It is with a sense of profound sadness that the Biro family must announce the passing of our beloved mother, Katarina (Katka) Biro. She passed quickly and peacefully on August 14, 2023, at the age of 85.
Katka was born in Levoca, Slovak Republic, in 1938 to Alexander and Elizabeth Kovarik. She met Mathew Biro as a teenager in Velky Krtis, went off to school, and then later married in 1959. They had two children, Marika in 1964, and Peter in 1969.
Katka started her career in Slovakia as a pharmacist, having studied at Comenius University in Bratislava. She emigrated to Toronto shortly after the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, while pregnant, in late 1968. Notably, she worked at the Hospital for Sick Children for some years, and later at Queen Elizabeth Hospital till she retired at age 60.
She will be remembered and greatly missed by her children, Marika (Norm) and Peter (Christa); grandchildren Daniel and Joshua (Marika); also, her sisters Mara (Ivan), Charlotte, and Elisabeth (Jan); extended family in Slovakia, and many other family members and friends. All will remember her as an incredibly giving, kind and understanding individual who always focused on the positive.
If anyone is interested in making a donation in her memory, please consider the Headwaters Health Care Centre https://www.headwatershealth.ca/ or Avalon Retirement Lodge (Orangeville).