Fifteen years ago today my Mother died. How is it possible I could be on this earth all those long years without her?
Kathleen Elise Pietrie Figueroa -- "Kitty" to her parents, "Mom" to her seven children and "Darlingest" to our father -- was born in Kingston Jamaica in 1928. In 1949, at just 21 years of age, she left the warmth of her parents and the sunny skies of Jamaica to marry and begin life anew in cold Canada. Other than my father, who'd left Jamaica a few months earlier to establish them in Toronto, she knew no one.
I still get teary when I read the letter her father, my grandfather, wrote June 20, 1949 shortly after her arrival in Toronto and just five days before she'd be married: Dear Kitty...I am looking forward to that letter of yours which will say, Daddy I don't like Toronto and will be home soon."
But such was not the case. Mom loved Toronto. Mom loved Canada and embraced everything about it; well, not skating or skiing or winter sports, but she loved everything else. My parents were probably the proudest Canadians I've ever known, or ever will know. I'll always have gratitude that at their tender young ages of 21 and 27 they realized Canada would be the best country in the world to raise their future children. Dad died seven years after Mom. They are both missed beyond measure but I often feel them near, guiding and loving me just as they always did.
Kathleen Elise Pietrie Figueroa -- "Kitty" to her parents, "Mom" to her seven children and "Darlingest" to our father -- was born in Kingston Jamaica in 1928. In 1949, at just 21 years of age, she left the warmth of her parents and the sunny skies of Jamaica to marry and begin life anew in cold Canada. Other than my father, who'd left Jamaica a few months earlier to establish them in Toronto, she knew no one.
Mom in Jamaica in 1948.
I still get teary when I read the letter her father, my grandfather, wrote June 20, 1949 shortly after her arrival in Toronto and just five days before she'd be married: Dear Kitty...I am looking forward to that letter of yours which will say, Daddy I don't like Toronto and will be home soon."
Mom and Dad's marriage in The Toronto Daily Star!
But such was not the case. Mom loved Toronto. Mom loved Canada and embraced everything about it; well, not skating or skiing or winter sports, but she loved everything else. My parents were probably the proudest Canadians I've ever known, or ever will know. I'll always have gratitude that at their tender young ages of 21 and 27 they realized Canada would be the best country in the world to raise their future children. Dad died seven years after Mom. They are both missed beyond measure but I often feel them near, guiding and loving me just as they always did.
Mom and Dad, June 19, 1998, with their beloved grandchildren, James, Mike and John. This picture is taken on James's 10th birthday and just two months after his fourth epilepsy surgery.
One of the few pictures just of Mom and me. Usually my children or one or more of my six siblings would also be in the picture.
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