Zain Krikau was born on October 7, 1940 in Rosthern, SK to
William and Thelma Krikau. The second of
two children he was greeted by his sister, Olive. At a young age, Zain’s family moved to
Vancouver and then in 1950 to Silverdale.
In Silverdale, Zain attended the one room school known as
Silver Hill Elementary while his dad established the Lougheed Chevron
station.
Working at his dad’s garage station gave Zain an early
interest in mechanics and automobiles. This
turned out to be a blessing and a curse as Zain was notoriously hard on
vehicles… especially his brother-in-law, Larry’s, car.
His passion for driving lead him to help form the Mission
Road Ramblers Car Club followed by the Chauffer’s Custom Car Club.
However, it wasn’t until he was 22 that he found himself in
the Mission bowling alley, staring at a beautiful young woman named Donna. Ensuring that Donna knew his love for sports,
he took Donna to a BC Lions game at Empire Stadium where in the pandemonium of
a dramatic Lion’s touchdown, Donna hit Zain and knocked his glasses off his
face. The two made up and did so in
amazing fashion, getting married a couple years later on May 15, 1965.
14 months later, Janet was born, followed a couple years later
by Vince.
Throughout Zain’s early days of marriage, his grandfather,
Philip (who was a mayor in another town) inspired Zain to serve as a community
leader. He joined the Kinsmen Club,
served on the School Board, then on City Council, lead youth at Zion Christian
Fellowship, and played on a number of sports teams.
In 1980, Zain jumped on the AMSoil track and his van served
to be an icon in Mission. There was
something about seeing that van that made you feel like you lived in a good
community with good people. That feeling
came from the person Zain was and all that he represented.
In 1993, he started a new job as a part-time bus driver that
turned into 23 years of driving our kids to and from school. He loved his bus kids deeply, making it easy
for them to reciprocate that love.
Zain also loved to fish, canoe, golf, 4x4, and watch the
Canucks and Lions. He was always helping
others, whether it was helping people move with his van or plowing neighbour’s
and doctor’s driveways when it snowed.
If there was snow, he would get home, eat dinner and then disappear till
well after midnight, plowing other’s driveways.
The most significant moment in his life, however, wasn’t
related to any career or hobby choice, but was the day he gave his life to the
Lord in November 1977. For six years,
Donna had prayed for him and even hosted a Bible study where Zain heard more
about Jesus and His Church. It wasn’t
until a near-death experience, where the bulldozer he was driving rolled over
and nearly crushed him, that he gave his life to the Lord. Zain believed that Jesus saved him that day
from death, physically and spiritually, and from that day forward his life was forever
changed.
His life with Jesus made everything different, especially in
the area of his perspective and perseverance with his personal health. In 1994, Zain’s health became an issue and he
had to have a pacemaker installed. That
same day, one of his grandsons, Nathanial was born and so Zain nicknamed him
‘Pacer’. In 2003, he went through open-heart
surgery, followed by diabetes that lead to dialysis.
His health condition didn’t deter him from what he loved to
do. He continued to go for coffee with
his buddies, spend summer days on Barnie’s raft, go fishing, worship with his
Church family, and serve others.
On September 20, 2011 at 6:30am, Zain left our presence and
entered His Saviour’s.
His life and legacy lives on through his wife, Donna,
daughter Janet (Louie) Williams, and son Vince Krikau; grandsons Tyrel &
Nathaniel Williams and Joshua Krikau; grand daughters Brittany & Meghan
Krikau; step-grand daughters Carmen Hay and Haley Strom; sister Olive (Larry)
Kieler.
Zain, we love you and miss you!
