Formerly known as Rizzuto Bay Park, this park in Winnipeg commemorates long-time resident, community activist, and businessman Gerry Kuik. The renaming, suggested by the East Kildonan-Transcona Community Council on 19 January 2009, was accepted by the Standing Policy Committee on Protection and Community Services. A dedication ceremony was held by Mayor Sam Katz on 22 June 2009. A set of plaques commemorate the event and Kuik’s contributions.
Gerry Kuik was born at Ruinen, The Netherlands on 5 September 1924, one of ten children born to Jakob Kuik (1899-2004) and Grietje van der Sluis (1899-2001), though two of his siblings succumbed to pneumonia. He fought in the Dutch Resistance against Nazi occupation during the Second World War and lost his brother Jan Kuik (c1922-1944) in a concentration camp. During the war, he met Johanna “Joanne” Tiggelaar (1925-2007) at Enschede in 1943 and married her on 6 January 1950. The newlyweds, along with his parents and siblings, moved to Canada in July 1950 and settled in the Carman-Homewood area. He worked their sugar beet fields and aided new immigrants to find farm sponsors and adjust to life in Canada. The couple had seven children and moved to Transcona in August 1958 to enable one of their daughters to attend the Manitoba School for the Deaf. He worked as a shop foreman (1958-1962) at Reliance Press before founding Premier Printing in 1962. From its roots at 313 Bond Street, the firm relocated to 313 Day Street, then to a newly-built site at 1249 Pressis Road in 1972 then to 1 Beghin Avenue in 1987. He retired in 1995, passing the business on to his six partners, all of them family members. He also helped to build the Grace Canadian Reformed Church and served on its council, as well as that of the nearby Immanuel Christian School.
Gerry Kuik Park (July 2015)
Source: Nathan KramerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89157, W97.05328
denoted by symbol on the map above
Obituary [Johannes Tiggelaar], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 February 1970, page 26.
“City-build driveway termed too costly,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 1972, page 3.
“Couple wed in 1918 has 226 offspring,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 December 1998, page A7.
Obituary [Grietje Kuik], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 August 2001, page C7.
Obituary [Jakob Kuik], Winnipeg Free Press, 3 January 2004, page 32.
Obituary [Johanna Kuik], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 2007, page 36.
East Kildonan - Transcona Community Committee - Minutes - 19 January 2009, City of Winnipeg Clerks Decision Making Information System.
Standing Policy Committee on Protection and Community Services - Agenda - June 11, 2009, City of Winnipeg Clerks Decision Making Information System.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 3 January 2021
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