As I think of how my Auntie Clarice - a strong, loving, talented, funny, yet will not take any guff, force of nature - has featured in my own life, beginning in my childhood all through my teens and beyond to a young adult, a married one, a mother… I begin to realize how old I am. I shouldn’t be surprised she’s gone; somewhere in there she became an old lady, but I never noticed. Even stuck on a couch, she was the same.

I will forever be grateful for her hospitality and willingness to have us however, whenever…her splendid meals…Always made sure she had borscht for us and the Russian food I craved when we came. Now that I’m a grownup, I realize how much time and work goes into having and spoiling guests, and it makes me even more thankful.

She welcomed my husband into the family like he’d been there forever. He loves visiting my crazy Russkie family in Calgary, in no small part because the first time he came was for Winston’s wedding and we stayed at Barr Rd with Clarice and he felt – and ate - every bit of her love.

She remembered me when I had my first child. I had lost my mother the year before and she got out her knitting and crochet needles and made sure I had all the baby blankets, sweaters, toques, mittens that my own mother would have made for me had she been there. One of them was a cream-colored fisherman style pullover that Iain wore until I literally could not get it over his head anymore, and Abram wore it after him. The kindness of those gifts that she and her mother also helped make, to fill a gap my mother left, meant more to me and goes deeper than I can ever express.

She was a woman who knew her gifts from the Spirit and used them without restraint. A fierce Christian and advocate. She was a strong cup of coffee, and not everyone likes coffee – but I love it. Her cup runneth over and came with cream and sugar, and she blessed my life. ~ Tania Goretsky Cavins