Piotr Wladyslaw Witold Kuryllowicz, born December 3, 1919, has died at his home in Georgetown, Ontario, Canada.
Piotr, a fighter pilot in WWII, was shot down on May 13, 1943, near Amiens, France. He used his Spitfire's small crowbar to pry open the canopy, eject, and deploy his parachute. He was captured and spent the rest of the war at Stalag Luft III. He always said, "13 is my lucky number - I survived." After attending Queen's University in Belfast, he moved to Canada and married the late Patricia Kuryllowicz, nee Saxby. Together, he and the love of his life established a dental practice in Hearst, Ontario, then in Georgetown.
The landscapes and lakes near Hearst reminded him of Suwalki, Poland, where he grew up. He was father to Bettina Hayes, Catherine Kuryllowicz, Peter Kuryllowicz Jr, and Marlean Martin, and grandfather to Hannah and Peter Junior Junior. He loved languages, particularly Latin, French and Russian, his maternal language, and often used French, Polish, English and Russian, in a single conversation. In 2009, he was reunited with his Spitfire which had been found in a farmer's field in France, excavated and rebuilt.
Flight Lieutenant Kuryllowicz took that opportunity to climb back into the cockpit of his Spitfire Mark X1X BS410. He loved flying, particularly gliders, but he spent just as much time with his beloved horse Tony on the valley trails behind the house he called home for 67 years. Piotr, our Peter, "slipped the surly bonds of earth" on March 13, 2024 - just 2 months shy of the 81st anniversary of "parachute day". As our Dad and granddad always said: "I won't hold you. I'll leave you in peace."
Arrangements entrusted to Jones Funeral Home