By Katie Kuskis
On April 22, 2023 my grandmother, the woman I called Mom, was called home. Heaven received a woman full of strength, conviction, integrity, and compassion. I still don’t have all of the words to convey just how much she meant to me. She loved me fiercely and raised me as one of her own.
I’ve spent the week replaying countless conversations we had and reflecting on the wisdom she shared during the time we spent on this Earth together. Mom was instrumental in raising me. She taught me life’s most valuable lessons. She was honest and direct - often telling you what you needed to hear, not what you wanted to hear. She wanted the absolute best for us, but reminded us the “best” does not come without hard work, determination, and a good sense of humour.
Mom was intelligent and vivacious, with a strong sense of adventure and a lust for knowledge. She travelled the world in search of new experiences and fresh perspectives. After immigrating to Canada from Germany, she planted roots throughout several parts of Ontario and British Columbia, Taipei, Chicago, and Poland. She encouraged education and cultivated an environment to find our own creativity. She wanted me to experience all that this life has to offer. Growing up, while my friends were spending Friday night at the movies in sneakers, I was with Mom and her friends…at the opera…in a velvet gown and silk gloves.
It didn’t matter where she was in the world, we spoke daily. She enforced the use of a land line, and otherwise kept in touch via a barrage of emails throughout the day. She wrote frequently and used emailing as a way to keep in ‘direct’ contact, as if she were sitting right next to you. At times her thoughts came in short and sweet, other times several paragraphs long…especially if you mentioned that skydiving was on your New Year’s bucket list for 2019.
Mom believed a relationship could be defined in the first few moments of meeting, and reminded us to always put our best foot forward. She would tell us to take pride in who you are, demonstrate good manners, and to conduct yourself like a lady at all times - yet to always know your worth - “Katelynn, don’t let anyone take the sausage off your bun” (it’s a German thing…) Above all, she took pride in her laundry, “as everyone should”; linens are meant to be fresh, white, crisp and starched - of course. She taught us to have courage, to be honest, to act with integrity and to not be a bystander. Mom demonstrated what it meant to live a life well-lived; to pursue our passions, go after what makes us happy; stay humble; and to never settle for anything less than what we deserve.
Mom, our story together is nowhere near its end. I know that I’ll feel you with me through every milestone that lay ahead. I will miss you and your emails immensely, however it is in the thoughts and memories I have of you, that you will live on. Thank you for selflessly loving me each and every day. “Please think of her as living, in the hearts of those she touched. For nothing loved is ever lost, and she was loved so much.”
Love Katie (grand daughter)
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