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Mary Violet Bodor was born as the second child to John and Julie Bodor in Kecskemeth, Hungary on Oct 8, 1921. Her father sold his blacksmith business and immigrated the family to Canada in 1923, where they settled in Wakaw, SK. But in 1932 her family moved to McElhanney, SK just north of Weekes. She was part of a very large family, with 2 sisters - Julie and Helen - and 6 brothers - John, Paul, Jules, Eugene , Frank and Joe. Times were hard for this large family, Mary remembered doing without shoes until winter and sleeping 6 to a bed in a small home. She attended the small country Blighty School, but had to quit in grade 2 to help out with the family farm. While in McElhanney, Mary came to know and love Jehovah and on September 15, 1940 she was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. She also met the love of her life, Mike Placsko, who biked 17 miles each way to court Mary until they were married on Nov 15, 1941.
In 1944, Mike and Mary moved to BC to be closer to the Placsko family. While in BC they took up the full time ministry work. They were delighted to be invited to the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead in New York in 1951 and then they were sent to Hong Kong as their missionary assignment. In Hong Kong, they made many friends but they had to return to Canada in 1955 due to Mike's bad health. Even though they had to leave the missionary work, they never stopped their full time preaching. Their preaching took them to many places in BC, including Kimberley, Golden and Nelson, where they helped build the first Kingdom Halls. On January 18, 1958 their daughter Darlene was born while they were in Nelson, but later that year they moved to Creston. While in Creston, Mary and Mike started a janitorial business to support the family.
Mary loved the mountains and the warm winters in Creston but in 1981 Mary and Mike decided their granddaughters lived too far away from them so they moved to Tisdale, SK. They were there for 7 years before they moved closer to their family in Porcupine Plain in 1988, where Mike and Mary assisted their daughter and son-in-law on their family farm. She had the opportunity to travel with her family to Mexico a few times where she had the chance to teach the Mexicans how to hit a pinata and ride a donkey.
What many may not know is that from gardening to construction, Mary was a Jill-of-all-trades. From shelving to chicken fences to milking barns, she built it all. We can all imagine her wielding a hammer or saw, with her tongue caught between her teeth and a few "jaj istenem!"s (in Hungarian means Oh my God!) coming out of her lips as she worked on the project. But those projects were built to last! She loved her roses and her garden, which if you ever had a chance to see it, never had a weed allowed to live long.
Mary's love for Jehovah could be seen in all she did and heard by all she talked to, she served him loyally for over 75 years, up to the time of her passing. Her kindness and generosity touched all those who had come to know her. She loved her family deeply and she was always there to help them in any way possible. She was a loving wife, mother, grandma and great-nanny that will be very greatly missed!
She left behind 2 sisters, 2 brothers, 1 daughter, 4 granddaughters, 7 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.