Nils Arno Kasak
Born in Sweden in 1945 following the family’s harrowing escape from war torn Estonia and Latvia in September of 1944, Nil Kasak began life with a happy childhood in Sweden. He and his older siblings, Helgi, Andres and Liivi, emigrated to Montreal, Canada with their parents, Meeta and Arnold Kasak, in 1950.
He started working out of high school at his father’s furniture factory, AKA Works.
Nils and Nancy Slanec eloped and were married in 1967. Their son, Paul, was born in December of the same year.
He opened a car repair garage and Texaco station here on St. Jean Boulevard and became interested in auto racing. Working with his brother Andres on his crew, he raced Austin minis and Volvos in the Quebec racing circuit with Andres becoming a racing driver as well.
In 1972 Nils was part of a racing accident which resulted in a broken neck which put him in a full neck/body brace and in traction for nine months following a pioneering spinal operation. He came back to a full recovery.
After his parents separated in the 1960s, Nils stepped forward to help out his mother, Meeta.
Later, Nils worked for his brother who had a construction business, Kascon, in Toronto. He then lived with Andres’s family in Toronto on Camilla Drive while he drove trucks across the United States and Canada delivering mill-work and furniture. When he was no longer allowed to drive a truck in the U.S. because of a change in regulations, Nils lived in Havelock, Onterio for a time.
He also lived for a time at the family cottage, a beloved place of all the family. During his time there, as well as before and after, he lovingly and grumblingly served as lumberjack, electrician, plumber, glazier and all around handyman. He painstakingly researched the boundaries of the properties originally purchased by the group of five Estonian families who had emigrated around the same time. His little dog and long time companion, Mascot, is buried there.
His generous nature led him to spend time and work with the elderly mother of a friend from his racing days. The woman lived at Van Kleek Hill in Onterio. He would buy her food, mow her property and spend time with her as her health was declining.
Nils’s life has had many ups and downs. He has been a beloved, funny, industrious, fond-of-the-ladies, opinionated, giving, pain-in-the-ass and he will be unbelievably missed by so many.
