LILY BUTLER

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

LILY BUTLER On Saturday, May 3, 2003, Lily Butler passed away peacefully at the Sharon Home in Winnipeg, at the age of 94. A graveside funeral was held the following Monday at the Rosh Pina Cemetery. Left to mourn are her two daughters, Sandra (Phillip) Krakower, Toronto, ON and Rochelle "Ockie" Namak, Calgary, AB; her grandchildren, Cindy (Michael) Merowitz, Mitchell (Karen) Krakower, and Shula Namak; and her great-grandson, Max Merowitz. Leah Torchinsky Butler, the daughter of Pesach and Ziporah Torchinsky, was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1908. She was five years old when she, together with her siblings and her mother, Ziporah, were ready to sail to Canada to join her father who had left a year earlier. Prior to boarding, a medical exam found Leah to have trachoma, a contagious eye disease, and she was not allowed to sail. It was decided that she and her 16-year old sister Chava would stay behind until Leahs eyes had healed. A year later, when passage had once again been arranged, the First World War broke out and Odessa was blockaded. Then in 1917 came the Russian Revolution. While waiting for the opportunity to leave, Chava married and had a child, and Leah helped the family get by in whatever way she could. It wasnt until 1924, when Leah was nearly 16, that she was finally able to board the SS Mongolia bound for Halifax, and join her family. This time, she would be accompanying her two orphaned cousins, Zalik, eight and Abraham, seven, whose parents had died of hunger two years earlier. In an ironic twist of fate, Abraham was found to have trachoma and was left behind in the care of an Immigration officer, never to be heard about again. Lily was a devoted wife to Max Butler (of blessed memory) and above all a devoted mother to her two daughters, Sandra and "Ockie". Her girls were her life. She was inordinately proud of their accomplishments, and shared their triumphs and heartaches. Her grandchildren brought great joy to her life, as did the recent birth of her great-grandson, named lovingly for her husband. Lily was a family legend for her hilarious but ingenuous remarks, for example, "You look so handsome, but then I dont see very well", and "When I die, I want to die healthy". Hers was an innocence and a sweetness we were gifted to share. She was not a worldly person, but lived content with her lot. And her lot was not always an easy one - but not once did words of self-pity or complaint escape her lips, even when her eyesight failed her. Lily will be lovingly remembered by all who knew her - her children, grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and caregivers.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 14, 2003