Fania « Fanny » Goose
On April
13th, 2020, in her 99th year (we think), Fania
Gusz (Goose) at Richmond Woods Retirement Home, passed due to
congestive heart failure.
Wife to
husband and business partner Jerry (2012) for more than 65 years;
mother to sons Steve Goose Garrison (Michelle Campbell) of London, and
Martin Goose (Heather) of Toronto. Bubbie to grandchildren
Rebecca Weiss (Mikey) of New York, Michael (Jaime) of New York, and
Danielle (Stuart) Turk of Toronto. Blessed with great
grandchildren: Serena, Dylan, Nathan, Lexi, Jake and
Brody. Special aunt to nephew Marvin Schlanger (Eva) of New
Jersey.
Fanny fully
embraced life with an indomitable spirit and hopefulness that inspired
others. She was affectionately known as « Mother
Goose » to many; and, with that moniker, she took great joy in
helping anyone she could throughout her remarkable life.
Born Fania
Steinbock in Skalat, Poland, Fanny enjoyed a blissful childhood
growing up with older sister, Pearl, until the Nazi invasion of Poland
in 1939. What followed was a period of inconceivable strife
marked by the tragic loss of her family — an experience she
chronicled in her 2007 autobiography, Rising from the
Holocaust: The Life of Fanny Goose. She
survived the war through the selfless generosity of others, people who
put themselves at great risk to help her to survive. When
the war finally ended, Fanny returned home to find her family and her
entire community destroyed. Thankfully, sister Pearl
survived, having escaped to the US.
Her fortunes
changed when she met a « tall, thin and good-looking »
soldier. They talked while waiting for a train, exchanging
their experiences and discovering they were both alone in the
world. The tall soldier was Jerzy Gusz, a young man who had
fought with both the underground Partisans and the Russian army after
losing his own large family to the Nazis. Both shared a
dream of leaving Europe to start a new life. A few days
later, Jerzy returned with documents, and offered Fanny a chance to
leave. Twenty-four hours later, on May 15, 1945, they
married and escaped Poland to begin a new life
together.
Their luck
brought them to Canada in 1949, and to a life where Fanny and Jerry
found political and religious freedom, a retail business that thrived
for more than 50 years in downtown London, and the blessing of
building a family that has now extended to four
generations.
A savvy
businesswoman with a gift for sales, Fanny became known in London as
the « First Lady of Downtown », for her stalwart support of
the downtown core that she considered the heart of her community.
Downtown was where she and Jerry ran their well-known shop,
J Goose Family Clothing, and later J
& F Realty, a residential and commercial enterprise
that continues to this day. Fanny’s commitment to
downtown London development, led her to tenaciously fight for the
location of the Budweiser Gardens in the core, among other
projects.
The Liberal
Party provided Fanny an outlet for expressing her passion for an open,
free political process, the exchange of ideas, and for helping new
Canadians. She was a lifelong, active member and held the
ear of many premiers and prime ministers. Making a visit to
see Fanny in the store before a municipal, provincial or even federal
run was a pilgrimage for candidates to receive sage political advice
from someone who always seemed to know the pulse of the
community.
The many
kindnesses shown her during the war caused Fanny to always have a
hopeful, optimistic attitude she shared with others. The
J. Goose Family Clothing store became a community
‘hub’ where people could go for advice, for help
finding a job or an apartment, or engaging conversation about local
matters. A frequent visitor was her dear friend and retail
colleague, Fred Kingsmill, with whom she shared ‘the sunny
side of Dundas Street’. Fanny’s
optimistic outlook on life continued to the present-day pandemic
crisis, throughout which she counselled family and friends to stay
positive, telling everyone, « we will dance
again ».
Though she
didn’t dwell in the past, Fanny was determined to be a
witness to the horror that was the Holocaust, and in 1996, she and
Jerry’s experiences were formally documented as part of
Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust video project, the
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History
Foundation. For as long as she was able, she
humbly participated in the London Jewish Community’s Yom
Hashoah Remembrance Ceremonies; she was one of the last remaining
Holocaust survivors in London.
Fanny’s community involvement
included: Orchestra London, the Downtown Business
Association, Hadassah, and the East London Business
Association. In 2004, she and husband Jerry were honoured by
the Jewish National Fund for their contributions to Jewish life in
London. In 2013, she proudly accepted the Queen
Elizabeth Jubilee Medal for her community
service.
The family extends its
grateful appreciation to the staff of Richmond Woods Retirement Home
and to Fanny’s loyal and skilled caregivers:
Sandra, Maureen, Vivian and Christina. A private
family service in the Jewish tradition will be held on April
17. Fanny loved celebrations, and a public celebration of
her spirited life will be held later in the year.
Logan Funeral
Home, (519) 433-6181, entrusted with arrangements. Online
condolences can be expressed at www.loganfh.ca
Those wishing to
consider a charitable gift in celebration of Fanny’s
remarkable life and memory, are encouraged to consider
The Fanny & Jerry Goose Endowment
at St.
Joseph’s Health Care Foundation of London
(sjhcfoundation.org), which honours the many years of
compassionate care both Fanny and Jerry gratefully received from Dr.
Michael Borrie at St. Joseph’s Parkwood
Institute.
It would be
impossible not to give Fanny the last word here, and the most
appropriate words come from the concluding lines of her 2007
autobiography: « I am simply grateful for all
of God’s blessings and for the fruit that has been borne in
my life; I cherish my family, my friends, and my community.
I have loved being able to play a supportive role in the life of my
city, and hope that I have made a difference. I have done my
best. »
A tree will be planted, by the Logan Funeral Home,
as a living memorial to Fanny Goose
Click here to View Condolences
2020
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Fania Fanny Goose 2020..
Décès pour la Ville:London, Province: Ontario