Stefanie was born on St. Stephen’s Day (Boxing day), and passed on Thanksgiving Sunday. She will be remembered!
She was born into a family of 3 older brothers in the winter of 1923. She quickly learned to hone her survival skills: patience; resourcefulness; and a fierce will. These were skills she would need to put to use throughout her life – the Depression, the Second World War (which raged in her part of the world), a mid-war marriage, and then the poverty and politics of post-war Yugoslavia.
To top it all, she had the strength to see a path and to summon the will to follow it, crossing a closed, armed border, at the right moment, with three kids in tow – 3, 7 and 15. Brave to the point of Blind Faith!
She and the children reunited with her husband, Ferdo, in Austria and then came more demands to conquer as they moved an ocean away (back then it was a 10 day journey by sea) as refugees. There were demands of an unfamiliar language, customs and weather at their assigned destination of Winnipeg in 1957. For the next year she dealt with hardship and regret - anxiety and loneliness. For 4 – 5 months she dealt with this on her own as Ferdo went to Red Lake to work in a mine. He returned with a pocket full of cash and the family escaped Winnipeg, on a train, to the promised land, Toronto.
Life began anew! They quickly found work, quality housing, in a welcoming multi-ethnic city – with a large embracing Slovenian community.
There were still some ups and downs as they raised their kids through the sixties in this new world. But here, in Toronto, they learned to breathe again and Stefanie enjoyed friendships and laughter, and she relished backyard feasts with friends and neighbors. She saw her children through marriages and celebrated the arrival of grandchildren and then great grandchildren.
Throughout her life Stefanie continued to be energetic and resourceful. She was a skilled seamstress and a wonderful cook. She lived independently, in her own home, with a productive garden and a big white standard poodle, until just past the age of 95.
