It is with profound sadness that the family of Stasia Raciborski share the news of her passing on Wednesday November 27 2024 at the age of 96. Stasia was a loving mother to Charles Haydar and wife Kathryn, Doris Galas and husband Henry. She was an adoring Babcia to her grandchildren Stacy, Henry and Jessica. She was devoted to her surviving sister Antonina (Tosia) Haydar.

Stasia was born on the 17th of June 1928 in Wojtkowa, Poland to Michal and Maria Saladziak. She was the youngest daughter in a family of seven siblings - Pawel, Tadek, Mary, Tosia, Helen and Joe. Her life journey is a story of triumph over adversity, of love in family, faith in God, and an enduring sense of community all of which laid the foundation for her extraordinary will and indomitable spirit.

Her journey from Poland to Canada is a testament to her virtue and character. At the age of twelve, in 1940 Stasia along with her family and hundreds of thousands of fellow Poles were deported in sealed freight trains from their towns and villages to Gulags in Siberia in Russia. She and her family survived unimaginable inhumane conditions by foraging for food and living in unheated unsanitary shelters. When released by the Soviets, Stasia and her surviving compatriots were left on their own to cross the vast frozen expanses of Siberia through the deserts of central Asia to seek safety in Polish refugee camps around the world. Stasia ended up in a camp in British Tanganyika where she met her first husband, Louis Haydar, the father of her children Charles and Doris. Sadly Stasia was widowed in 1970 at the age of 42 and was fortunate to join her extended Polish family in Canada where she worked hard to build a new comfortable life for herself and her children.

Stasia could light up a room with her twinkling eyes and smile. She loved to sing and dance and had an unmistakable and infectious sense of humour. To know Stasia was a privilege and she will be sorely missed by those who knew her.

Family and friends are invited to pay their respects at the Turner & Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W. Toronto, Ontario on Wednesday December 4 from 5 - 8 pm, rosary with priest at 5 pm.

Funeral Mass will be on Thursday December 5 at St. Casimir's Church, 156 Roncesvalles Ave., Toronto, Ontario at 10 am. Burial will follow at Sanctuary Park Cemetery, 1570 Royal York Rd. Etobicoke, Ontario.

If friends so desire, memorial donations may be made to Copernicus Lodge Foundation.