With broken hearts, our family announces the peaceful passing of Helen Dziurda in her 95th year, surrounded by family.
Helena was born in Wolyn, Poland in 1925, to Jozef and Maria Milcz. She spent her childhood in Poland. At the age of 18, during the war, Helen relocated to Germany where she worked on a farm in war-torn Europe. This is when she developed her passion and skill for gardening.
Helen’s family can be represented in her beautiful apple tree that graced her backyard — strong, life giving, and eternal. In fact, any one of the memories that anyone from our family holds dearly probably revolves around that tree. Helen and her husband Edward were the roots. They were the foundation of our family. They lived by the virtues of love, compassion and empathy. Helen’s house was a gathering place for our family. It didn’t matter that so many of us would cram into her little bungalow on Empire. We all managed to happily find a spot. We would share our lives together while eating the dinner she would proudly prepare for us on any given occasion.
A life lesson that Helena gave all whom she met was to cherish your family: find peace and love with the people you’ve been blessed with. Maybe it's because of everything she endured in her life that she valued family most.
Anyone growing up in our era today would look back and recognize that Helena had a tough childhood. She didn’t have much at all as she lived through the war and survived off the bare necessities of life. What she did have, however, was a lot of determination and drive to build a life that she could be proud of. She was a very proud woman who had her family as her central focus.
She met her husband Edward after the war in Germany. They were married in Germany and had three children there. They came to Canada in 1952 by ship with their three children. They had 5 children together, who would become the branches of the tree that represented our family. Throughout the years, more and more memories were made, and more branches grew.
It was a known fact that Helena loved to sing, dance and play the harmonica. Her smile lit up the dance floor and her voice was such a peaceful sound that radiated her happiness for life.
Helen had a lot of faith in God. She loved going to Sunday Mass and taking part in celebrations and going to church bazaars. Another passion of hers was photography. She loved everything about pictures. What she loved the most were the memories her pictures created. Her picture wall was a focal point in her living room. She had pictures of everyone dear to her. There was never a family function where she didn’t direct our entire family to huddle together tight for a picture.
Helen is survived by her children Stella (Cameron), Ted and Chester (Barbara). Helen is joined in heaven with her husband Edward, sons Richard and Michael, daughters-in-law Moyra and Barbara and great grandchild Taylor. She is also survived by her ten grandchildren: Traci, Deanna, Trina, Chad, Leanne, Amanda, Sylvia, Robin, Mitchel, and Curtis; 22 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren.
The Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Casimir’s Church celebrated by Rev. Krystian Sokal. Interment will follow at St. Andrew’s R.C. Cemetery. Visitation for friends will be held on Wednesday, February 12th from 6-7 p.m. at the Blake Funeral Chapel, 200 May Street South, where Prayers will begin at 7 p.m.
Our family would like to sincerely thank the angels who were called to care for Helen and the residents of Pioneer Ridge. We cannot express enough how much we appreciate your dedication and love.
Helena Dziurda will be remembered in the Blake Funeral Chapel Memorial Grove. Annual dedication service Sunday, June 13, 2021.
