Obituary of Liivi Sandy

LIIVI CORINNE SANDY

July 12, 1983 — November 27, 2018

 

Liivi passed away peacefully with her loving parents by her side at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre after a short but intense battle with cancer. She is survived by her father Neal Sandy, her mother Kadri Tamme (Silver Holmberg), and her sister Kiiri Sandy (Alfredo Raffellini), as well as by her niece Leili and nephew Kaev. She also leaves behind aunts Margaret, Joanne (Doug), Pauline (Ken), Anne (Ants) and Madli (Avo), and uncle Clare (Cathy), as well as cousins Bob (Lisa), Bruce (Victor), Alison, Jeff (Natalie), Pauline, Craig (Susan), Cheryl (Don), Chris (Jennifer), Madis (Amanda), Tarmo, Viive (Mart), Markus (Karina), and Jaan (Erin), as well as her cousins’ children. She is predeceased by grandparents John and Caroline Sandy and Aksel and Helmi Tamme, as well as by uncles Trevor (Gwyn) and Glenn, and by cousins Jim and Dave.

 

Liivi was born at Women’s College Hospital and grew up in Toronto, graduating from Northern Secondary School and then from Ryerson University in 2006 with a degree in Journalism. She spent a summer before graduation interning for a newspaper in Estonia, and then worked for various Toronto publications, including the National Post, the Toronto Star, Metro, the Annex Gleaner, and Chatelaine. She loved the arts and especially music, often interviewing her favorite bands and writing reviews for Toronto events like the Est Docs Film Festival.

 

Active in the Estonian Community throughout her youth, Liivi attended Estonian School, participated in Estonian folk dancing, and spent her summers at Jõekääru, an Estonian children’s camp. She visited Estonia with family and friends several times, and performed at Tantsupidu, the National Estonian Dance Festival held every five years in Tallinn.

 

Liivi was quick to make friends wherever she went, and was known for her empathy, her love of music, her sense of humour, and her luminous smile. She loved to have fun with her girlfriends, and they found adventure traveling to South America, Italy, France, England and around Canada and the U.S. together. But she also liked to be alone to contemplate life, listen to music, read, and binge-watch her favorite shows.

 

Another great love of hers was animals — dogs in particular — which began when she was gifted a tiny American Eskimo pup for her ninth birthday. Most recently she adopted a stray cat, Miki, as well as a Golden Retriever she named Aphrodite (Fro for short), who she doted on.

 

Ever a student of modern culture, Liivi had a keen awareness of the troubled world around her. This led to many discussions with her friends and family — most notably with her dad, also a journalist and broadcaster — on a wide range of topics. She was always after the whys and the wherefores, always interested in the stories behind the people she met, the little flaws that made them human and, as far as she was concerned, more precious and lovable. She was a bright light in the lives of those who loved her, a sensitive, creative soul who made each person she spoke to feel like the most important person in the world. She will be forever remembered for her laugh, her wit, and her warmth, and she will be desperately missed by family and friends.

 

A service will be held for Liivi at St. Peter’s Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Toronto on December 13th at 11:00 am.
 

Donations can be made in Liivi's name to the Canadian Cancer Society, the Toronto Humane Society, or the Estonian Foundation of Canada.

 

“Joy and woe are woven fine

A clothing for the soul divine;

Under every grief and pine

Runs a joy with silken twine,

It is right that it should be so;

Man was made for joy and woe;

And, when this we rightly know,

Safely through the world we go.”

William Blake 1757-1827