The funeral for my Mother was held on Monday the 24th. I am still in shock, and overcome with grief. Her brief illness, and death are still unreal in my mind, as if I will wake up from some horrible dream.

Here is the eulogy I gave for my Mom. I did not think I would be able to do it, but thanks to Matthew who was at my side at the podium I was able to deliver it.

On behalf of the Schmidtke family, Diane, Otto, and myself I would like to thank you all for coming here today in order to celebrate my Mother's life.

My Mother, Toni, was the daughter of Ida who many of you know affectionately as Oma, and her husband Maurice. Mom was born on July 3rd 1934 in Ukraine during a time of great upheaval in that location of the world, and grew up amidst tumultous, and tragic historical events.

No child should ever have to go through what my Mother, and her siblings endured along with millions of others. As the Germans, Russians, and the Allies dropped their bombs a young girl of about 10 or 11 years old ran from a bomb shelter that was in absolute chaos. There had been a screaming baby, and in terror someone had nearly suffocated the child while trying to quiet him. The young girl grabbed the baby and ran with him in her arms The baby was the girl's brother. And I am told that the girl saved the life of her brother that day. That young girl was my Mother, and that baby is our Uncle Paul.

Life, even after the war was over was not easy, and my Mom spent part of her early years in what is known as DP or Displaced Person camps. These camps were set up at the end of WWII in order to try to help the millions of stateless refugees that resulted because of the war. Many of the people who ended up in these camps were malnourished, sick, and even dying. Despite this very harsh life my Mom told me how the children in the camps including herself would make their own toys. They would make dolls out of sticks because that is all they had. And they, the children, stuck together, and looked out for each other.

When my Mom was able to go to school she was an excellent student according to her report cards, and she loved to perform on stage something that has been passed down in her granddaughter Sarah. Mom loved to sing, and she danced ballet.

One of the nicest memories of my Mother from this time period was related to me by Otto's sister Lily who told me how my Mom and my Mom's sister Helen sewed a Bolero jacket, and a skirt for her when she escaped from Eastern Germany. She too had nothing. And that is how my Mom and her sister were, kind, generous, thoughtful people.

They were beautiful girls on the inside, but you would have had to have been blind I'm told not to notice how beautiful they were on the outside too. The boys sung songs about the three lovely young ladies, the blond, the brunette, and the raven haired girls. Their beauty was not lost on the occupying American GIs who I am told admired them too, nor in the case of Toni was her beauty lost on a certain young man by the name of Otto who already had a crush on her from the time he was 14.

In the 1950s when the horror of the war was fast becoming history many of the DPs faced an unforeseen future, and chose to relocate to new countries. My Mother applied to Canada, the USA, and Australia, and Canada was the first country to accept her application.

As a teenager my Mom came to this country as a domestic, and a nanny, and worked off her contract in Sherbrooke Quebec. A very brave thing to do in my opinion as during that time she had only her one sister here, who was living in another area of Quebec. My Mom's brother Herbert would eventually settle to the USA, and in the late 50's her Mother and her younger brother Paul would follow to Canada.

Canada became my Mother's home, she loved this country dearly, and did not ever let my sister or I forget how fortunate we are to be Canadian.

During the late 50's and 60's my Mom started out her career with the Simpsons company later to become Simpsons Sears. She worked her way up to becoming a buyer, and was often asked to model for the company as well. When my daughters and myself look at photos from this time in my Mom's life we cannot help but notice what a stunning, and glamorous woman she was. She was gorgeous, and photographed like a movie star. And my Mom did love movie stars, and glamour magazines, and right up until she passed away we would often talk about the latest celebrity scandal or gossip on E-Talk, and of course the Young & Restless.

My Mom married my Dad in Miami Florida on a beach something that is popular today, but pretty trend setting in that era. And in 1967 I made my appearance followed by my younger sister Diane.

Mom took to mothering like a fish to water. My sister will agree with me that we could not have wished for a better Mom. June Cleaver eat your heart out! Our Mom cooked, baked, sewed for us, made our Halloween costumes, took extremely good care of us when we were sick, read to us, helped us with homework, played games, and toys with us, volunteered at our schools, went on school trips, wiped away our tears, supported us through thick and thin even when I'm certain she questioned what we were up to. She always made sure we knew how much she loved us, and never once harmed us in any way. We were so very lucky to have her.

Some of my favourites memories of my Mom were how she would play games with us when we were little like Candyland, and Snakes and Ladders, and this continued on into adulthood only the games got more sophisticated. She would consistently kick my butt in Scrabble, the only person who ever could, yahtzee, Crazy 8s and Gin Rummy. She even played Intellivision with us, getting a trigger finger injury from the joystick. Mom also loved her puzzles both the jig saw kind, and crosswords.

When my own children were born my Mom was always there for me, and became a loving Nanny Toni. She was a very proud grandparent. When I was on bed rest for several months pregnant with Kasaundra my Mom came over and helped with my two older girls, she cooked, she cleaned, she took care of her granddaughters so that I would not have to worry. She was selfless, and never asked for nor expected anything in return.

In mid-life My Mom reconnected with her childhood friend Otto....remember the boy with the crush from back in the DP camps. It turns out his crush never went away, and Otto, and Toni spent 30 years together as constant companions right here in Pickering.

Mom loved Bay Ridges, her home, where both her, and Otto were blessed with meeting Ramona who became like a daughter to them. Mom especially loved taking walks along the beach, and for her 75th birthday in July we were blessed to have one last perfect day spent walking along Frenchman's Bay with her, and afterwards she bought us all ice cream. That was my Mom generous to a fault.

I suppose I should start to sum up now, but how do I condense a 75 year life time into a few minutes. There is so much more I would like to touch upon such as her immense capacity for kindness to every living creature, from her plants, and flowers to the spiders she did not have the heart to kill. My Mom left a positive impression on everything she ever touched, and the one common thing that everyone has shared with me since her passing is that no one seems to have a single bad memory of her. Think about that for a moment. How many people can you honestly say the same for? She was a loving, kind, non-judgmental person and we should all strive to be remembered thusly. She enriched the lives of everyone who met her, and my own memories of her I will cherish in my heart forever.

My Mom passed away August 15th in the house that she loved at 8:35pm as pronounced by my Aunt Doreen. She spent her last day on Earth surrounded by people who loved her dearly including her grandchildren, and took her last breath in the loving presence of that baby brother she had saved more than 60 years ago.

We will miss her dearly, but she would not want us to suffer. She is free now with her own Mama, and her beloved sister. Until we meet again.

I love you Mom.