The funeral service will be live streamed on Saturday, January 13th. The link will appear above at 1:45pm. The recording will be available as of Monday, January 15th and found under the media tab above.

(English version - see below)

Viesturs Dzidris Zariņš piedzima 1923.g. 18. martā, Dzērbenē (pie Cēsīm), Kārļa un Austras (Lapiņas) Zariņa vienīgais bērns. Abu vecāku ģimenes bija lielas, un Viesturam bija ļoti daudz brālēni un māsīcas, un vēl arvien ir liels ģimenes pulks Latvijā.

Otrā pasaules kara laikā, Viesturs nonāca Vācijā kā zaldāts. Viņu ievainoja lode, un eventuāli, karam beidzoties, viņš arī nokļuva dažādās DP nometnēs Vācijā. Par karu gaitām maz stāstīja, laikam nebija labas atmiņas. No Brēmenes 1948.g. viņš ar kuģī izceļoja no Vācijas uz Kanādu.

Un tā Viesturs nonāca pie dzīves Kanādā, kur strādāja Ontārio Hydro kā elektriķis, dažādās spēku stacijās pa visām malām Ontārio. Veidojās liels latviešu draugu pulks, un bariņš puiši dzīvoja kopā viena radinieku mājā, uz Dunblaine, pie Bathurst ielas. Skatoties bildēs, tur viņiem lustīgi gāja! Tomēr, draugi sāka apprecēties, un lēnām katrs aizgāja savās dzīvēs.

Viesturs pirmo reizi iepazinās ar Edīti Gravu 1955.g., kopējo draugu (Ērika un Viktorijas Zušmaņu) kāzās, Toronto. Edīte bija izstudējusi ka medmāsa, un dzīvoja Baltimore, Maryland. Viesturs dzīvoja Toronto, Kanādā. Tajos laikos nebija ne e-pasti, ne mobilie telefoni, bet lēnām abi labāk iepazinās. Viņiem bija daudz kopēji draugi, viņi šad un tad satikās, un galu galā, ģimenes un tuvu draugu pulkā, Viesturs un Edīte apprecējās Owings Mills, Maryland, 1966. g. 12. nov. Edīte tad pārvācas uz Toronto, un uzsāka kopējo dzīvi. Tajos laikos bija ļoti viegli ieceļot Kanādā. Viņi esot piebraukuši pie robežas, pateikuši ka esot tikko apprecējušies, atvēra mašīnai bagāžnieku, un tas arī bija viss!

Viesturs un Edīte iesāka laulāto dzīvi dzīvoklī, Don Mills rajonā, un drīz pēc tam, 1967.g. nopirka sev māju Scarborough. Pirmo reizi kad viņi redzēja to māju, viņiem neko tā neinteresēja, bet tad viņiem parādīja mājai dārzu, un tas milzīgais dārzs bija tas iemesls kāpēc viņi nopirka to māju! Viņi abi bija neticami dārznieki. Abi cītīgi kopa to dārzu, kas izveidojās par vienreizēju oāzi pilsētā, pilnu ar skaistām puķēm, milzīgu sakņu dārzu, ābelēm, un visādiem ogu krūmiem. Viņi pat saņēma balvas no vietējas pilsētas par savu skaisti iekopto dārzu. Viesturs ari taisīja vīnu no sava dārza ogām – ārkārtīgi garšīgs bija viņa upeņu vīns. Ļoti daudz no mums visiem ir baudījuši Edītes un Viestura skaistās puķes, gan mājās, gan sarīkojumos, baznīcā un personīgi uzdāvinātas. Un tie tomāti – ai, ai, ai – viss ko viņi iestādīja dārzā auga 10 x lielāks nekā mums visiem citiem. Viņiem patiešām bija elektriski zaļi īkšķi!
Viņi arī ar lielu prieku dalījās ar savu dārzu, un tanī notikās vairākas ģimenes svinības, ieskaitot 3 kristību svinības – nosaucām viņu dārzu par “Kristību dārzu”.

1968.g. Viesturam vecāki atbrauca no Latvijas, uz patstāvīgu dzīvi Kanādā pie dēla Viestura un viņa sievas, Edītes. Viņam tēvs, Kārlis, nodzīvoja Kanādā līdz 1975.g. un māte, Austra, līdz 1990.g. Bez tam, Edītes vecāki, Rūdolfs un Irma, arī atbrauca uz dzīvi pie viņiem 1981.g. rudenī. Viņiem gan bija pilna māja!

Pa to laiku, Viesturs un Edīte ari iegādājas vasarnīcu pie Muldrew ezera, kopā ar bērnību kaimiņu un draugu Jāni un viņa sievu Māru Zariņiem, un visi tur pavadīja apmēram 20 skaistus gadus.

Viesturam arī ĻOTI patika makšķerēšanā – viņš ar lielu prieku brauca uz vasarnīcu zvejot, bieži kopā ar Edītes brāli Juri, vai ar Jāni un Māru. Edītei neinteresēja makšķerēšanā, ne arī negaršoja zivis, bet ja puiši tās notīrīja, viņa bija ar mieru tās viņiem uzcept vakariņās.

Viesturam bija laba, skaista balss, un patika dziedāt un dancot! Viņš zināja vārdus neticami daudz dziesmām, arī tādām ko mēs nekad nebijām dzirdējuši! Tomēr, viņš tikai sāka dziedāt korī pēdējos gados, piedaloties TLPA vīru korī. Viņš nekautrējās uzstāties, un varētu pat teikt ka viņam patika būt ‘šķiņķim’, ja vajadzēja kādu humoru ievest programmās. Viesturam ari ļoti patikās opera – un bieži klausījās operas ierakstus, pat pēdējā gadā.

Viesturs un Edīte vienmēr bija mīļi, devīgi, izpalīdzīgi cilvēki, kā ari ļoti patstāvīgs pāris, un viņiem pašiem bija grūti prasīt sev palīdzību. Viņi ļoti atbalstīja vairākas organizācijas, ka piemēram Vītolu fondu, Daugavas Vanagus, Sv Andreja baznīcu, LaPa Muzeju, un arī Latviešu Centru, starp citām organizācijām. Viņi cītīgi nāca uz visādiem koncertiem, un notikumiem, (it sevišķi ja tie bija saistīti ar ģimenes locekļiem), vienmēr būdami Dzirksts koncertos, ka arī tautas deju uzvedumos, un latviešu skolas notikumos. Edīte un Viesturs ari bieži brauca ciemos pie daudziem radiņiem Latvijā, un Austrālija, un citur, ar pilniem koferiem, jo viņi katram kaukto aizveda.

Tomēr dzīves ceļš viņiem uzmeta grūtu līkuma kad Viesturs krita 2022.g. vasarā un salauza gūžu. Ar to sākās milzīgas pārmaiņas viņu dzīvēs. Bija jāatstāj iemīļoto māju un dārzu, un eventuāli pāriet uz dzīvi Kristus dārzā. Pagājušo martu nosvinējām Viesturam 100 gadiņus, ar lielu kliņģerī un šampanieti! Viņu intervēja 100.gadu jubilejā, un noprasīja vai viņš kaut ko nožēlo no savas garās dzīves. Vienīgi viņš nožēloja ka nebija ātrāk apprecējis savu mīļo sieviņu!

Viesturs nodzīvoja Kristus dārzā gandrīz vienu gadu, kad pēkšņi un negaidīti aizgāja mūžībā. Iepriekšējā dienā viņus apciemojam, un Viesturs bija ļoti labā omā, un atvadoties viņš mums teica, “nu tad uz redzīti nākam gadu!” Te nu bija.

Mums visiem ļoti pietrūks mūsu mīļais Viestura onkulis – vēl vienmēr gaidām telefona zvanu no viņa, un viņa balss “Hai-jū, Hai-jū !”

Vieglas smiltis mūsu mīļam Viesturam.


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Viesturs Dzidris Zariņš was born on March 18, 1923, in Dzērbene (by the city of Cēsis, Latvija). He was the only child of Kārlis and Austra (Lapiņš) Zariņš. Both of his parents had large families, so Viesturs had lots of cousins in his life, and he still had lots of relatives in Latvija.

During WW2, Viesturs ended up in Germany as a soldier, as were most of the young Latvian men of his age at that time, having been forcibly conscripted to join this army. He was wounded in combat, and eventually, he ended up in various DP camps in Germany. He did not speak much about his wartime experiences, as likely they were not very pleasant. In 1948, he left Germany from the port of Bremen, onboard a ship that took him to Canada.

So that is how Viesturs ended up living in Canada, where he worked as an electrician for Ontario Hydro, travelling around to many power stations throughout Ontario. At that time, (early 1950’s) a large group of Latvian friends began to develop, and a bunch of the guys lived at one of Viesturs’ relatives’ house on Dunblaine, by Bathurst St. Judging from the photos, they had a good time there! However, then all of these friends started to get married, and left to start their own lives elsewhere.

Viesturs first met Edīte Grava in 1955, when they were both in the wedding party for the wedding of two mutual friends (Ēriks and Viktorija Zušmanis) in Toronto. Edīte had gone to nursing school in North Dakota, and was living in Baltimore, Maryland with her parents and brother. Viesturs lived in Toronto, Canada. There were no emails or cellphones available back then, but slowly they got to know each other. They had many mutual friends, met each other now and then, and in the end, in front of a small group of family and friends, they were married on Nov 12, 1966, at Owings Mills, Maryland. Edīte then moved to Toronto, and they started their new life together. Back then it was easy to immigrate into Canada. They had just driven to the Canadian border after their wedding, told the border patrol that they had just gotten married, opened the trunk of their car, and that was it!

Viesturs and Edīte began their married life in an apartment in the Don Mills area, and soon afterwards in 1967, bought their home in Scarborough. The first time they set eyes upon this house, they were not interested, until the agent showed them the huge garden. That garden was the reason they bought this house! They were both amazing & skilled gardeners, who worked together to create a beautiful oasis in the city, full of beautiful flowers, a huge vegetable garden, apple trees, and many berry bushes. They even received awards from the city for their beautiful garden. Many of us have been the benficiaries of beautiful flowers and vegetables from their garden, both at home, at various functions, in church, and given as personal presents. And those tomatoes – ai,ai, ai – everything they planted grew 10 x bigger than anything we could grow in our gardens. They both truly had fluorescent green thumbs!

They gladly shared what they had with great joy, and they shared their garden as well. In their lovely garden, various large family events took place, including 3 baptism parties. We called their garden the “Kristibu darzs” (Baptism garden). Viesturs also made delicious wines from the berries they grew in their garden – and his black currant wine was especially outstanding.

In 1968, Viesturs’ elderly parents were able to leave Latvija and came to live with their son and his wife. His father, Kārlis, lived in Canada until 1975, and his mother, Austra, lived until 1990. In the meantime, Edīte’s parents, Rūdolfs and Irma also came to live with them in the fall of 1981. They certainly had a full house!

During this time, Viesturs and Edīte also acquired a cottage up at Muldrew Lake, together with Viesturs’ childhood friend and neighbor, Jānis Zariņš and his wife Māra. They all spent approximately 20 lovely years up at this cottage.
Viesturs LOVED to go fishing. With great joy, he would go fishing up at the cottage, often together with Edīte’s brother, Juris, or with Jānis & Māra. Funny enough, Edīte did not enjoy fishing, nor even eating fish, but if the boys were willing to clean the fish and give her clean fish fillets, she was willing to cook them up for dinner!

Viesturs had a beautiful singing voice, and he really loved to sing and dance! He knew all the the words to an unbelievable number of Latvian songs, many of which we had never even heard. Still, he only started to sing in a choir in more recent years, joining the Toronto Latvian Pensioners’ men’s choir. He was not nervous about performing, and it could even be said that he liked to be a ‘ham’ if an element of humor needed to be added to a program. He also loved operas, and often listened to recordings, even quite recently.

Viesturs and Edīte were always kind, loving, generous and very helpful people, as well as being very independent, and they found it hard to ask for help for themselves. They were strong supporters of many organizations, for example the Vitolu Fonds, Daugavas Vanagi, St Andrew’s Latvian Lutheran church, the LaPa museum, and also the Toronto Latvian Centre, among other organizations. They were faithful attendees of many concerts and events, especially if these involved family members. They were always at every Dzirksts concert, folk dance performances, as well as at the Latvian school events. Edīte and Viesturs also often travelled to Latvija, Australia, and elsewhere, to visit their many relatives. They always had very full suitcases, full of gifts for everyone.

Unfortunately, life threw them a nasty curve when Viesturs fell during the summer of 2022, and broke his hip. That event began a series of enormous changes in their lives. They had to leave their beloved home and garden, and eventually went to live at Kristus Darzs, the Latvian nursing home in Woodbridge. Last March, we celebrated Viesturs’ 100th birthday there, with a large klinģeris and champagne! The Latvian newspaper interviewed him for his 100th birthday, and asked if he had any regrets from his long life. The only thing he regretted was not marrying his beloved wife earlier in life!

Viesturs lived at Kristus Darzs for almost a full year, when suddenly, and unexpectedly he passed away on Dec. 21st, 2023 in the afternoon. We had visited him on the previous day, and he was in a great mood, looking forward to the holidays. He wished us a Merry Christmas and then said that we will see each other again next year. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

We will all miss our dear Viestura onkulis – we are still awaiting to hear his voice again on a phone call, that usually started with “Hai-jū Hai-jū!”

May the sand sit softly on your grave, dear Viesturs.