Maria Josefa Lapple (nee Köchl), affectionately known as "Mitzi" to many who knew and loved her, passed away peacefully on 2025-08-14 T21:30 (EDT) at the Markham Stouffville Hospital in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Her remains were cremated but, in accordance with her wishes, there will be no interment, funeral or memorial service.

She was 94 years old, having lived a life defined by courage, resilience, love, steadfast devotion to family, discipline, hard work, tenacity, continuous improvement and a pursuit of excellence in everything she did.

Maria is preceded in death by her:
Father:
Johann Köchl
Born: 1883-12-08
Died: 1946

Mother:
Mathilde Köchl (nee Friedl)
Born: 1900-02-17
Died: 1982-04-12

Siblings:
An older sister whose name is unknown,
Died: 1 1/2 years old

Margarete (Greti) Brunner (nee Köchl)
Born: 1933-10-05
Died: 1976-11-21

Aloisia (Luisi) Toth
(nee Köchl)
Born: 1939-04-02
Died: 2016-12-25

Adolf Köchl
Born: 1942-01-09
Died: 2018-10-07

Husband (of 69 years)
Richard Ludwig Lapple
Born: 1932-03-03
Died: 2020-12-25

Maria is survived by her:
Her brother, Johann (Hans) Köchl (wife Helga Köchl)

Oldest son, Robert (wife Maxine Lapple) and their children, Alicia Lapple (husband Michael Arenson) and their children Rose and Oscar Arenson, Rebecca Lapple, Adam Lapple (wife Anna Rose Gagne-Lapple) and their daughters Arielle and Aurora Lapple.

Youngest son Raymond (wife Rossana Lapple) and their son Christian Lapple.

And numerous nieces and nephews in Europe.

Mitzi’s journey through life was remarkable—rooted in her heritage and enriched by her adventures far from her homeland.

She was born on January 18th, 1931, in the picturesque city of Graz, Austria (then called the "First Austrian Republic"), the oldest surviving daughter of hardworking Austrian parents. Her father survived a decade as a WWI POW in a Russian Siberian gulag. When he returned to Graz he started a small transportation business with two "Pferdefuhrwerken" (horse drawn carts). In 1929 he got permission to marry a much younger Mathilde Friedl. Maria was their second born child and lived in a flat on Überfuhrgasse, in downtown part of Graz, with her parents and four siblings.

Maria’s formative years were forever influenced by the turbulent times and the geographic location in which she grew up. Her father’s business suffered as a result of the 1931 financial crisis but the family remained unscathed by civil unrest culminating in the 1934 civil war. On May 1, 1934 the country was renamed Bundesstaat Österreich (“Federal State of Austria“, an authoritarian government based on a mix of Italian Fascist and conservative Catholic influences). On 25 July 1934, the chancellor of Austria Engelbert Dollfuß was assassinated in a failed coup attempt by Nazis. Then, with the 1938 NAZI “Anschluss“, the country ceased its independence altogether and it was simply referred to as the Ostmark within the Nazi controlled German Reich (Deutsches Reich & in 1943 renamed to the Greater German Reich (Großdeutsches Reich)).

In the Ostmark, eight years (minimum) of education were mandatory. If, after 4 years in the "Volksschule", a student’s marks were high enough, they entered the "B stream" of education. This consisted of another mandatory four years (Grade 5 to 8, ages 11 to 14) enrollment in a "Hauptschule", instead of continuing in the "Volksschule". Then, students in this stream were directed toward a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship program consisting of classroom work at a "Berufsschule" (trade school) twice a week and during the rest of the week the students had to work at a related job, under supervision of a "Fach Meister"( a licenced master). At the end of their apprenticeship, students had to pass the final licensing examination, the "Lehrabschlussprüfung". They were then obliged to work for a fixed period of time at whatever firm had trained them during their apprenticeship as "Lehrling".

Maria attended the Volksschule Graz -Gabelsberger Gabelsbergerstraße 1, 8020 Graz, Austria for Grades 1 to 4 (1936-1940)).
Then, she attended Fröbel-Hauptschule Wiener Str. 102, 8020 Graz, Ostmark (for Grades 5,6,7 and part of grade 8 (1941-1944)), until the school was closed due to its proximity to the railroad station, a prime bombing target of the Allies.
Her school was then repurposed as a "Lazarette"; a hospital for wounded soldiers.

Due to the constant danger of bombing, as their flat was also close to the railway station, Maria’s father purchased a property in 1943, nestled in the northern outskirts of Graz near the Plabutsch, on Winterweg Straße (Bezirk Andritz), Mittelsteiermark, Ostmark. There, he built a one room house, complete with a hand dug well (in fact, the well continues to be used today). Her father grew a small plot of tobacco on their land and worked at the nearby "Maschinenfabrik Andritz", until his death in 1946 (the factory was absorbed into the German Kämper Motorenwerke in 1938, then by DEMAG in 1941 and now is today known worldwide as Andritz AG, with 30,000.
employees that work at over 280 sites in more than 80 countries). During this time Maria finished her grade 8 at the BRG Körösi Körösistraße 155, 8010 Graz, Ostmark.

On March 29th, 1945, Red Army and the NKVD troops invaded via Burgenland and captured the north & eastern part of Ostmark, from Vienna & all of the region now known as the state of Styria ("Steiermark"), of which Graz is the capital. Although the Allies agreed on the borders of their occupation zones on July 9th, 1945, assigning the occupation zone of Styria to the British, this decision was not enforced until much later in the year. Knowing that they would soon have to give up control to the British, the Red Army and the NKVD troops accelerated their systematic sexual violence against the region’s women & pillaged local industries and farms of all industrial equipment and livestock; shipping anything of value to Russia.

Although a Russian camp was located in the forest next to the Köchl home and it’s soldiers regularly drew water from the Köchl family well, thankfully Mara, her mother and siblings were never raped nor were their possessions stolen. Maria’s father, who was fluent in Russian, spared them of this horror, by establishing a good working relationship with the local Red Army military commander. Her father served as an interpreter for this commander and shared his tobacco crop with him. The commander in turn had a machine built for her father that helped him efficiently turn his dried tobacco crop into rolled cigarettes. Furthermore, he assigned a few “Italian military internees” (IMIs), that were stone masons by trade, from a nearby former Wehrmacht work camp (most likely a sub-camp of Stalag XVIII-A Work Camp 107 GW (the suffix meaning "Gewerbliche Wirtschaft"), now under the control of the Red Army, to help Maria’s father add an addition to their house. (Note: The Italians imprisoned in such work camps, after the Armistice of 8 September with the Allies was signed, were deprived of their "Prisoner of War" status and not repatriated until late autumn of 1945).

Maria apprenticed as an office secretary ("Bürolehrling") in a seed shop ("Samenhandlung") at the Landesberufsschule Graz am Hans-Brandstetter-Gasse in Allied Occupied Republik Österreich.

Shortly after the death of her father, Maria moved into a flat with her girlfriend Resi and her husband, on Lindengasse, within the historic city center of Graz and near her workplace.

However, almost 50% of the buildings and infrastructure in post war Graz were damaged or completely destroyed by the Allied saturation bombing campaigns. Police officers had already either fled to the West or sought refuge by discarding their uniforms and hiding in anonymity, so when the Soviet troops invaded, no police service existed at all. Looting by individuals, soldiers and pillaging by the occupying Red Army and the NKVD troops was rampant. Life for civilians in post war Austria, including Graz, was fraught with extreme hardship, including a devastated economy, widespread food shortages, and a significant refugee crisis. Economic recovery was hampered by the fact that Austria was forced to pay more war repetitions per capita than any other axis state or territory, even though Austria, as an independent nation, never actually declaring war.

Though very naive in the ways of her emerging world, Maria was a single, attractive 5’4“, caramel blonde, blue eyed, twenty year old woman, with lots of ambition, grit, tenacity and an independent spirit. She fended off all potential suitors and made the courageous decision to leave all those she knew and loved to seek new opportunities and a fresh start abroad, far from the familiar sights and sounds of her beloved homeland. This decision would forever change the course of her life.

Maria immediately applied for an Austrian travel passport at the Magistrat Polizeidirektion Graz. (Although the British Military Government administered Graz and the surrounding British Zone of Occupation in post-war Austria, passports continued being issued by Austrian civil authorities). On July 7, 1951 Maria’s official passport had arrived from the Österreichische Staatsdruckerei (Austrian State Printing Office) in Vienna.

Then, after only little more than two months, Maria navigated her way through all the bureaucratic emigrant hurdles to obtain her: medical clearance from the Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare, an indentured labour contract (assigned to Montreal as a "Domestic") from the Canadian Government Immigration Mission-Salzburg office with the Canadian Department of Labour under the "bulk labour programme" of Industry & Supply minister C.D. Howe & the Liberal Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, an AHCPO (Allied High Commission For Germany-Salzburg office) travel approval to Bremerhaven, the American-controlled exclave, within the British occupation zone of Germany, an approval from the Bremerhaven "Wasserschutzpolizei" (Maritime Security) Station VI and finally, granted a berth aboard a ship called the FAIRSEA.
NOTE:
For details about this ship, photos and a description of the living conditions aboard, follow the instructions at the end of this obituary/memorial text. It was a C3 class ship which had been converted postwar from a military vessel to an austere emigrant ship, with accommodations for up to 1,800 persons and placed under contract to the IRO ("International Refugee Organisation").

Maria exemplified the spirit of so many newcomers heading to Canada; resourceful, determined, and hopeful. She bravely embarked on her journey into the unknown, completely by herself, with only a small suitcase of clothes, no money and spoke neither English or French. Maria presumably left the port of Bremerhaven aboard the ship Fairsea sometime around September 14, 1951. After enduring horrendous conditions aboard the ship she arrived in Canada, either at the port of Quebec City or Montreal, on September 25, 1951. There, a Canadian Department of Labour representative gave Maria a train ticket and amended her labour contract to reassign her to a domestic position in the Toronto home of a couple who were both dentists. However, neither dentist could speak German and the language impediment soon became a problem between them and Maria.

Furthermore, all German-speaking immigrants (some 270,000 between 1946 to 1960), faced considerable prejudice, resentment and public hostilities from the largely white, English speaking, residents of Toronto; the majority of whom were primarily Protestants from England, Wales, Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with a significant minority of Irish Catholics.The hatred they extended towards these "foreigners" typically did not distinguish between ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) that were designated as DPs by the United Nations IRO (displaced persons that could not safely return to their home countries) or, starting in the 1950s, the German Nationals (Reichsdeutsche) and Austrian Nationals (Österreicher).

Only three days after arriving in Toronto Maria made another innocuous but fateful decision; that being, to accept an invitation to a dance being held at the old Austria Club on Beverley Street (today the location of the Polish Combatants’ Hall). There, she would be formally introduced, by acquaintances of hers to (in Maria's words) "a real hunk of a man". He was a Serbo-Croatian speaking Volksdeutsche (though with limited German language skills) originally from Sarajevo (then, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). His name was Richard Ludwig Läpple but since immigrating to Canada went by the name Richard (Dick) Lapple.

It was love at first sight! The fiercely independent Maria was smitten. Richard checked off all the boxes for Maria, namely;
- He was taller than her.
- He had no apparent physical disabilities or deformities.
- He sported a swarthy complexion and a full head of jet black hair.
- Furthermore, Maria’s acquaintance,Vera who was a friend with Richard’s mother, shared with Maria that Richard had already finished his one year indentured labour contract and that he was "available" and "looking".
- Also, he was reportedly a good dancer….Bonus!

That first evening of dance started a whirlwind romance. In fact, Richard was in such a hurry to marry Maria that he spent most of the money he had managed to save in the previous year to buy out Maria’s indentured service contract. Three months later, on December 26, 1951 they were married by a German speaking priest in St. Patrick's Catholic church on McCaul Street in Toronto.
However, even from the Catholic church, Richard and Maria faced prejudice. Most churches they approached refused to marry them outright. The only priest that they found, that reluctantly agreed to perform the wedding ceremony, first tried to dissuade my mother from marrying an undesirable Slavic, foreigner (his actual words were "ein verfluchter slawischer Ausländer"). Also, according to an eyewitness, the priest refused, contrary to the 1917 Code of Canon Law in effect at the time, to perform the wedding ceremony in front of the alter; instead, he only agreed to do so in an antechamber.

After a brief honeymoon in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts Quebec, Maria & Richard rented a one room flat above a store on Queen Street in Toronto. Maria worked for a German speaking Jewish owner of a clothing factory in the “Fashion District“ on Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Although Richard was already a licensed auto mechanic in the city of Villach (located in the British-occupied zone of post-WWII Austria), the only job Richard found was with the GM Hogan Pontiac dealership in Toronto and only on the condition that he‘d learn sufficient English & repeat an apprenticeship program in Ontario to get certified as an Automotive Service Technician licensed to work in that province.

There wasn‘t a lot of leisure time for the young couple but weekends were generally spent socializing with either Richard’s parents (Richard’s mother was now remarried to a Polish Volksdeutsche), Richard's brother and wife or with the couple, Victor & Vera Widerer that had first introduced them, Maria also enjoyed her walks in High Park.

In 1955, Maria had to quit her job when she gave birth to their first son, Robert, at St. Joseph's Hospital (now St. Joseph's Health Centre) in Toronto. Richard borrowed, from his brother, the $500 minimum down payment to allow Maria and Richard to purchase a small, detached, brick bungalow on Gage Avenue in Scarborough. Maria threw herself into the role of a stay-at-home mom and housewife.

Maria and Richard both proudly became full Canadian citizens on February 19, 1957.

After only four years in the Gage Ave bungalow, by 1959 the family had moved to a new, much larger, two story, semi-detached, brick house (though without a garage) on Painted Post Drive (near Taber Hill) in Scarborough and Maria gave birth to their second son, Raymond. Maria and Richard continued to expand their social network among the Volksdeutsche diaspora. In the early 1960, most summer weekends were spent on day picnics with them at the edge of a farmer‘s field by Lake Scugog. Maria got a chance to catch up with the latest gossip; the meals were prepared over the campfire; kids ran everywhere. The husband of one of Maria’s friends always took Maria’s oldest son carp fishing.

During this period, as an automobile mechanic, Richard had no health benefits and was paid on a “flat rate“ basis (i.e. A system whereby a customer is charged a fixed fee, based on the standard time allocated in the industry's labor guides, regardless of the actual time or effort involved). That meant, particularly during the winter months when there was little work to be had, his pay was very meager & he struggled just to make ends meet. To supplement their income, Richard built a basement apartment so that they could take on a boarder.

After the death of Richard’s step father Adam Metlak, Richard’s mother Margarete spent increasing amounts of time visiting Richard, Maria and her grandchildren in their Scarborough home. Margarete was an amazing cook and baker of Austro-Hungarian dishes and she mentored Maria in these skills. During her visits the house was filled with the amazing aromas of:
- Croatian style Sarma (ground beef and pork, along with rice, sautéed onions, sweet and hot paprika all wrapped in a pickled cabbage leaf; then slowly simmered in a roux based savory tomato sauce along with smoked bacon or ribs, for extra flavor)
- Croation style punjene paprike (spiced ground beef and pork, along with rice stuffed into a thin skinned, yellow Žuta paprika babura type peppers and then slowly simmered in a thick tomato-based sauce)
- German style Goulash
- Hungarian style Chicken Paprikash (paprikás csirke)
- German style Rouladen (thinly cut lean & tender beef, covered with mustard, bacon, onions and pickles, then rolled and tied up, browned and then simmered in the richest gravy imaginable)
- Austrian style Wiener Schnitzel and Balken style Zigeunerschnitzel (thin, lean, mechanically tenderized, then breaded and fried meat cutlets)
- And of her specialty; freshly baked, made from scratch, Bosnian Croat Savijača style phyllo dough pitas, such as:
burek ( with hamburger),
Šareni Burek (hamburger and potato),
Krompiruša (potato) pita,
Sirnica (savoury cheese) pita,
rušice (sweet cheese with walnuts and raisins, similar to baklava) pita,
Jabukovača pita (chopped apples, walnuts and cinnamon, similar to the Austrian Apfelstrudel) pita.
Zalivena pita sa višnjama (sour cherry pita).

Although Margarete had no written recipes, Maria learned these recipes, which she used throughout the rest of her life, by simply watching her mother-in-law, Margarete. Although Maria never mastered the Bosnian art of making pita from scratch, over time, she developed a reasonable good tasting facsimile using store bought frozen phyllo dough sheets which delighted her family and friends.

Maria’s life became defined by dedication to her family. A devoted, disciplined homemaker and mother, she found fulfillment in her spotless, welcoming home, entertaining guests and tending her flower gardens.

She religiously practiced the deeply ingrained Austrian Hausfrau tradition known as “stoßlüften“, where all windows in the house are opened widely, first thing in the morning for short periods, no matter how cold it was outside, to quickly exchange indoor and outdoor air. All the bed comforters were then pulled from all the beds and draped out on the window sills to air out, whether or not someone was still trying to sleep!

Maria bore most of the responsibility for raising her children, as Richard worked long hours often returning long after her children had gone to bed. Her instrument of choice for enforcing discipline, was the “Kochlöffel“ (an oversized wooded spoon).

With limited social exposure to English speaking people, Maria learned the language herself as her oldest son Robert progressed through public school, mainly from his school supplied textbook spellers and books. In fact, she became an avid reader in both languages. For example, she subscribed to a rental service for many years that physically delivered, on a regular basis, printed periodicals written in German. She found solace and adventure within the pages of her favorite novels written in English, particularly all the Danielle Steel and Harlequin romance novels, which she always read before going to sleep for the night.

In 1963, Richard joined Alex Irvine as his shop foreman in the newly formed, premier, G M Chev-Olds ( and later included a Renault and a Truck) dealership , Alex Irvine Motors Ltd at 2655 Lawrence Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario. The additional income allowed Maria and Richard in 1964, after having to spend six months in a miserable, rented apartment (on Cosburn Ave near Donlands Ave, facing the Toronto Fire Station 322), to finally able to move into a used, detached, brick bungalow, c/w an attached single car garage and a very small yard, on Meldazy Drive in Scarborough.

During the 1960‘s Maria and Richard also invested their time and money in developing three separate, lake front, properties in the Muskoka Region of Ontario; first, an undeveloped rocky, coniferous treed property on Gull Lake, then an unfinished cottage with a grassy property on Doe Lake (just East of the town of Gravenhurst) and in around 1969 a rough, undeveloped, property with mature deciduous trees and a 260 foot long shallow, sandy, weed free, beachfront on Wood Lake, east of the town of Bracebridge.

On this property, while living in a folding tent trailer, the family cleared and levelled the land, put in a long gravel driveway and septic field, hand dug and hand poured concrete footings anchored to the bedrock, 12 inch thick solid concrete foundations, each faced with split granite rocks. On these solid foundations were built, with clear, 6 inch thick, milled, tongue and groove, Western Red Cedar, an idyllic log cabin, an attached elevated porch with balusters having heart and diamond shaped cutouts and a screened in, octagonal shaped, gazebo; all made to look like an Austrian chalet. Maria spent much of her summers from 1969 to 1972 at this cottage with her children. She loved sunbathing and reading on her porch.

From about 1965 until 1969 Maria and her family also made multiple camping/sightseeing trips throughout Canada, in their tent trailer, whenever Richad had holidays. Maria readily adapted to preparing all the meals on a Coleman stove in her screened in tent kitchen attached to the trailer.

In the summer of 1966 Maria also flew to Austria, with her children, for an extended vacation. Richard joined them later and the two of them vacationed in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, by driving themselves throughout the republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although Richard thoroughly enjoyed the trip, Maria couldn’t get back to her beloved Austria fast enough!

Around 1973 Maria and Richard invested in a six-plex rental apartment in Waterloo Ontario.

With their oldest son away on a five-year Co-op Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Waterloo and their youngest son in high school, Maria started working outside the home in the latter half of the 1970s. First, as a self-employed cleaning lady; then, on the Smith Corona (SCM Canada on Bertrand Road in Scarborough) typewriter assembly line; next, she ran the cafeteria at Alex Irvine Motors and finally as an office worker for the International Order of Foresters (IOF) Insurance Company in Don Mills, Ontario.

In 1976, Maria and Richard celebrated their Silver, 25th wedding anniversary with friends and family in their Melday home.

In 1977 they sold their Meldazy home in Scarborough, after having lived there for 13 years, and moved into a new, detached, brick, back-split, bungalow, c/w an attached, double car garage and a large backyard, on Rouge Road, Markham, Ontario. Maria immediately had Richard fence and beautifully landscape the yard, including a rock garden featuring an eight foot tall replica of the "Grazer Uhrturm am Schloßberg" (the actual 28 m tall clock tower is situated on a treed, 472 m high hill , now a public park, and the site of a 12th century royal fortress located in the centre of Graz, Austria and whose underground tunnels provided Maria safe shelter a couple of times from Allied bombing). Maria also commissioned Richard to build a partially enclosed, covered, backyard patio, running the entire length of the house, a fireplace with a split granite stone-feature wall and a finished basement. At Maria’s behest all the windows were replaced with triple pane European Tilt-Turn Windows, by her close friend Karl Sita.

In the summers of 1978, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1996 and 2001, Richard & Maria toured Austria, southern Germany, Switzerland, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Republic of Slovenia and Hungary with Maria’s brother and his wife in their camper van.

In mid-December 1980, Maria and Richard flew to Winnipeg Manitoba and then drove to rural Darlingford in order to attend the wedding of their oldest son Robert. It was an eye opening, first-time experience for Maria. She thought she was going to die from the cold and was convinced that all the cars and trucks were EVs, since their drivers all plugged them into an electrical outlet when they turned off their ignition!

In December of 1981, Richard and Maria flew to the Hawaiian Islands for a 2nd romantic honeymoon, celebrating their Pearl anniversary of having been married for 30 years.

California was Maria and Richard’s next summer vacation destination in 1982, where they visited two of Richard’s cousins.

Richard and Maria drove west to Manitoba in:
1982 (to see their first granddaughter Alicia) in Winnipeg, Manitoba
1985 to celebrate Robert’s 30th birthday and help with the preparations for the birth of their 2nd granddaughter Rebecca
1987 to attend the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum near Austin
1989 to see their first grandson Adam in Winnipeg, Manitoba
1994 & in 1995.

They had also driven their car to Dog Lake resort, near Thunder Bay, Ontario in the summer of 1988 to join Robert and his family for a week vacation.

In 1987, Maria vacationed for two weeks in Florida and liked what she saw. Since she loathed the southern Ontario winters, Maria made Florida her future winter destination goal.

By the end of the 1980s, Richard and Maria were both experiencing circumstances, not of their own making and beyond their control, that induced in them high stress levels, such that they both decided they absolutely needed a fresh start, a complete change in their environment, to simplify their lives thereby, reducing their stress levels and to focus on enjoying their remaining years.

First, they took a vacation in 1990 to Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 1991, both retired from their jobs. They sold all their real estate holdings and then moved, totally mortgage free, into a two-storey townhouse, with a single, attached garage and a small backyard, on Weatherstone Court, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,

They had great, new neighbours and made new friends. Maria loved the milder micro climate in Niagara-on-the-Lake and the lush flora, the impeccably manicured parklands, the numerous walking trails and local fruit orchards. Maria and Richard went for a daily swim at the Pillar and Post Inn & Spa. Also, both Richard and Maria acquired a new found passion…GOLF. During the summer, they played three times a week! The area featured numerous, well groomed, affordable (compared to those in the GTA) golf courses.

Maria became passionate “Snowbirds“, spendings the entire winters of:
1993 - renting a Bradenton, Florida apartment, south of Tampa.
1994-1999 - renting in the Mobel Americana mobile home park in the American Cove 55+, waterfront community in northeast St. Petersburg.
2000 - renting an apartment in Panama City and North Carolina with an excursion to New Orleans, Louisiana
2001 - 2004, 2008, 2009 - they stayed in a mobile trailer park in Sarasota Florida. It was here, in 2001, that Maria and Richard celebrated their 50 years of devoted marriage partnership (Golden wedding anniversary) with their friends.
2005 - renting an apartment in Algarve Portugal. Maria‘s siblings also came to visit.
2006 - renting an apartment in North Carolina with excursions to Orlando with Richard’s siblings Branko and Edith, her husband ( Leo Steurer), Maria’s longtime girlfriend Juli, her husband (Karl Sita).
2007 - renting an apartment in Spain. They toured extensively throughout the country with Maria’s siblings in her brother‘s camper van.
2011, 2013 through 2015 - renting an apartment in Algarve Portugal taking bus excursions throughout Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco, North Africa.

In addition to the long “Snowbird“ winter getaways, they also enjoyed a couple short winter vacations with Richard’s brother, Branko and wife Irene:
2005 - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, primarily for golfing
2017 - Aruba resort vacation. This was to be Richard and Maria‘s last exotic trip.

On March 2004, after 13 years living in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Richard and Maria moved to a freehold (with shared costs), brick, townhouse bungalow, with a single car garage, on Morris Trail, in the Highlands Community next to the Hunter’s Glen Golf course in Welland, Ontario. Also, their house was adjacent to a large private, secured clubhouse, to which as homeowners they automatically belonged. Maria & Richard certainly enjoyed all the amenities, activities and functions available to them at the clubhouse, particularly the full-sized, salt water pool.

Here, their cost of living was lower and Richard, now having Parkinsons associated mobility issues, no longer had to contend with steep stairs to second floor bedrooms. They were able to maintain all their existing doctors and no longer had to cut the lawn or shovel the snow.

They became great friends with their golf partners, new neighbours Bev and Rodney Craig and remained socially engaged with their family, and their old trusted friends Jim & Dora Ryan from Niagara-on-the-Lake and the Sita’s from Richmond Hill. Their grandson, Christian, spent a number of summers with them.

In 2011, Maria and Richard celebrated their 60th (Diamond) wedding anniversary in their Welland home, surrounded by friends and family. Maria was thrilled to receive congratulatory messages from many friends, government officials, the governor general of Canada and even from Queen Elizabeth II. Maria and Richard’s enduring partnership remains an inspiration to all who knew them.

In August of 2013, Richard and Maria flew to Cancun International Airport, Mexico to attend the wedding of their grandson Adam, at the all-inclusive Barceló Maya Palace Resort, in Maya Riviera, Mexico. With some coxing, Maria actually enjoyed the exotic food selection. She loved the lush flora, the private massages, pools and the ocean beach. They had a good time getting to know Adam’s wife, Anna Rose Gagne and her relatives in this idyllic, informal setting.

In August of 2014, Maria and Richard flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba to attend the wedding of their granddaughter Alicia at the Breezy Bend Country Club in Headingley, Manitoba. They thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Alicia’s fiancée, Michael Arenson and his relatives over the course of several days and events, then socializing with all the guests at the reception.

Suddenly, in early June of 2017, Richard’s and Maria’s idyllic world was turned upside down. They faced the greatest shock in their lives. While having a cup of coffee at her kitchen island, Maria began to display the first symptoms of what turned out to be a severe, ischemic stroke. However, neither recognized the seriousness of her symptoms.

Fortunately, their neighbours came by and recognized that Maria was likely having a stroke. Both Richard and Maria would not permit an ambulance to be called and in spite of Richard’s befuddled mental state, his neighbour managed to strike a compromise with him. They had to put Maria in Richard‘s car, which Richard insisted on driving. His neighbours then guided Richard in their car to the nearby Welland Hospital.

Initially, the stroke caused significant physical and cognitive changes, affecting Maria’s movement, communication, thinking, and emotions. Without Maria, Richard’s behaviour, associated with his cognitive decline, so alarmed the hospital ER physician, that Richard was also admitted and examined. After the physician’s report was received by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), the driver’s licenses of both Maria and Richard were revoked.

Maria was transferred, to the Niagara Falls Hospital a couple of days later and again, about a week later, to the world renowned Hotel Dieu Shaver Hospital & Health and Rehabilitation Centre on Glenridge Ave. in St. Catharines, Ontario.

After a month, Maria seemed to have regained much of her confidence, feistiness, physical and some of her cognitive abilities. She was, however, only reluctantly released by the Shaver staff, with assurances that Maria would be under medical supervision.

However, before long, Maria and Richard came to the realization that living in their own house no longer made sense, given the numerous, major, upcoming repairs needed to the house, their increasingly deteriorating physical and cognitive health and the loss of independence of them having both lost their driver’s licences.

Again, after 14 years of living in Welland, Maria and Richard decided, very reluctantly, to sell their home. They priority was to live near their youngest son Raymond. Therefore, so on November 2018, they moved to an independent supported living apartment at the Stouffville Creek Retirement Residence on Freel Lane in Stouffville, Ontario.

Maria would exercise daily on either the stationary bicycle or treadmill and she voluntarily maintained their book library. She enjoyed bingo and the weekly shopping trips. Richard participated in the group chair exercise classes and for a while continued to play snooker with the boys. Both liked going to the entertainment & movie nights, theme parties and regularly scheduled field trips to various nearby lakes, African Lion Safari, Walter’s Dinner Theatre etc. They especially looked forward to visits from their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Two years later, Maria faced another shock when on Friday, ‎December ‎25, ‎2020, just one day before their 69th anniversary, Richard died of congestive heart failure at the Markham Stouffville Hospital in Markham, ON. Together, Maria and Richard had built a life together anchored in love, resilience, and the shared values of loyalty and perseverance. To make matters worse, government mandated COVID-19 lockdowns prevented Maria from having a timely funeral service for her beloved husband, as they had previously planned. Maria’s isolated grieving likely exacerbated her own physical and mental health problems and potentially prolonged her healing process. She found it increasingly difficult, emotionally, to remain in "their" apartment.

Therefore, on November 2021, Maria decided to relocate to a newly built, total independent living apartment in the Bloom Stouffville Retirement Community on Mostar Street in Whitechurch-Stouffville, Ontario. She initially exercised regularly on the stationary bicycle, voluntarily delivered the daily Toronto Star newspaper in her residence unit and continued to attend bingo. However, she became increasingly depressed, never even going to the dining room for meals and isolating herself from others by staying in her room. Leg ulcers ended all her physical activities.

Due to declining health and a long hospitalization Maria chose to move in with her grandson and his family on June 20, 2025. They live in a two plus one bedroom, condominium in Scarborough and provided Maria with a beautiful, very large, private room in which they setup all her previous furniture and familiar things.

Most importantly, she was no longer living alone. Anna, who has the empathy, ability and experience working with the elderly, ensured Maria ate well, took the right medications at the right times and got Maria to all her many medical appointments on time.

Maria could enjoy sitting on her 11th floor balcony, with a view of the Toronto skyline, walks in the beautifully landscaped grounds and most of all, became part of a busy family life again, laughing and playing with her two great-granddaughters. In spite of her failing health, her spirit improved to the point where she insisted on joining Adam and his family as they drove approximately 4,000 kilometers (about 2,485 miles) for a month-long visit with his parents and siblings in Manitoba. Maria finally got to tour her granddaughter Alicia’s Winnipeg house and her son’s semi-detached condominium in Morden. She had a great time with her three grandchildren and four great- grandchildren, spent time on a large cattle farm, went to the Manitou country fair, went for car rides in the countryside and soaked up the sunshine while supervising her grandson as he renovated his parent’s HVAC system.

This journey was one of the last items on Maria‘s "bucket list".
She lived her final days as she had lived her entire, amazing adult life; on her terms!

************************************************************
"Mutti, your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure.
You are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure".

*****************************************************