Kenneth Samchuck

Kenneth Samchuck, beloved husband of Margaret Sieben of Edmonton, passed away at the Burnaby Hospital due to complications from Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, at the age of 84 years.

Ken was the middle of three sons born to Steve and Anna (Wyryha) Samchuck (Semchuk). He was born in Wilkie, SK and grew up in Wilkie and Saskatoon. Ken's maternal grandfather was part of the first group of Ukrainian settlers in southwestern Manitoba, arriving in 1897, and his grandfather's Ukrainian-style homestead house can be seen, restored, at the Ukrainian Village, east of Edmonton, AB.

Ken's Father, Steve, was a CPR Railroad Foreman earning $5.31 per day. While still in high school at age 15, Ken had an early passion to be a sailor and jumped a freight train to Vancouver, BC, in the middle of WW2. His Mother managed to find him with the help of the RCMP at what would become Victory Square in Vancouver, where he agreed to return home and finish his studies.

That experience left him with a lifelong interest in hockey, but a knee injury turned his sights to geophysics and oil exploration, following in his older brother George's footsteps.

He and his wife, Margaret, were married in late 1952 after meeting in the Mile Zero Cafe, the last stop on the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC, while he was the lead seismic operator and pioneer in the seismic industry in Canada. He was hired by Century Geophysical, and while with Century, he was transferred to Oklahoma for his training, where he became a Geophysical Logging Engineer and performed some of the first borehole seismic logs in Canada.

Ken and his family lived in Edmonton, and his passion for oil patch fieldwork continued throughout his life. He and his brother George formed Canadian Arctic Survey in 1977, where they traveled to the Arctic and to the Middle East to help the Saudis locate and exploit their limited water resources. Ken and Stephen (his Son) formed their own logging company (Velocity Analysis Survey Systems Ltd.) in 1981. Son Stephen and Ken produced velocity logs in the Arctic and in dozens of now high-producing oil and gas fields and reserves in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Their main clients included Gulf, Amoco, Imperial, and Shell Oil.

Velocity Analysis was a pioneer in converting from analog survey equipment to digital borehole tools, greatly increasing the accuracy of deep borehole seismic oil exploration. He and his Son split the company in 1989 after OPEC caused the oil industry crash. When others his age had retired, Ken again travelled to the Middle East to help Saudi Arabia, leading to work in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

Ken loved hockey, horse-racing, entertaining friends at the Grey Cup parties, and enjoyed collecting stamps and coins. He loved jazz music, having played the trumpet since he was a child.

Ken and Maggie split after 18 years of marriage and then reunited to move together to Kelowna, BC, 27 years later. Maggie was always the love of his life, and neither had remarried during their time apart.

Ken was predeceased by his parents, Steve and Anna; brothers, Joseph and Bill.