SEHDEV o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-02-04 published
WYNNE,
George
John
Alphonsus
(Born in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland)
Peacefully at home surrounded by his family on Wednesday, February
1, 2006. Loving husband to Sandra for 33 years. Proud dad to
John (Linda), Martin (Ritu) and Paul (Miel). Cherished granddad
to Natasha and Declan. Survived by his sister Ann (the late Colin
MacALLISTER;) brothers Edward (Eileen,) and Michael (Breda)
sisters-in-law Denise
KNIGHT and Pat (Walter
ELBE.)
Sadly missed
by nieces, nephews and Friends in Canada and Ireland. Special
thank you to Dr.
SEHDEV and the Oncology department at William
Osler Health Centre-Brampton, Dr.
SNAPE,
Nurse
Laura for all
her help and compassion, Nurse Alcina, and Muriel from Hospice
of Peel. Friends will be received at Andrews Community Funeral
Centre, Bramalea Chapel, 8190 Dixie Rd., (north of Steeles Ave.)
905-456-8190 on Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral
Mass on Monday at St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church,
940 North Park Drive. Interment to follow at Assumption Catholic
Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, in memoriam donations to the Hospice
of Peel or a charity of your choice would be appreciated. Condolences
may be forwarded to www.mem.com
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SEHL o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2006-01-30 published
FISCHER,
Jerome
Edward
Of Mildmay, formerly of Carrick Township, passed away peacefully
at home, with his family by his side on Saturday, January 28,
2006 in his 84th year. Loving husband Rosella
(KNOLL.) Dear father
of MaryAnne and Gerald
SCHWEHR of Mildmay, Brenda
BROWN of Hanover,
Paulette and Les
WEIRMIER of Owen Sound, Janet and Don
WALTER
of Mildmay, Bruce and Bonny of Mildmay, Donna and Bill
LANG of
Heidelberg. Loving grandfather of 17 grandchildren and 5 great
grandchildren. Dear brother of William
FISCHER of Formosa, Alf
and Laura, Leonard and Mary, Laverne and Simon
BRIEG,
Betty and
Edward HAELZLE, Charles and Helene, Paula and Allen
WEBER, Patricia
and William
GOETZ, all of Mildmay; Ronald and his wife
Helen
of Cargill. Predeceased by one son Robert, three brothers and
five sisters and his parents Dominic and Pauline. Visitation
at the Greg Roberts Funeral Home, Mildmay on Monday from 2 to
4 and 7 to 9 p.m. with a vigil service at 8: 45 p.m. and Knights
of Columbus Rosary at 9 p.m. Funeral mass will be conducted by
Fr. W.T. SEHL in Sacred Heart Church, Mildmay on Tuesday, January
31, 2006 at 11 a.m. Donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer
Society as expressions of sympathy.
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SEHNOUTKA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2006-10-06 published
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA,
Georgina "
Jirina"
Georgina died in Toronto on October 3, 2006 at the age of 83,
after suffering for several years with Alzheimer's disease. She
is remembered by her husband of 61 years Jan; her children, Georgina
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ (Irwin), Jane
FOREST (Alan), John (Brenda)
and her grandchildren Katrina, Michael, Sasha, Misha, and Anthony.
Her 1930's Olympic swimming dream was dashed by the German occupation
and her life further altered by the 1948 Communist revolution
in Czechoslovakia. Escaping communist persecution, she and the
Steinsky family immigrated to Canada in 1950. Thereafter, Georgina
lived between the new and the old worlds. The move to Canada
was difficult for her, but she gained much satisfaction from
the opportunities the new homeland brought for her children.
She mourned the loss of her native country. She kept the positive
aspects of its memory alive in her community activities, in the
stories she told her children and grandchildren, and in her writing
and intellectual pursuits under the pen name Inka Smutna. Active
in the cultural life of the Toronto Czech expatriate community,
she was involved with the Women's Council of the Czechoslovak
National Association. She was respected for her work for the
Czech weekly, Novy Domov, which she edited for several years.
After the restoration of democracy to Czechoslovakia in 1989,
she was recognized by her peers in her hometown of Hradec Kralove
with a publication of her poems. Her life bears witness to those
who undergo dramatic transitions for the benefit of subsequent
generations. Her writings will live with us as a testimony to
her strong intellect and to her romantic, whimsical sensibility.
Thanks to all those who helped to care for her in her final years.
The family will receive Friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home
- A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Eglinton Avenue
East), from 4-8 p.m. on Monday, October 9th. A Funeral Mass will
be celebrated on Tuesday, October 10th at 11 o'clock in the Chapel
at Providence Healthcare Centre, 3276 St. Clair Avenue East (at
Warden Avenue). Instead of flowers, donations in her memory can
be made to St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church, 496 Gladstone
Avenue, Toronto M6H 3H9
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SEHNOUTKA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-10-20 published
Poet loved her homeland
Reminisced about home country, lost freedoms
Czechoslovakia never forgotten after fleeing in '49
By Meghan WATERS,
Staff
Reporter
Georgina STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA fled communist-controlled Czechoslovakia
as a young woman, but her children say she never stopped lamenting
her lost homeland.
Their mother was a prolific poet who expressed her sadness through
verse. She wrote in Czech under the pen name Inka
SMUTNA, which
translates to "sad Inka." Her poetry was both romantic and personal,
and ranged from dark to whimsical, her eldest daughter Georgina
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ recalled.
She wrote of her adopted country, too, about spring coming to
the Leaside neighbourhood or an ode to Toronto called "A Song
From Her People" -- a poem that was presented in honour of Mayor
Nathan Phillips in 1961.
Daughter Georgina
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ read the poem aloud at its
presentation, including the lines, "How we love to see your tallest
structures/ Scraping sky in distant autumn haze!/ We're coming
home in time for Exhibition/ Refreshed again by northern holidays."
Two of
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA's poems were included in an anthology
of Czech writers in exile called Taste of a Lost Homeland. Vera
Borkovec, a retired professor from American University in Washington
D.C., edited the compilation. She said
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA's poems
were reminisces of her home country and lost freedoms.
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA was never fully comfortable in her adopted
country, her children said. She came to Canada in April 1950
via Pier 21 in Halifax after fleeing Czechoslovakia in 1949 with
her husband and oldest daughter.
They'd spent nine months in a German refugee camp after their
escape, orchestrated by her father-in-law, following the 1948
communist revolution in Czechoslovakia.
Dozens of family members fled, but not
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA's mother
or grandmother.
If they had stayed, however,
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ said her father
and grandfather would have been jailed -- they were considered
capitalists because of their thriving textile business.
"She knew she'd done the right thing, because her children would
have a better life," said
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ.
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA's second child, Jane, was born in 1951. John,
the family's "happy accident," was not born until 1965.
"Her first duty was always to her husband and her children. It
was not a hedonistic or narcissist approach to life," said
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ.
Apart from her poetry,
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA edited Canada's Czech
newspaper, Novy Domov, which means "new homeland." Every Sunday,
she would spread the New York Times out on the dining room table
especially its "Week in Review" section -- and look for articles
that might be relevant to the expatriate Czech community.
"She had a really uncanny ability to have a sense of when something
significant was happening in the world," said her daughter-in-law
Brenda STEINSKY.
Although STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA sorely missed the country she left
behind, the fall of communism in 1989 brought her little solace.
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA had been missed during the years of communist
rule. Her daughter said there was a network of her mother's childhood
Friends who published a book of her poems: "A whole network that
never forgot her."
Her mother was glad to be reunited with her Friends,
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ
said, "but she was like a lost soul. It was not the world she
knew."
As a young girl,
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA was the apple of her grandparents'
eye. Her father, an academic, died when she was young.
The bright and serious girl learned the classics, Greek, and
Latin from her grandfather.
She lived by a Latin saying that means, "A sound mind and a sound
body." She excelled in her studies and was accepted to medical
school just before World War 2. Then the Nazis took over and
shut down the universities.
"They didn't want the population to get too smart under their
watch," said her son John
STEINSKY.
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA was also a standout athlete named to her country's
national swimming team. She planned to attend the 1940 Olympics,
but they were cancelled after the start of the war.
As a young woman,
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA awoke every morning to the
clatter of horses' hooves on the cobblestone streets outside
her window.
She later learned that an avid horseman -- who would later become
her husband -- was responsible for the clatter; his family kept
a stable of horses beside the car garage in their town of Hradec
Kralove.
The two attended the same liberal arts-oriented high school,
and they met through dancing lessons.
Their first date was at a skating rink in December 1940.
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA
did not show up for a second skating rink date, but the pair
met again at a dance in March 1941.
Jan STEINSKY proposed later that year and they were married in
1945. The wedding should have been a lavish affair, but it was
held quietly, in a private chapel to avoid the communists' ire,
STEINSKY-
SCHWARTZ said.
The pair was married for 61 years before
STEINSKY-
SEHNOUTKA's
death this month, at age 83. She leaves her husband, three children
and five grandchildren.
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