Obituary of Georgina Steinsky-Sehnoutka

Georgina (Jirina) Steinsky-Sehnoutka 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.