-time job as a electrical technician with Manitoba Hydro, Kriz served as the hospice\u2019s volunteer caretaker. He visited the facility on a daily basis where he did everything from rolling out its garbage and recycling bins to the curb and filling bird feeders to conducting weekly checks of its chairlift system and shovelling sidewalks for staff and visitors.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Kriz, an avid marathon runner, at the Manitoba Marathon in 1997.<\/p>\n \u201cSince he\u2019s been gone, we have started to realize he was kind of like our little angel. If there was a power outage in the neighbourhood, within minutes, you knew Frank was going to be at the back door asking if we had everything we needed,\u201d Bouvier says of Kriz, whom the non-profit honoured at its annual Sunday Supper fundraiser in May.<\/p>\n \u201cOriginally, I kind of thought we were special. But when I went to his memorial, over and over again, people got up and talked about how Frank helped them the same way he helped us. It\u2019s just who he was. He was just a kind, generous man.\u201d<\/p>\n Kriz was born July 11, 1948, in Trebic, Czech Republic, where he grew up with his parents, Ruzena and Frank Krizova, and younger sister, Bohuslava.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t an easy time for most Czech families. The country was still dealing with the aftermath of the Second World War. Then in August 1968, Russia and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to ensure the former Czechoslovakia remained under strict Soviet control.<\/p>\n In 1969, Kriz emmigrated to Canada. He settled in Winnipeg where he studied to become an electrician at Red River College. While he was reluctant to discuss the reasons for leaving his home country, it wasn\u2019t exactly a secret to those who knew him.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Kriz was an electrical technician with Manitoba Hydro.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us had exactly the same reason (for leaving),\u201d says friend Bob Wenzel, another Czech expat who got to know Kriz soon after they both arrived in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n \u201cLiving after the Second World War in communism, we all hated that. Then being under the Soviet Union, the Russians, they just walked in with guns and tanks. We all had had enough. We said forget it, just go across the border. You can shoot me or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Kriz quickly fell in love with his new Canadian home soon after arriving , but he never forgot his Czech roots.<\/p>\n He was a tireless supporter of the Canadian Czech-Slovak Benevolent Association and its members. He was appointed to the CCBA\u2019s board of directors as its public relations officer from 2019 until 2022 and served as the organization\u2019s president from 2022 until his passing on Nov. 19, 2025. There were countless stories of him helping out elderly members, cutting their grass or shovelling snow with his trademark smile and cheerful disposition.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I miss the most about him, the friendliness of him. He was always smiling. He never had anything negative in his life. He was always positive and always trying to help everybody,\u201d Wenzel recalls.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Kriz was the founder of the Friends of the Prairie Adventure Club \u2014 a group of Hydro employees, nurses and teachers \u2014 and he loved outdoor and cultural events.<\/p>\n Kriz worked as an electrician with Manitoba Hydro for nearly 40 years before retiring. His real passion, though, was the great outdoors.<\/p>\n He was the founder of the Friends of the Prairie Adventure Club, a group of Hydro employees, nurses and teachers that gathered regularly to \u201crespect nature, appreciate good music, and pursue outdoor and cultural events.\u201d The group, which numbered 50 members by 1998, organized canoe and camping trips, bingo bowling nights, barn dances and Santa breakfasts where Kriz, naturally, would play Santa for members\u2019 kids who became his adopted nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n Kriz was also an avid cross-country ski enthusiast. He was a longtime member of the Charleswood Ski Club which is now known as the Prairie Nordic Ski Club. His love of the sport was the inspiration for numerous ski trips to the Canadian Rockies and he even participated in the HalvBirken, a shorter, 28-kilometre version of Norway\u2019s iconic Birkebeinerrennet cross-country marathon.<\/p>\n Another of Kriz\u2019s passions was travel. Pick a spot on a globe and odds are Kriz visited it. His travel log included visits to Nepal, India, New Zealand, Sumatra, Indonesia, Bangkok, Borneo and Japan. He even got to meet famed explorer Sir Edmund Hillary during a visit to Nepal.<\/p>\n And while he always made a point of learning about the culture and customs of the countries he visited, he also found time to lend a hand to those in need. During one of his visits to India he lent his skills to help build a girls\u2019 orphanage.<\/p>\n
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