For nearly 85 years, Eugene Stefaniuk has walked the roads of Western Canada.
From his formative years as a Saskatchewan farm boy during the Great Depression to his work as a clergyman, Stefaniuk has seen it all. And it’s a story he wanted to share in his most recent book, I Also Walked On This Earth.
“I wrote it because I wanted people to know how we lived during the Depression and the hard times,” Stefaniuk says. “We didn’t have anything at that time.”
I Also Walked On This Earth tells Stefaniuk’s story, from his early travels with his parents in a covered wagon from Saskatchewan to Manitoba; his experience as an educator; his military history with the Royal Canadian Air Force; and finally to his work as a reverend.
Stefaniuk, now a Vernon resident, compiled the 847-page memoir from a collection of his diaries written over the course of his adult life, starting in 1962. And while he feels he has more to say, he knew it was time to publish his third book.
“I wanted people to know what I did in my lifetime,” Stefaniuk said. “I’ll be 85 in a few months. How much time do I have left?”
Stefaniuk will be hosting a signing of I Also Walked On This Earth at Bookland July 15, from noon to 2 p.m.
