Onelio Fortunato Fraulin

Onelio Fraulin, beloved husband of Rina Fraulin, of Calgary, Alberta passed away on October 18, 2025, at the age of 91.

Onelio was born in a small town in northern Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1956, with very little money and barely speaking a word of English. He started as a mason in Toronto, and moved west to Michel-Natal, B.C. in 1957. He enticed Rina, his bride-to-be from Italy, to join him in Canada and they were married in 1958. Initially he worked for the town and then the CP Rail and while living in a small, hillside house, he started his family and raised chickens for food and eggs and had to fight off bears, wolves, coyotes, and other wild animals that were common visitors.

In 1966 he moved his family to Lethbridge, Alberta where he started his career as a meat cutter at Canadian Dressed Meats; this was hard, heavy and always cold, laborious work but Onelio always made sure he brought home the best ground beef and rib steaks for his legendary barbeques.

Onelio loved his sons’ sports and was their biggest fan; he never missed a hockey, football, basketball game, judo or track meet, no matter where they were and weekend travel was always on the agenda. When he was not driving them to out-of-town tournaments, Onelio loved weekend camping trips and fishing; he taught everyone the fine art of catching trout, pike and white fish in Alberta and B.C. lakes and rivers.

Onelio always enjoyed the extended family get togethers from birthdays, graduations, weddings, to births, baptisms, first communions and especially Christmas celebrations; he never missed an opportunity to help hold the little newborn babies to settle them down. After his retirement, the extended family kept Onelio extremely busy, but he also found time to continue his volunteering. He initially started as a volunteer fire fighter in B.C. and continued volunteering with the Knights of Columbus, the Lethbridge Food Bank, Bingos, and the Lethbridge Whoop-Up Days. For his dedication, the Knights of Columbus awarded him an Honorary Life Membership as a Third Degree Knight.

Onelio was predeceased by his parents Angela and Francesco Fraulin, three brothers, Guiseppe, Varisto and Luciano and five sisters, Norina, Beppina, Irma, Maria and Olivia, his best friend and brother-in-law John Saccomani and granddaughter Olivia.

Onelio is lovingly remembered by his wife Rina, his sons Ivano (Eldeene) and Frankie (Lisa), his grandchildren Leandra, Deanna, Lucas, Georgia and Daniel; Rina’s twin sister Ines Saccomani and her children Rosanna (Ian), Silvana (Graham), Angela (Maurice), Lora (Len) and Dennis (Toni) as well as numerous great nieces and nephews and his sister-in-law, Olga in Italy.

Onelio’s family extends heartfelt thanks to his family doctor, Dr. Mary Gawlinski, for her constant dedication over the years and to the staff at Aspen Heights Retirement Residence for their kindness and care during this difficult time.

A private funeral service will be held for the family.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories.

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