August 4, 1934 - August 15, 2020
1934-2020 ~ On 15 August, 2020 our beautiful mama, our loving babcia and a friend to many passed. Her spirit and mind battled to live to the last but her weary body could not endure.
Maria Rose Furmanek (nee Kosarynski) was born on 4 August, 1934 in Torun Poland. Maria was only five years old when World War II erupted, displacing and permanently fracturing her family.
The youngest of five children she would outlive all her siblings but the loss of her eldest brother Kashmir in the war was devastating.
Maria was still a child in years when the war ended but the responsibilities and hardships, she had endured made her seem much older. What was left of her family struggled to rebuild a life just as Poland itself attempted to resurrect itself from the rubble left from the war.
Maria escaped into books and with her vivid imagination became a storyteller herself. A gift (and sometimes a curse) she passed on to many of her children and grandchildren.
Maria, the city girl, married Marjan, the farm boy, in 1954. Perhaps, not a match made in heaven, but what they lacked in bliss they made up in passion and they steadfastly remained together until his death in 2016.
They had emigrated to Canada in 1965, settling in Terrace. The culture shock Maria experienced in Terrace was great but she learned to live without the amenities she was used to and became known as a lively hostess, quick with a song or a joke, always happy to offer those in need a place to sleep or a hot meal.
Nonetheless, when the opportunity arose for the two of them to move to Vancouver after Marjan retired they happily ditched the kids and became city folks again and would have remained there if not for their failing health.
Maria had five children, twelve grandchildren, and eighteen great grandchildren. In her last years she took to gambling a bit. She seemed to scratch more than she won but we all knew she was seriously intent on leaving us a substantial inheritance. Although she never won the jackpot, we hope she knew having her in our lives left us rich.
Dobranoc Mama