Obituary
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our dear mom, Monica Jaworski (nee Leahey), on Friday, August 5, 2022 at Waterford Long Term Care home in Oakville. She was the wife of Ted (deceased 2002), devoted mother of Ron and Leah (Julian), and proud grandmother of Kiera. She was the beloved twin sister of Veronica Voellmecke of Ottawa. She had many nieces and nephews that she loved.
She is predeceased by sisters Patricia Coughlan (1990), Teresa Morris (1990), Aniceta Clarke (2002) and Geraldine Perry (2018).
Mom you are out of suffering now. We will miss you so much.
Please join us if you can to celebrate Mom’s life. Arrangements are as follows:
Visitation: Friday, August 12, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 13, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., just prior to funeral
Kopriva-Taylor Funeral Home, 64 Lakeshore Rd. W., Oakville
Funeral: 10:00 a.m., St. Dominic’s Church, 2415 Rebecca St., Oakville
AS A COVID PRECAUTION, WE KINDLY REQUEST THAT MASKS BE WORN
AT BOTH THE VISITATION & FUNERAL, AS WE WILL HAVE IMMUNOCOMPROMISED
PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society & the Alzheimer’s Society would be greatly appreciated
A photo gallery will soon be posted, so please return to this webpage later to see some wonderful pictures of Mom and her family & friends.
Below are two accounts of Mom’s life, one written by her daughter and the other by her son.
There is some overlap of information, but each of us tells the story in our own way.
Monica’s Story
As told by her daughter Leah
Apologies at the outset for this being quite long; Mom had a long and busy life, so there is a lot to tell…
EARLY LIFE
Mom was born and raised in the picturesque village of Rapides des Joachims, Quebec, nestled in the Laurentian Mountains. The village is called “de Swisha” by the local residents; I assume this is a reference to the fast undercurrent in the Ottawa River, alongside which the village is located. De Swisha has the distinction of having the oldest person on record in Canada buried in its cemetery. Marie-Louise Meilleur, who Mom knew, died in 1998 at the age of 117. Growing up in a village, Mom knew everyone else who lived there.
Mom and her twin sister Veronica were the last born of twelve children to Edward and Annie Leahey. The oldest six of Mom’s siblings all died of childhood diseases, and the surviving six were all girls. Mom’s dad supported such a large family as the local game warden, and they were quite self-sufficient with regards to food; Edward and Annie planted a very large vegetable garden each year and had a barn with chickens and pigs.
Mom got along well with all of her sisters, but was particularly close to her twin; Veronica was her life-long best friend. I don’t know if my mom was born first, but she was like the big sister of the twins. Mom told me stories of when they were children, and of how she always defended Veronica in squabbles with other children. There was another set of twins in the village who were very close in age to Monica & Veronica; the four of them were inseparable as children.
Monica and Veronica attended teacher’s college together in Noranda, Quebec, and Mom taught Grade 1 for a couple of years. Mom didn’t like teaching, and returned to the homestead in De Swisha.
When she was in her early twenties, a tragic event occurred in Mom’s life. Her serious boyfriend Dan was tragically killed in a workplace accident. Mom told me it took four or five years for her to get past this and to want to see anyone new. After moving to Niagara Falls to work as a secretary for Ontario Hydro, she met a handsome young man named Ted Jaworski, who also worked there. Mom and Dad met in the Hydro bowling league.
MIDDLE LIFE
Marriage & Motherhood
Monica & Ted married in 1956, and my dad was transferred with Ontario Hydro from Niagara Falls to Thunder Bay, where they welcomed baby Ron in 1961. Mom said to me several times over the years that “having children put me on the map”, which I understood to mean that it gave real purpose to her life. I think her children were more important to her than anything else, and that being a mom was her favourite role in life. I once asked her what the happiest time in her life was, and she said, “when you kids were small.”
De Swisha Summers
When we were small, up until we were teenagers, my brother Ron and I spent ten summers at the homestead in De Swisha. Our “cottage” was really quite a historic property; underneath the painted tar paper, it was a log cabin built by my mom’s grandfather in the 1800’s after his arrival in Canada from Ireland. I have many happy memories of our time there.
Mom took us swimming about five afternoons per week, so my brother and I became very confident swimmers with all of that time in the water; sometimes she would pack a lunch cooler and we would make a day of it. De Swisha has two spots to swim, called “the bay” and “the chute”.
“The bay”, a calm inlet from the Ottawa River free from any undercurrent, is a sunbathed spot with a small sandy beach, but we had to be careful not to go in the swampy part where the snapping turtles were! “The chute” is a fantastic swimming spot, with its own waterfall and swimming pool at the bottom of a mini white water rapid that cuts through a swath of granite rocks. I think the chute is part of another smaller river, as Mom would have to drive about ten minutes on a gravel road through the Laurentian forest to reach it.
Mom would also take us blueberry picking and then make the best blueberry tarts ever . Fishing was something we did with Aunt Aniceta, who lived next door; then Mom would fry up delicious fresh pickerel or trout that we had caught. She hosted many dinners at De Swisha for visiting aunts and cousins, using fresh vegetables from the enormous garden that my dad would painstakingly plant each year as he carried on my grandparents’ tradition of having homegrown food.
Looking back on those summers at De Swisha, I appreciate now how lucky we were to be able to spend so much time close to nature. However, a couple of times each summer a bear would come out of the forest to sort through the garbage cans at the end of our driveway; now that felt a little too close!
Life in Oakville
In 1962, my parents moved to the lovely lakeside town of Oakville, and welcomed baby Leah a year later. My mom lived in Oakville at the same address until 2021 – fifty nine years in the same house! She was also an active member of St. Dominic’s Church for the same length of time.
The church was definitely a focal point in her life, and there she was involved in many activities over the years: Christmas bazaars, the bowling league, euchre club, choir, CWL (Catholic Womens’ League) executive, and she organized the sale of religious articles (e.g. prayer books, crucifixes, jewellery) after church services.
Mom had a real “green thumb”. She loved her flowers; every spring there were pops of colour around the outside of the house where she planted her annuals. She also had a small vegetable and herb garden, in which she grew tomatoes and chives.
Mom returned to work part-time when I was about ten. Being an “Avon Lady” was a job that she enjoyed, as she met a lot of people who were very friendly; she would often be invited in for cups of tea as she made her rounds of deliveries.
Her interest in cooking landed her the next job as “short order cook” at the Country Squire Inn Restaurant, where she worked for about twelve years. After that she did babysitting jobs; perhaps this was her way of re-living that favourite time in her life, “when you kids were small”.
At the age of 67, when most people are thinking about or have already opted for retirement, Mom took on a full-time babysitting job to care for the sweetest little boy named Blake. She looked after him from the age of six months until he started school, and part-time for a couple of years after that. “Monni”, as he called her, became a significant person in Blake’s young life, and Mom kept in touch with Blake and his family for quite a few years after she stopped working for them.
Mom also did a lot of volunteer work. For many years she did door-to-door fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society and the March of Dimes. She also did “Smoking Sam” demonstrations for the Cancer Society at Hopedale Mall. In her 70’s and 80’s she volunteered at the Sir John Colbourne Seniors’ Centre, helping to prepare and serve food at a weekly luncheon, as well as prepare food for Meals on Wheels deliveries to seniors. Mom also prepared food for funeral receptions at St. Dominic’s Church.
Mom kept very fit, and I think this was a major factor in her longevity. She was active in swimming, skiing (both cross-country & downhill) and went for a walk almost every evening into her early 90’s. In her 70’s and 80’s, she took on a variation of her church bowling league by joining a lawn bowling club.
Travel
Mom went to some very nice places in her lifetime. Her honeymoon was in Lake Louise, Alberta. She visited Jerusalem, Israel in the 1980’s. She made annual trips to California and Florida where her twin sister had winter retirement homes, as well as many trips to her sister’s home in Ottawa. When my husband and I moved to New Mexico, U.S.A. and Yorkshire, England, she came to see us in both places.
LATER LIFE
Chef Monica
Mom was confident and quick in the kitchen. She made delicious homemade recipes for us like meatloaf and cabbage rolls, the latter being a recipe borrowed from my dad’s Polish side of the family. And like her summer blueberry tarts, the shortbread cookies that she made at Christmas were the best ever .
Mom continued cooking dinner at home right up to the age of 95; that year her vision deteriorated to the point where she had to let my brother Ron take over cooking on the stovetop. However, despite having lost her vision completely, every evening she continued to peel potatoes and chop vegetables for the salad. Now that was amazing determination. Mom was fiercely independent, and made every effort to continue doing the things that she had always done.
“Nana”
Mom became a grandmother at the age of 76 when my daughter Kiera was born; her sister Geri wrote to me saying that Mom was “the happiest grandmother on the planet!” Since “Grandma Monica” was a bit of a mouthful to say, we opted for the simpler title of “Nana”.
Kiera was born in England, and Mom came to see her there when Kiera was a few weeks old and then again for her second birthday. We moved back to Canada when Kiera was almost four; it was much better to be an hour’s drive away for visits rather than a seven hour flight across an ocean!
Mom enjoyed many trips to playgrounds when Kiera was young. One hot summer evening we were at a playground when Mom got onto a swing and started swinging away at full force, going very high and having a great old time! I was amazed at how agile she was for her age; she would have been about 84 then.
After Kiera outgrew going to playgrounds, the three of us had many trips to various malls together, the day ending with dinner either in the mall food court or at Swiss Chalet. Again, her physical fitness amazed me; she could keep pace with us and motor around the malls, the only assistance she required was holding my hand to help with her balance. It wasn’t until the age of 93 that she started to slow down and couldn’t walk as far before needing to sit down.
Those days out at the mall were lovely. Most of the time we didn’t even buy anything; we just enjoyed walking around looking at all the pretty things that we didn’t need. We were just together.
Day Program
From 2012 to 2021, my mom attended an adult day program called S.E.N.A.C.A., that was designed for seniors who have varying levels of cognitive impairment. My brother Ron found this program for her after we noticed some cognitive decline in Mom and were worried about her being at home all day by herself. For nine years it truly extended the quality of her daily life.
Ron and I are so very grateful to the people who ran this program. Cheryl, Gloria, Elizabeth, Tina and the rest of the team kept Mom so busy with crafts, music, exercise, and gardening. Very importantly, it took away Mom’s loneliness because she was with a group of people every day; this was so important for her happiness as she was a very social person.
We would also like to acknowledge the hard-working staff of Waterford LTC who did their best to make Mom’s last months as comfortable as possible. As well, thanks go out to the staff of 6th Floor South and the Emergency and G.I. departments at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.
And a very special thank you to Dr. Douglas Milloy, for his over forty years of dedicated care for our mom.
I will really miss talking to my mom. She was always there at the other end of the phone to say, “Hi dear, how are you doing?” And I will miss my little mall buddy.
“Nighty-night” Mom, have a good sleep.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Monica Jaworski nee Leahey October 22 1924 August 5 2022..
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home
Death notice for the town of: Oakville, Province: Ontario