Obituary of Juta Kubarsepp

Eve: Thank you for joining us today to celebrate the life of our mother Juta Kübarsepp. To her family she was ema (mother) and vanaema (grandmother). Juta was born on April 18, 1917 in Loksa, Estonia. She was the first born child to Magda and Joosep Janter. Ema survived a younger brother Kuno and younger sister Hulda. Ema grew up in a young independent Estonia in a seaside town with her mother, father, two siblings and grandmother. Juta was a happy child and a good student. After primary school she worked at the local brick factory to earn her tuition fee for school in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. When her father realized that his daughter was determined to go for higher education, whether he thought it worthwhile for a young woman or not, he relented and helped. Juta married Evald Aleksander Orunuk. They were thrilled when their daughter Anne was born. Their happiness was marred 18 months later when Evald was arrested by the communist Russian invaders. These were uncertain times and as Tallinn was being bombed in September 1944, ema fled from Estonia with her 4 year old daughter believing that when the war was over, she would return to her birth country, find her husband and live happily ever after. A frightening and dangerous journey to Germany ensued. First by ship to Poland and then on foot through war torn countries. During these times ema's life was filled with unknown, sacrifice and concern. The journey for an adult alone would have been a challenge but ema, a very determined young woman, made sure that she and Anne would survive. Kati: Ema and Anne immigrated to Newmarket, Ontario in November 1948. The Canadian government paid their way because ema signed a contract to work as a domestic housekeeper for one year. Imagine a young woman and her now 9 year old daughter in a foreign country with no money, no family and no plan. Years later, in Hamilton, she met and married Olev Kübarsepp also from Estonia. They moved to Toronto and Juta and Olev were blessed with two daughters, Kati and Eve. Weekends and holidays were spent at their cottage on Riley Lake. Several years later they moved to a cottage on Lake Couchiching just north of Orillia. When they weren't at work in Toronto, they were at the cottage. Ema was an avid gardener. Her favourite thing to do was to annually re-arrange her rock gardens and flowerbeds at the cottage. She had a green thumb and in the springtime was willing to spend her last dollar on plants. She was happy when her talent was admired by neighbours, visitors and passers-by. Olev, isa, died 35 years ago, while in his mid-fifties. Before ema retired from work at SKF she became involved in the Toronto Estonian community. She sang in the Toronto Mixed Choir, The Pensioner's Club ladies Choir and at the Ehatare retirement and nursing home, she sang in the Ehatähed choir. Ema was an active, contributing member of Estonian War Invalids Society and the Toronto Estonian Society assisting in the women's sector with whatever chores were necessary for the annual Estonian Independence Day celebrations. When asked, Juta assisted Estonian Girl Guides in Canada by working in the camp kitchen. Harjumaa Koondis - a club for individuals who were born in the province of Harjumaa in Estonia was established by ema and she was repeatedly elected to be the chairperson for close to twenty years, until her health prevented her from being able to fulfill her responsibilities. Juta received an "Oscar" - for the dedication and work she did for the Society of Estonian Provinces in Toronto. Eve: Ema joined the Estonian Ethnographic Society to learn more about Estonian folk costumes. Ema learned how to sew and embroider in school in Estonia. She and her daughters needed folk costumes to wear to Estonian functions, folk dancing, choirs and celebrations. She researched the designs and sewed four different adult outfits. In addition she also prepared costumes for Kati's children, Tanja aged 6 and Trevor aged 4, for when they performed with the children's folk dancing group at the Esto festival. Ema wrote a short play and poetry. Many of the poems were about Christmas, particularly her memories of Christmas as a child in Estonia. One of her poems was printed in "Triinu" - an Estonian ladies magazine published in Toronto and mailed worldwide. We would like to take this opportunity to share ema's thoughts regarding something we all will face: aging…. ** Eda reads ema's poem In Estonian - Kuldsed aastad In 2000, ema had a stroke. The following years were difficult for her. It took ema time to re-learn certain activities. She realized that with her eyesight and loss of balance hindered her considerably. Ema was a survivor, a strong willed woman who showed us all by example that one must make the best of a bad situation - always. She had to slow down and she filled her days reading. Traveling to Houston Texas to visit her daughter Kati and her family was no longer possible. Fortunately, my son Colin was married in June 2012 and the Houston family traveled to Toronto and Peterborough - all 13 family members. Ema was very excited about having her entire family around her for the celebration. Unfortunately, ema had a health problem on the day of Colin & Shianne's wedding. Hospitalized, she was unable to attend the event. A few days later, she returned to the nursing home. The entire Houston family were able to visit with her. It was an incredibly happy day for ema. She absolutely glowed when finally meeting the 4 youngest of her 6 great grandchildren from Texas - William and the triplets, Isabella, Michael and Nicholas, for the first time. She told a now teenaged Rebecca stories about her mother Tanja that made everyone laugh. Kati: Ema leaves behind three daughters, two son-in-laws Donald and Fraser, five grandchildren Tanja, Trevor, Paul, Colin and Kimberly, and … 7 great grandchildren: Rebecca, Olivia, Isabella, Michael, Nicholas, William and James. Her grandchildren are grieving their loss and have dear and fond memories of the times that they shared with their vanaema: Eve: From Trevor: My mother Kati, asked us to share a memory of our vanaema. Nothing long or emotional, but perhaps something heartwarming or even funny...... A number of things came to my mind. Like the times that vanaema, Tanja and I took the bus to the Estohouse; and the time vanaema took care of us for a week when Mom and Dad went on a trip. Narrowing down 1 or 2 memories that I can share was difficult, but my fondest memories are not just of my vanaema - they are of everyone. All of our family summers at the cottage stand out most. Memories of vanaema watching over her grandchildren as we swam in the lake looking for clams and crawfish. My sisters (Tanja and Kim) and my brother (James) and my cousins who are like brothers (Paul and Colin) swam, laughed, and fought while vanaema looked on us and tended to the garden. These are my favorite memories, and I would think they were in Vanaema's top 10 memories as well. From Tanja: My vanaema was a tough cookie, and really helped, and took over, when my mom was going through some very tough times. She was an expert seamstress, and made me many dresses, and outfits, while watching all her favorite soap operas...which I had to watch too, because there were no cartoon channels and networks back then. It must have been very hard for her, but we would run errands or she would take us special places, we would always take buses, and the subways with Trevor and I in tow. How many five year olds know how to get around Toronto? I did! When we were at the cottage, we would walk to the flower stores, and she would let me pick out flowers to help her in her gardens, and I loved that. I think I got my love of gardening from her. She was a very important person in my childhood, and almost as important a caregiver as my mom in my life time. She and all her daughters were. From Kimberly: I'll always remember vanaema on bended knees at the top of the hill at the cottage embracing her grandchildren with her beautiful garden as the backdrop. She loved her family very much, she fought for what she wanted, and seemingly had no fear of anything in life. Kati: From Colin Colin is well know for being a man of few words. At Colin's wedding his new bride had a heartwarming speech. When it was Colin's turn, he leaned down to the microphone, looked at everyone and simply said "thank you". When asked about sharing a memory of his vanaema he pondered and simply said "Cottage …" From Paul We spent a lot of time at the cottage with vanaema and I have a lot of fantastic memories of those days. Sometimes vanaema would come to stay with us at our house for several days or a week to babysit. Vanaema was always happy to see us. She was interested in what we were doing, went to our hockey games and she knew us very well. Sometimes the things that she would say surprised us. One time when she was talking to both Colin and I she told Colin to make sure he stayed in school and then she patted me on the knee and said Paul, you just stay out of jail. When we went to the retirement home for the annual Candlelight dinners we were very proud to see her sing with the choir. Colouring easter eggs just isn't going to be the same without her. Clearly, ema will be remembered fondly by her family and friends. Thank you for joining us today to celebrate Juta Kübarsepp's life. On the songsheet: Unknown author … "You can shed tears that she is gone or You can smile because she has lived. You can remember her and only that she's gone or You can cherish her memory and let it lie on."