Obituary: Rosedale’s Margaret Koropatnicki was ‘a pillar of the community’
It was not for nothing that the ball diamonds in Rosedale Park were named after Margaret Koropatnicki.
Koropatnicki - who died March 16 at age 95 - was instrumental in getting additional ball diamonds - from one to six - built at the Greenhill Avenue park after she moved to the neighbourhood in 1951. The complex was named the Margaret Koropatnicki Softball Complex in 2018.
She also lobbied to get the Rosedale Arena built, helped found the Rosedale Seniors Club in 1976 (when she was too young to join) and oversaw activities at the Rosedale Winterfest in 1978, the city's first wintertime festival.
But she was probably best known for softball, as well as her involvement in the Ontario Senior Games. Koropatnicki played softball when she was young and met her husband Bill at a softball diamond when he was the catcher for a team from Sheho, Sask.
Mrs. K or Auntie Margaret - as she was affectionately called - was approached by a neighbour to assist in the creation of a softball league to promote and teach softball skills to young adults.
This led to the founding of the Rosedale Community Council. Koropatnicki served as a baseball coach between 1954 and 1990. When there was only one diamond, she was known to race a member of a competing club to the diamond. The winner secured the diamond for the league that night.
Her grandson Grant Koropatnicki recalled the time she got water to the diamonds by having neighbours run garden hoses into the park.
They did that every night," he said, adding that even when she stopped coaching in 1990 she still came to the ball games to keep score and make sure everything was running properly.
Her daughter Georgia James said her mother was never one to blow her own horn. She said her mother was very kind" and a good listener.
She would never take the praise herself," said the retired elementary school teacher. She might have been the organizer, but she acknowledged the others who helped."
Her daughter-in-law Judy Koropatnicki called her mother-in-law a pillar of the community. She just loved everyone in the neighbourhood and everyone came to see her. Everyone played baseball for her."
Koropatnicki received the Senior Citizen of the Year Award in 1997, an Ontario Volunteer Service Award in 2004 (for her time spent on the Senior Games) and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Koropatnicki was born Jan. 17, 1928, near the hamlet of Insinger, Sask. Her maiden name was Mallek and she was raised on her grandparents' farm. It was the Depression and James said her mother told of how the family helped people hitching through town on the CNR line.
Koropatnicki went to university in Saskatoon before she and her husband moved to Hamilton. Bill Koropatnicki worked as a truck driver at Canadian Liquid Air and died of a heart attack at age 64 in 1984.
Koropatnicki got involved with the Ontario Senior Games in 1989 and oversaw it when it was held in Hamilton in 1992. She introduced 10-pin bowling to the competition, open to adults over age 55.
Some people may have seen Koropatnicki knitting near the front door when they visited The End Zone, the family's restaurant on Main Street East. Her son Don said she spent 20 years knitting baby bonnets for area hospitals. She just loved people," he said.
Koropatnicki is survived by her children Georgia and Don, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters Janet and Linda.
Visitation is set for June 16, 1 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., at the Markey-Dermody Funeral Home, 1774 King St. E. The funeral service will be held June 17 at the funeral home at 11.30 a.m., followed by a celebration of life at The End Zone, 1305 Main St. E.
Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com