Obituary of Tony Unrau

Tony was born on July 9, 1953, in Chaco, Paraguay, to Abram and Katharina Unrau. On Tuesday, December 5, 2023, in the afternoon, Tony peacefully passed on to be with his Lord and Saviour, while at the De Salaberry District Health Centre, St. Pierre-Jolys, MB.

Tony was predeceased by his parents Abram and Katharina Unrau, one sister, Dora Giesbrecht, two brothers-in-law, Martin Giesbrecht, and Peter Sawatzky.

Tony is survived by his two children, Micheal Unrau/Lisa Jenkins of Winnipeg MB., and Charlene/Paul Young of Grunthal, MB. He is also survived by nine sisters, Susie/Peter Friesen, Tina Sawatzky, Mary/Jake Doerksen, Lisa /Norm Wiebe, Martha/Abe Unrau, Ann/Cornie Hiebert, Hilda/Bill Nickel, Lena/Jake Nickel, and Alvira/Darcy Penner; two brothers; Ben/Marge Unrau, and George/Elma Unrau; five grandchildren Ed Young, Ben Young, Ellie Young, Ethan Jenkins and Tristan Jenkins.

Tony came to Canada in July of 1967 together with his parents and 11 siblings, making huge adjustments to a different lifestyle, environment, language, school and friends. Leaving the transportation of horses behind and becoming interested in cars instead, he had an incredible memory of naming the year and make of cars.  At a very young age he started his first job at Loewen Windows and after a few years went on to work at Granny’s Poultry, now called Exceldor. He worked there until his retirement at age 65.

Tony was a very quiet man, but when asked questions, if time was given, he would have answers for you. He had the opportunity to travel back to Paraguay, once together with his brother Ben and another time together with both of his brothers. This was very valuable to him.

Tony lived alone for a long period of time, and we think that perhaps, to keep from getting too bored, he would sell his home and moved frequently. He even moved close to Lake Winnipeg in hopes of doing some fishing once he retired, but it didn’t take long and he moved back closer to be closer to family, and his church where he was a member for approximately 25 years. He enjoyed fishing if given the opportunity.

Deep in Tony’s heart he was a very caring soft-hearted man, didn’t think much about arguing. As a young boy he accidentally stepped on a baby chick and went to his sister Tina in hopes that they would be able to resurrect it. In the last months we got to see a different side of him, he had a sense of humour, claiming that the reason he had such few hairs was due to his twin sister Martha being born first and had a firm grip on his hair, pulling most of them out, wanting him to immediately follow.

On March 4, 2023, Tony was rushed to Health Science Centre due to a serious esophageal bleed. It was during his stay there that he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. His hope was in the Lord, and that He would heal Tony, and at one point was proud to tell the cancer care nurse that he had already lived longer than the average expected time. Even just hours before he passed away, he was asked about his truck and his reply was that he still wanted to keep it a little bit longer. He still seemed to have hope.

In the beginning of October, Tony moved in with his twin sister Martha and Abe. As a family we would like to thank you both, for the love and care that you gave to Tony and his family as well as having an open door to the rest of us to come and spend time with Tony at our convenience.

The family would also like to thank Dr. Lila Boroditsky, and Dr. Darren Reimer, Melanie, Jillian, and Kim from the Cancer Care team for all their help during Tony’s cancer journey.

The funeral service will be held Sunday, December 10, 2023, at 2:00 p.m., at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, MB., with interment at Blumenort Community Church Cemetery, Blumenort, MB.  A private family reception will be held.