With loving and heavy hearts, we wish to inform our family and friends that our dear wife, mother and nonna, Violetta (Violet; Vi), aged 92, died peacefully at Copernicus Lodge.
Born in Trieste, Italy, Violetta is predeceased by her parents, Giovanni and Francesca, by her brother Marcello and his wife Mirella. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Mikolaj (Miko; Mike), as well as her four children, Paul (Janet), Julie (Marek), Sandra (Craig) and Helen (Nick). She was the proud grandmother of seven: Katrina (Andrew), Ben, Eric, Thomas, Steven, Andrew and Matthew.
As a young woman, Violetta acquired enough English language and keyboarding skills to be employed by the British Army, who, under the United Nations, served as peacekeepers in Trieste for several years after World War II. This is where she met her future husband, Miko, a Polish-born British sergeant, who was briefly stationed there to cover for a vacationing colleague. They married in Trieste in October 1954, and immediately departed for Britain (Bicester, then Reading), where they started their family. In 1962, they moved to Canada, to be reunited with the Kalmykow relatives who had already done so. They completed their family in Toronto.
While taking care of her family, Violetta also worked part-time through the years as a bookkeeper for small companies, having taken courses soon after her arrival in Canada. An adept seamstress and knitter, she learned Polish as her third language, and enjoyed attending dances, house parties, and cottages with jovial Polish extended family and dear friends. Along with Miko, she looked forward to regularly travelling back to Italy, and annually, to a favourite Cuban resort in winter. A warm and friendly woman with a gentle sense of humour, Violetta loved to tell stories and give her family affectionate nicknames. Her presence will be greatly missed. Thank you Violetta for your devotion and love for us.
Our family would like to thank all the very hardworking, compassionate, and professional staff at Copernicus Lodge, especially Dr. Clement, as well as RNs Beata and Lucy, acknowledging all their efforts during the current pandemic. We would also like to thank our mother’s previous exemplary private PSWs: Marites, Ola, Elsa, and Grazyna. You were wonderful!
Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, the services at Turner and Porter, Yorke Chapel, for Violetta will be private and for immediate family only. Online condolences are available at turnerporter.ca. A recording of the family chapel service that will held on the morning of Tuesday, December 22, 2020, will be available at a later date; please refer to the website for the link. Cremation and a small private family burial service will take place at a future date at Sanctuary Park Cemetery. Thank you for your love, support, and understanding during this difficult time.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Violetta to Copernicus Lodge (copernicuslodgefoundation.com) or Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s charity) 185 Dunn Avenue, Toronto M6K 2S1, (416 537 1391) would be sincerely appreciated by our family.