Mary & Gene Ouellette (Friends)

Entered April 15, 2016 from Mississauga

Dear Frank, Heide and family,
We wish you inner peace to bring comfort, courage to face the days ahead and loving memories to forever hold in your hearts. You are in our prayers.
Love,
Mary & Gene

Nancy Gibson 

Entered April 16, 2016

My deepest sympathies Randy and Michael. I know she will be truly missed by you and your family.
Hold on to the love.

Ron Brown  (friend)

Entered April 16, 2016 from Toronto

My thoughts and prayers are with you all. May you find comfort with each other during this sad time.❤

Mary Rose and John Haber (Very good friends and family too xoxoxox)

Entered April 16, 2016 from East Brunswick ,New Jersey, USA

To my dear friend Heide, Frank and all the family,
Words can not describe the sadness I felt when i heard that your mom passed .
She was a beautiful lady inside and out, Kind and very loving to her family and friends.
May she rest in peace , I am sure she is looking after all of you from Heaven.
She will always be in your hearts where ever you goo, God Bless you all xoxoxox
Love you,
Mary Rose and John Haber.

Manuel and Carmelita Velasco 

Entered April 17, 2016 from Brampton, Ontario

Losing Mom is a sad and painful part of life but we can always remember the things your Mom has taught you. She will always be there when you call her. She is now with her Creator and will not feel any pain anymore. Miss her but let her go.

Celebrating a Simply Complex Life of Courage, Determination and Love

by Randy Adison

In many ways, my mum's life was complex, yet she liked to keep things simple. She preferred that people simply call her “Adi” rather than her more complex birth name.  Many described her “as a little lady with a giant heart”.  I always called her mum, because “mother” was, for her, too complex.


Born in Lithuania in 1926, never knowing her father, Adi was raised in Germany with her mother and brothers on a farm.   Life wasn’t exactly easy, but by most people's standards, it was simple. That is until World War II broke out when 13-year old Adi’s life became very complex.  Tragically her older brother perished in the war, and her younger brother of illness.  In the chaos that displaced millions of Europeans, Adi lost contact with her mother, and was all alone in the world.


At such a young age Adi had to learn to survive in a time when the world around her was in turmoil.  Young Adi summoned great courage and determination to escape under the cover of night across the border to pursue a life more peaceful, loving and simple.


After the war ended, 20-year old Adi accepted an opportunity to move to Iceland where she lived and worked for five years.  As she continued to search for her mother, Adi was granted a Visa to live in Canada.


Having already lived such a challenging, turbulent  and complex life at the age of 25, Adi once again called upon her courage and determination to build a life in a foreign place, that she might have secretly wished would be more loving and simple. Adi moved to Toronto, and shortly after located her mother in Chicago where they were joyfully reunited.  In 1955 Adi married the man who would be her husband of the next 60 years.  Overcoming the tragic loss of their first baby, Adi went on to have four more children.


Lovingly devoted to her husband and children, Adi had finally found that simple, loving, peaceful life for which she had so longed.  In the early 1970’s the family temporarily moved back to Europe for a couple of years where once again Adi drew upon her courage and determination to care for her family in a place where she didn’t even speak the language.  After returning to Canada, Adi went back to work full-time as her family grew, and over the years that followed she welcomed each new addition, absolutely adoring her five grandchildren.  Despite several health challenges, Adi continued to soldier on with courage and determination to deal with them.  In retirement Adi enjoyed a much more simple, peaceful life that was centred around loving her family and closest friends.


Over her remarkable 90-year life, Adi courageously overcame many challenges, some of which most of us could not even imagine having to face.  So when she was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and radiation was recommended, it was no surprise that Adi did what she had always done throughout her life - she faced it with courage and determination, right to the end.


So as I reflect on the simply complex life of my mum, I am strengthened by the courage and determination that she passed on to me through the way she lived.  I am inspired by the way she loved unconditionally.  I am and will forever be proud to call myself "Adison", but most of all, I am profoundly grateful for the precious gift that was the life of this little lady with a giant heart - my mum, Adi.