Aina passed away peacefully on January 17, 2020.
Aina was born on September 17, 1932 in Latvia. In 1944, she together with her parents and her younger sister, Biruta, escaped the communist regime. During the turmoil of war, Aina’s father was shot and killed. The remaining family spent 4 years in displaced person’s camps in Germany before emigrating to Canada in 1948. In 1953, Aina graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing and started working as a Registered Nurse. She was soon promoted to the Head Nurse’s position for the male urology ward. In 1957, Aina moved to Toronto and married Gunars Martinsons, a professional electrical engineer, who predeceased her by almost 2 decades. Aina and Gunars raised 2 sons: Maris, a management professor now in Hong Kong, and Valdis, a computer engineer in Toronto. Aina was an avid bridge player and achieved the status of Bronze Life Master in the game. She will be dearly missed by her son Maris and his wife Aelita, her son Valdis and his wife Cathy, and her two grandchildren Paul and Kristina.
Visitation will take place on Sunday, January 26, 2020 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W., Toronto. A private family interment will follow.