‘He lived to help others’

Frank Kriz never wore a halo or wings, but talk to the many people he helped during his life and you would swear the man was a real-life angel.

For those who were fortunate enough to call him friend, he was always there to lend a hand, whether it was helping fix a wiring issue in someone’s house or organizing a group camping trip.

“He lived for other people, for helping other people,” says close friend Brian Turner.

“He was a very special guy that way. There’s no one like him that I know. Everyone has a little piece of him, in a sense, with how he fixed something for them or helped them out with something. That was his legacy.”

The list of people Kriz helped over the years was a lengthy one.

In addition to his many friends, it also included a number of charitable causes, including Jocelyn House Hospice, the Prostate Paddlers dragon boat racing team, Siloam Mission, Meals on Wheels and Folklorama.

Jackie Bouvier first got to know Kriz 14 years ago when she began volunteering at Jocelyn House and worked closely with him when she was hired as the hospice’s manager of volunteers, spiritual care and development nine years ago.

Even though he had a full-time job as a electrical technician with Manitoba Hydro, Kriz served as the hospice’s volunteer caretaker. He visited the facility on a daily basis where he did everything from rolling out its garbage and recycling bins to the curb and filling bird feeders to conducting weekly checks of its chairlift system and shovelling sidewalks for staff and visitors.

“Since he’s been gone, we have started to realize he was kind of like our little angel. If there was a power outage in the neighbourhood, within minutes, you knew Frank was going to be at the back door asking if we had everything we needed,” Bouvier says of Kriz, whom the non-profit honoured at its annual Sunday Supper fundraiser in May.

“Originally, I kind of thought we were special. But when I went to his memorial, over and over again, people got up and talked about how Frank helped them the same way he helped us. It’s just who he was. He was just a kind, generous man.”

Kriz was born July 11, 1948, in Trebic, Czech Republic, where he grew up with his parents, Ruzena and Frank Krizova, and younger sister, Bohuslava.

It wasn’t an easy time for most Czech families. The country was still dealing with the aftermath of the Second World War. Then in August 1968, Russia and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to ensure the former Czechoslovakia remained under strict Soviet control.

In 1969, Kriz emmigrated to Canada. He settled in Winnipeg where he studied to become an electrician at Red River College. While he was reluctant to discuss the reasons for leaving his home country, it wasn’t exactly a secret to those who knew him.

“All of us had exactly the same reason (for leaving),” says friend Bob Wenzel, another Czech expat who got to know Kriz soon after they both arrived in Winnipeg.

“Living after the Second World War in communism, we all hated that. Then being under the Soviet Union, the Russians, they just walked in with guns and tanks. We all had had enough. We said forget it, just go across the border. You can shoot me or not.”

Kriz quickly fell in love with his new Canadian home soon after arriving , but he never forgot his Czech roots.

He was a tireless supporter of the Canadian Czech-Slovak Benevolent Association and its members. He was appointed to the CCBA’s board of directors as its public relations officer from 2019 until 2022 and served as the organization’s president from 2022 until his passing on Nov. 19, 2025. There were countless stories of him helping out elderly members, cutting their grass or shovelling snow with his trademark smile and cheerful disposition.

“That’s what I miss the most about him, the friendliness of him. He was always smiling. He never had anything negative in his life. He was always positive and always trying to help everybody,” Wenzel recalls.

Kriz worked as an electrician with Manitoba Hydro for nearly 40 years before retiring. His real passion, though, was the great outdoors.

He was the founder of the Friends of the Prairie Adventure Club, a group of Hydro employees, nurses and teachers that gathered regularly to “respect nature, appreciate good music, and pursue outdoor and cultural events.” The group, which numbered 50 members by 1998, organized canoe and camping trips, bingo bowling nights, barn dances and Santa breakfasts where Kriz, naturally, would play Santa for members’ kids who became his adopted nieces and nephews.

Kriz was also an avid cross-country ski enthusiast. He was a longtime member of the Charleswood Ski Club which is now known as the Prairie Nordic Ski Club. His love of the sport was the inspiration for numerous ski trips to the Canadian Rockies and he even participated in the HalvBirken, a shorter, 28-kilometre version of Norway’s iconic Birkebeinerrennet cross-country marathon.

Another of Kriz’s passions was travel. Pick a spot on a globe and odds are Kriz visited it. His travel log included visits to Nepal, India, New Zealand, Sumatra, Indonesia, Bangkok, Borneo and Japan. He even got to meet famed explorer Sir Edmund Hillary during a visit to Nepal.

And while he always made a point of learning about the culture and customs of the countries he visited, he also found time to lend a hand to those in need. During one of his visits to India he lent his skills to help build a girls’ orphanage.

If it seems like Kriz had a limitless supply of energy its because he seemingly did. He was a regular participant in the Manitoba Marathon well into his 60s and took part in dozens of full and half marathons over the years. Turner recalls a story about how after running a full marathon one year, Kriz returned home and promptly began cutting his lawn.

“It was like he had an endless supply of energy,” Turner says. “He was like an Eveready battery. He was just full of energy. It was endless.”

So, too, was his love for his feline companion, Patches. She was 12 years old when Kriz adopted her from a friend and the duo was virtually inseparable until her passing nearly a decade later. They were so close, in fact, he hosted a celebration of life for Patches in his backyard, which was attended by more than 30 of his closest friends.

While Kriz was always willing to help his friends with any problems they might be have, he was reluctant to burden them with any of his own. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer several years ago but didn’t share that information with his friends until shortly before his death.

His illness didn’t stop Kriz’s from wanting to help others. Wenzel recalls his friend calling him and emailing from his hospital bed to make sure he had everything under control for a wine-tasting event the CCBA was going to be hosting.

Even though Kriz never married and had no children, he was considered an honorary family member by the numerous people who called him friend. In fact, one of his favourite expressions, which he shared with those close to him during planning for his funeral, was: “My friends became my family. I’m grateful for them to have made my life in Canada successful and happy.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca