Ilona (Cinta) Horváth

It is with the utmost deepest and saddest sympathies that my beloved mother and best friend, Ilona (Cinta) Horváth, quietly passed away at her daughter’s home on May 5, 2020.

Ilona Bodrogközi was born February 14, 1942, in Budapest, Hungary. Born to Ilona and Ferenc Bodrogközi, sister to László.
Ilona, a hairdresser and Ferenc a policeman, with their children, made their way by ship to Saint John and then to Winnipeg in the spring of 1957. While in Winnipeg, Ilona (Cinta) met her husband Sándor in 1958. They then made their way to Toronto in early 1960.
Ilona and Sándor were married on October 6, 1962. They had one child, a daughter, Cynthia Éva Judith, born in August of 1968. For many years the family resided in Toronto, in the Bayview Village area. Ilona was not just a dedicated house wife, but a truly devoted mother who did everything for her child. In the 1980’s she had various administrative jobs.
Ilona and Sándor divorced in 1980 and Ilona and Cindy stayed together living in the Sheppard and Leslie area until the early 1990’s. Each went on to live their own lives but were brought back together in 1998, when Cindy moved just up the street from Ilona.
In 2008 Ilona followed Cindy and her husband Peter out to Oshawa and once again they lived up the street from each other.

Ilona started her long battle with cancer seven years ago. She beat it, and stayed cancer free for five years. In December of 2018 her cancer had metastasized into her lung and brain. In January 2019 she had a successful brain surgery, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy, and 15 rounds of radiation. In January 2020 she had to have another brain surgery to fix some drainage issues. That surgery was also a success.
In April of 2020, following her regular three months checkups, her brain results came back successful, but the lung results did not. On April 23, 2020 she was given three months to live as the lung cancer came back, had multiplied, and spread to the liver.
She had been living with her daughter and son-in-law since February 2020. The three of them had each other for love, support, strength, and the fight. Ilona had fought so hard and for so many years, a true warrior. She new it was time, and new that she was surrounded by those who truly loved her. On May 5, 2020 she peacefully passed in her daughters house with her daughter by her side.

She will be unbelievably missed and has left us beyond broken hearted. Our only relief is that she did not suffer for the three months that the doctors had given her. And that she new how much she was loved and supported her everyday.

The Ceccanese family will be hosting a "Celebration of Life" gathering in the near future once Covid-19 has past. The family looks forward to seeing those who could not attend the funeral services due to covid-19. Formal invitations will be sent out at a later date.





Afterglow

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.