With a heavy heart, we announce the passing of our mama, and Baki, Katica Hudaj. She is survived by her sons Robert (Branka) and Ernest (Karen), grandchildren Natalie, Cassie, Chelsea and Roman.

Katica left her small town of Strmec for Zagreb where she worked at a book publishing company. At the age of 18 she met Duro and they were soon married a few months later on Dec 30th, 1961. In 1967, Duro, Katica and 18-month-old Robert, fled for Austria and on to Toronto where they welcomed Ernest six years later.
Katica worked at Torfeaco Industries where she produced pillows, comforters, mattress covers and many other bed products. When her son Robert was 16 years old, he joined his mother as a summer student for a few years, not knowing they would again work for the same company many years later.

Katica had strong convictions about her catholic beliefs. You could hear her remind you “I pray for you, every day”. As a parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Croatia Parish in Toronto she became a member of the Church League of Women where she volunteered her time and talents by helping with various events throughout the year. Katica loved to prepare a picnic lunch for Duro and their grandchildren who would visit Father Kamber Park in Mississauga. However, their grandchildren felt the park would better be named “Baki’s Park”, given that was where they found Baka Katica every Sunday.

Katica loved her flowers and tending to her garden and vegetables. She was also very proud of her home and you could always find the sheets hanging from the outdoor clothes line. Who really needs a dryer anyway?
Katica loved to make food for her family and bake cookies for Christmas and Easter. She made 10 varieties to satisfy everyone and of course took special orders from each grandchild. Her sons were most impressed when she learned how to perfect pizza. Ernest fondly remembers being in grade 7 when he bragged about Katica’s pizza so much that he promised to have Katica bring pizza for his entire class. Say no more, because when Katica heard this, she immediately prepared the kitchen for 3 extra large pizzas and Duro was dispatched to deliver them to school. Let’s just say Ernest was the coolest kid that whole year.

Katica’s next career move was Coffee Way Donuts where she worked for several years. Given her expertise with food, she then took a job at Microsoft. Her son Robert worked at Microsoft for 16 years so this was their second time working for the same company. As you ponder if her job was software development or perhaps the XBOX team, you would be incorrect. Katica was the “sandwich lady” in the Microsoft cafeteria. Katica knew what every employee liked for lunch and greeted each visitor as “young lady” or “young man”. Let’s just say that Katica singlehandedly raised the employee morale for many years because every employee felt younger.

When it came to family and grandkids, there was no higher priority. Katica loved to feed the entire family and was never too tired. She watched Chelsea and Roman when they were young and walked them to school every day until they were almost almost 14. There was no safer security detail than Baka Katica. Sleepovers were also a highly anticipated event because it meant eating whatever you wanted and watching every single Disney movie ever made.

Our dear Katica was diagnosed with early onset Dementia in 2015 and the disease slowly reduced her cognitive abilities over time. We were fortunate to have caregivers come to the house, especially Alba and Gladys who provided so much love and support to our family. Eventually Duro couldn’t care for her and she was moved to Westbury Long Term Care Home in April 2021. Katica’s condition worsened rapidly, and she was no longer able to walk, speak or feed herself. We would like to thank the kind and caring staff at Westbury for treating Katica like their own mother and making her new home such a warm and inviting environment.
We are thankful that Katica’s suffering is over and she is in heaven with her Duro, whom she was married to for over 60 years. We will forever remember the love, sincerity and kindness we experienced from our mama and Baki and she will forever be in our hearts and memories.