Diana’s Obituary
At the age of 70 years, Diana Smorodin, beloved sister of Mr. Harold Smorodin of Canora, passed away at the Yorkton Regional Health Center on February 5, 2021, after a touch of cancer.
Diana was born at Canora Hospital in 1950 and lived on a farm near Tadmore with her parents, Wesley Smorodin and Lucy Smorodin. She attended school in Sturgis and graduated from Sturgis Composite High.
Upon graduation from high school, Diana followed her “big brother” to Ontario where, likewise, she got a job working with computers. After enrolling in a couple of computer engineering courses, it did not take Diana very long to realize that there was something about computers that did not compute for her, so she enrolled at the Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation (CITT) and received a diploma specializing in International Transportation Law and Logistics. She was a practising member of citt.ca until her retirement.
While most people would be satisfied with attaining a diploma from CITT as a career accomplishment, the fact that her big brother was enrolled in a university degree program and she was not, irked Diana to no end. Diana solved that problem posthaste by graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University with a combined B.A. Business and Fine Arts (Textiles) degree.
Diana was too busy to have a career but could produce a business card with the title of Transportation Logistics Manager under her name, when necessary.
Diana operated a wedding dress making business to fund her university education, where she put into practice what she learned in Fine Arts classes only hours after she had learned it. When her big brother began to pursue postgraduate studies, Diana began to study foreign languages. If one wanted to find Diana in a hurry after business hours when she was not at work, the Language Labs at a nearby university was where one would look.
Over time, Diana gained university entrance fluency in five foreign languages and conversational fluency in three. In total, Diana spoke nine languages, if one counts English as a language. Her knowledge of foreign languages helped her in her role of Transportation Logistics Manager to arrange international shipment of goods via land, sea and air.
Diana liked sewing and made her own wardrobe, everything from skirts to coats. Lately, she took an interest in learning how to quilt.
She had an intense interest in foreign languages and cultures. If not sewing, Diana was on the Internet talking with some classmate in a foreign land that she had met at a local Language Lab years ago.
Diana’s language studies began as an idea to develop better communication skills with foreign companies in the transportation industry and turned into the most rewarding personal experience for her.
Her language training was in the form of a total immersion program, where students studied grammar in class by day, and met at each other’s homes to practice culture (singing) and conversation in that language by night. The rules were that not a word of English was to be spoken. In this milieu, Diana formed lifelong friendships with some of the most brilliant and talented people in the world who had come to study English in Canada.
When “big brother” Harold retired and moved to Canora, Diana was not far behind. They shared a house inherited from their father’s estate, where Diana continued to pursue her hobbies till her passing. She will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.
Diana was predeceased by her parents, Wesley and Lucy Smorodin, and her brother, Leonard.
She is survived by her brother, Harold, extended family members and many friends.
A Public Visitation will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at Leson’s Funeral Home, Canora, SK. A Private Funeral Service will be celebrated on Thursday, February 11, 2021, with Shawna Leson as certified celebrant. Private Interment will follow in the Canora Cemetery.
Those wishing to make expressions of sympathy may make donations to the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, as tokens of remembrance, in memory of Diana Smorodin.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Diana Smorodin 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Canora, Province: Saskatchewan