GOOD AFTERNOON and THANK YOU for coming to celebrate our mother’s life.  Thank you, also, for your love and support.

1927 ……  The year Tamara was born.

The first transatlantic telephone call is made from NYC to London.

Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane named the “Spirit of St. Louis.”

Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.

Trotsky is expelled from the Russian Communist Party.

Calvin Coolidge is president of US   and   William Lyon Mackenzie King is Prime Minister of Canada.

Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup.

Tamara was born in a village in Poland just outside the large city of Brest, but since the end of WW2 that area and city now belong to Belarus.   She was the 2^nd eldest of five children, with three sisters and one brother who predeceased her in Russia.  When war broke out, she was about 11 or 12 years old.  It was during these past several months at home and since Christmas that her dementia progressed fairly quickly.    I learned that she was traumatized by the war by how she was expressing herself to me …..  often times in a bit of an agitated state.  She did, however, survive those very difficult war years and blossomed into a beautiful young woman.  Like many other young people who went through the war, mom was anxious to get on with life and eventually find someone to settle down with.   In 1945 she was married in Germany and soon became a widow at the age of 20.  With her one-year old daughter Irene in her arms, she travelled to Belgium where her husband had been buried.  Having placed her daughter in an orphanage, Tamara found employment and worked hard to get herself up on her feet.  It didn’t take long for my dad and mom to find each other.  As I said, she WAS a beautiful woman and Ilja was a very handsome and charismatic young man.  I think that they swept one another off each other’s feet …..  and were soon married  (her daughter reunited).  They worked diligently to save money that could buy their way to Canada.  Finally, in the summer of 1953, mom and dad arrived into Sudbury with three young daughters.  Several years down the road, another daughter was born and a few years later …..  finally a son ……  the icing on the cake. 

We love our mother and will always remember her as a dear and devoted wife to our father.   Dad had to work really hard to support a family of five children.  Wages were not the greatest. As poor as we were, he worked hard, turned the pay cheques over to mom AND we never lacked.  She KNEW how to stretch that dollar and make things work.

She WAS a loving and nurturing mother in EVERY respect.  As children, we are ALL different in character and mom loved us EQUALLY.  Whatever she did, it was of QUALITY.  She cared enough that we were well fed, well dressed and well behaved.  She loved cooking and baking, and our brother reflected in our discussions how you could feel the love in her food; it wasn’t just food.  We never left the table hungry.  In fact, she was so good in the kitchen that she was often called upon to cook for different social gatherings or host dinners at our home. 

We were always clean and well-dressed even if we wore hand-me downs.  Mom was good at recycling and sewing. 

Tamara   was a very smart woman.  She spoke 5 languages:  English, Russian, Polish, German and French.  She wanted to improve her English so she took high school courses through Adult Retraining at Cambrian College.  She also completed a certificate program in Accounting at the College. 

Besides being a great cook, mom was also highly skilled at sewing, knitting, needlepoint, crochet, and organic gardening.  These qualities she’s been able to pass on to us, and for that we are grateful. 

In addition to all that, she felt it was important to help others.  Mom sent parcels to Hungary and parcels on a regular basis to Russia whether it was for friends or family. As well she felt that donations to charitable organizations such as World Vision, diabetes association and the cancer foundation were important.  She also felt that it was VERY important to support her church, All Nations Church , where she’s been a member for well over 40 years.  Mom’s generosity extended to:   taking the time to visit people, babysitting her grandchildren, bringing a dish of something special when visiting; providing financial assistance where there was a need ……..  and more. 

In all of these ways, she demonstrated her nurturing manner.

On a personal level, I am so grateful that God gifted our mother to us for so many years.  We should never take life for granted.  As children, we are gifts to our parents but our parents are also gifts to us.  And OUR MOTHER is a special JEWEL which we will wear always.

MOM, we love you so very much.  You AND your love will be greatly missed by dad, your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren, as well as all those who remember you.   One day we will see each other again.