Immigrant. Mother. Storyteller. Knitter. Born Jan. 11, 1931, in Belgium; died July 2, 2022, in Victoria; of complications of kidney disease; aged 91.
Maria’s mom would sell food from the farm to customers who came from the city. One had a daughter, Frida, who was Maria’s age and the two girls became fast friends. Frida would spend school vacations at the farm and that’s how Maria met Frida’s brother, Stan, who rode his bike to the village to pick up his sister. Maria fell in love with Stan, and they married in 1952, fourIn 1966, with the promise of better opportunities in Canada, Stan convinced Maria to emigrate.
Stan’s work led the family to move around the country, to the Toronto area, then Oakville, Ont., and Portage la Prairie, Man. With her grown children living in three different provinces, Maria made regular trips across the country. After each family visit, she left a supply of homemade soups, reorganized cupboards and new sets of knitted slippers. Over the years, she knit hundreds of toques, scarves and mittens for, in her words, “the needy children.