Slice of Okanagan life and lore to find new home in Romania – Okanagan | 24CA News
Ray Taheri’s shut friendship with a person who made an indelible impression on him, and the Okanagan basically, has set him on a worldwide journey.
Taheri, a UBC Okanagan professor, is headed to japanese Europe on Wednesday, with a 70 -pound bronze bust that’s the likeness of his outdated buddy Peter Nicu in tow. Atop Nicu’s head is a hat and an emblem that’s synonymous with Kelowna and, for a lot of, Nicu, himself — the Ogopogo.
Once he will get to Nicu’s outdated homeland in Romania, he’ll fulfill a deathbed promise he made to Nicu 10 years earlier.
He will set up the statue at a kids’s centre the place he plans to develop an academic program geared toward fostering creativity and curiosity. It’s what Nicu — who in life gained the nickname “father of the Ogopogo” for his Ogopogo-themed creations — would have wished, he thinks.
Tucking away just a little native historical past and constructing a legacy half a world away is an enormous endeavor at any time, however within the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, when airplane journey has been stymied by a wide range of points, it’s all of the extra vital.
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Taheri, nonetheless, mentioned that he’s undeterred.
“My main goal is to fulfill my promise to my dear friend and to tell the story of his legacy to become a beacon of hope for many young generations to come,” Taheri mentioned.
“This is something to remember.”
Before Nicu moved to the Okanagan, he was born in Ukraine and as a younger boy fled what Taheri described as an abusive childhood. He ended up in close by Romania.
“Being hungry, scared, cold, and not speaking the language, he was in the streets of Iași for a day and finally passed out in front of the flour milling factory. Luckily, the owner of the factory saw and took him in. It took him several days to recover,” Taheri mentioned.
“Peter started to work in that factory and educated himself in machinery. He showed such talent in engineering that he was selected to study engineering in the Romanian Air Force.”
Taheri mentioned he was 19 when he graduated with honours from the Air Force academy and, shortly after, he joined the Romanian Air Force as an officer.
He remained within the Air Force till the Second World War began. Taheri mentioned Nicu was the pinnacle of your complete Romanian Air Force warplanes engineering crew. When Romania fell, he turned a prisoner of warfare and was despatched to Germany.
Just a few years later, he was launched and ultimately made Canada his dwelling, and his adventures continued.
“Peter’s life, it’s a legacy of I would say perseverance, hope, triumph, love, sorrow all combined,” Taheri mentioned.
While the Ogopogo’s roots are tied to the Indigenous individuals of the Okanagan valley, its likeness has been taken in a myriad of instructions, one in every of which Nicu is tied to.
Taheri mentioned he gained the nickname, “the father of Ogopogo,” after constructing a statue of the legendary beast.
“He also designed and engineered an amphibious vehicle in the shape of Ogopogo. The designed vehicle brought enormous joy to residents of Kelowna for many years during the annual parades,” Taheri mentioned.
“He made this machinery as a 50 (foot) long Ogopogo much bigger than the one we have downtown but same sort of shape. And it was kind of amphibious vessel, it would go into the road from Glenmore or Rutland all the way to near the lake and then it’d actually sink into the lake and you would see a creature.”
Taheri is in awe of all that Nicu did and he’s proud to be the one to deliver his life story to extra individuals, each in Romania and at dwelling, in Kelowna.
A likeness of Okanagan resident Peter Nicu, who died in 2013, is being put in in Romania.
Courtesy: Ray Taheri
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