Feica, Dumitru and Anita

Dumitru Feica was born in Boian, Bucovina, and as a child he attended the village school and completed the elementary grades. When he was in his twenties he married Anija Lazur and settled in the local village. Caught up with the fever of other adventurous souls who wanted more out of life, he and his young family emigrated to Canada in the early spring of 1899.
He settled on a homestead in the Desjarlais district and farmed for a number of years. Being a deeply religious person and seeing that there was a lack of Romanian priests, he became ordained in 1923. He now combined farming and priesthood. As a result, the family moved about a good deal. They moved to Rouleau, Saskatchewan, then to Shandro, back to Desjarlais, then to Downey across the North Saskatchewan River and finally to Boian where Father and Mrs. Feica lived till retirement. In 1945 they moved to Edmonton, enjoying the conveniences of urban living. In 1949, Father Dumitru Feica died at the age of eighty-three. Preoteasa Anija followed him in 1952 at the age of seventy-eight. This couple raised a family of eleven children, Maria, Ileana, Gheorghe, Ioana, Katrina, Ionica (Jack), Toder, Petre (Pat), Vasilca (Violet), Louis (Elie), and Stephen. The youngest followed in his father’s footsteps and also entered the priesthood as a Romanian Orthodox priest. He served most of his life south of the border, occasionally visiting the province where he was born and brought up.