Phyllis Byer-Kohanchuk

I am a country girl who moved to the city. My life has been a series of changes. Not all bad changes, just changes which I try to covert to opportunities. As a little girl my dream was to travel the world, go to university, be a designer of my own clothes, play a musicial instrrument, sing in a band, record songs I wrote, be a photographer, and be in advertising design. Well, dreams are goals with action and with time lines. I have traveled much of the world and continue this passion, I have several diplomas, and certifications from the university, play piano, and accordian, wrote and recorded a couple of my songs, designed many of my outfits and sewed wedding gowns, and other apparel for clients, I did photos for clients, and bought a video camaera and began a business of video taping weddings. That was after I left the farm and before I turned 30. In my 30's life changed again. I had children. A girl and a boy. Then I added twins. Another girl and another boy. I was a mother very involved in my children's lives. They were in many activities. Swimming, dancing, catechism, art classes, drama, acting, and many sports which included soccer, baseball, tennis, hockey, inline hockey, & rugby. In 2001 my husband was diagnosed with cancer and April 3, 2020 he succumbed to the cancer. the twins were 11, the other son was 15 and my older daughter was 20. May 2 of 2002, one month after my husband's death, I lost my job with AT&T; Canada, along with 1000 others. Now, 3 of them play in the United States, one played for Team Canada for 2 years and they all three seem to enjoy the experieince gained from their passion for ice hockey. Now that the children are away part of the year, I host international high school students. My students have been from Russia, Japan, Brazil, and Hong Kong. It is interesting to learn about their traditions, cultures, similarities and differences. I will continue to host these students for a few years. My passion is to continue to travel and go to visit my hockey players and also set a few new goals. One is to write a book about "How to Recover from 8 Company restructuring." Another goal is to purchase 2 more houses. Suring the past few years I purchased 5. One for our home, one for my retirement, one for my friend's retirement, one for my eldest daughter, and one for my eldest son. Now I just have to ensure the twins have a rental income in their later years and thus my goal is to purchase one small rental f