Carolyn Jean (Froese) Nikulak

She was gracefully called home after several years of kidney and heart concerns. The same grace that she had showed her whole life. Predeceased by parents Frank and Jennie Froese and daughter Angelea, she leaves to mourn Husband of  41 years Steven, children Martin (Dianne), Julie (Jared), Ross, Patrick, Quinn (Jessica), grandchildren Carter, Kent, Laura, Samantha, Daniel. Many of her friends, students, fellow lifelong learners and co-workers from SIIT and SIAST will miss her quick wit. Carolyn took life with a grace that few of us could ever follow, as a single mother she was prepared to raise her son and carry on with life. She earned her income by typing papers for university students for pennies a page, while wanting to pursue a career in Nursing. Love and marriage changed her plans and she accepted the change and more children came along and this delayed her plan once more. With the birth of her sixth child, she felt it was time to start the plan with just one class during the summer. She did very well and Carolyn was off on the plan. All the lessons of grace that she had accepted and taught to her family over the years were tested. She went SIAST full time and became an RPN, (Governor Generals Medal) and soon became a double designate RPN/RN. This was followed by a Bachelor of General Studies from the British Columbia Open University.  

This gracious lady then had a major back injury that precluded her from practicing her craft as she had intended. She became a tutor to a number of SIAST students and was happy when they succeeded and graduated. With the sudden and tragic death of her daughter she would call upon the grace to give her strength to carry on. Carolyn found another opportunity to teach for SIIT and share her knowledge with the many students in their LPN program. She continued this right up to the time that her health was drastically impacted and her kidneys had ceased to function. She needed dialysis in order to survive and for many years she was a Home Hemo Dialysis patient that limited her social and family life dramatically. During this time she also assisted the Regina Campus of the College of Medicine as an actor for the doctors in waiting.

She received the gift of life, a kidney transplant in June 2019. There were a lot of questions if the transplant would last and she stated that it would have to be left in the ‘Hands of the Carpenter’. Two years later the problem that was causing the concern about the success of the transplant was confirmed to have resolved without further surgical or medical intervention. It was a miracle that she had survived so many challenges and she believed that God does not waste his miracles.

For almost twenty-five years Carolyn acted for the RCMP and enjoyed helping those Cadets become Officers. She was awarded the Queens Jubilee Medal for that volunteer service. One Cadet a number of years ago stated that it was the realistic acting of all the actors that helped prepare them for service and said that Carolyn was one of the best town drunks. He had no idea that Carolyn was a teetotaler and thus it was real acting.