LANDA, Petty - Peacefully, at the age of 102, after a life well lived on November 1, 2019.
Much loved and admired for her kindness, warmth, and beauty. Petty Landa was born in a small community of Jewish settlers, homesteading on southern Saskatchewan's Lipton Colony, who'd escaped the pogroms against Jews sweeping Russia and Romania.
Her parents, Rose and Sam Davidner, worked the land near the hamlet of Southey. As World War I ended, tragedy struck: Rose succumbed to a worldwide flu epidemic just one day before Petty's first birthday, leaving Petty and her father, Sam, alone. She was cared for by Rose's sister, Molly Sanders, until her father married Esther Rosenzweig, formerly of Grand Forks, N.D.
Soon, Petty had two sisters and a brother - Shirley, Herschel and Rhoda - and the family moved to the Swift Current where Sam went into the insurance business and became an alderman. Petty was a good student and a very talented musician, attaining her teaching certificate in piano from Royal Conservatory of Music at 14, and taking on students of her own.
Life in Swift Current was comfortable, until the Great Depression came along. The insurance business dried up along with the farms destroyed by the dust bowl conditions. Sam moved the family north, lured by the green of the forests around Prince Albert. He always said: "a man without land is nothing" but it took him many years of hard work before he owned a farm again. Times were so tough that Petty had only two blouses and one skirt to wear through high school, and in that first Prince Albert winter kept her feet warm by wrapping newspapers around her shoes.
The piano had to be sold and there was no money for University either, though she was a leading English student. So she went to work at Adilman's Department Store in Saskatoon, staying with her Dad's older brother Mike and his wife Mary, getting to know her cousins.
It was her cousin Arnold who introduced her to the man who would become her husband of 66 years, Sam Landa. By then, Petty was a spectacular beauty. Sam Landa was just out of medical school, practicing in partnership with his older brother, Eastwood. Arnold suggested that Petty would like Sam. Petty wasn't too sure about that when Sam arrived for their first date and honked his car horn to announce his arrival. Arnold had to talk her into giving him a second chance.
They married in 1940. Sam and most of the other Jewish professionals of his age in Saskatoon were declared redundant and available to the military needing their help in World War II. He offered himself to the Navy, but the Navy had a quota on Jews and told him to try another service, so he joined the Army Medical Corps, stationed first in Dundurn, then in Vancouver.
There, Petty gave birth to their first child, Kahrella. Petty returned to Saskatoon with Kahrellah when Sam was sent overseas, waiting for the blue envelopes that arrived in the mail from wherever he was stationed, first London, then Naples, until he came home as the doctor for a troop ship in 1946. Elaine was born, followed by Murray.
As her children grew, Petty became a leader in the Saskatoon Jewish community, acting as President of the Agudath Israel Sisterhood, as well as Hadassah, while Sam was the Synagogue President. Together, they spearheaded the construction of a combined Jewish community center, Hebrew school, and Synagogue. Petty, by then a proto-feminist, was determined, as were her friends, to remove all barriers for the participation of women. They made sure that their daughters would have Bat Mitzvahs as the boys had Bar Mitzvahs.
In her spare time, Petty audited English and history courses at the University of Saskatchewan, became a duplicate bridge player earning her Life Masters, and an avid golfer.
She took care of everybody, her children, her friends' children, nieces, nephews and parents, hopping the bus to Prince Albert whenever she was needed. Most of all, she and Sam worked as partners to support community endeavours, including: the Hilltops Football Club; making Saskatoon the lead city in Participaction's national program to get Canadians moving for which they traveled to Sweden and Japan in friendly intra-community fitness competitions. They worked on the Young Canada Games. They went to the Olympics in Munich when Sam was on the Canadian Olympic team's medical staff.
Where Sam went, Petty went and vice versa, with Petty organizing, offering a helping hand, not to mention typing all those speeches. After Sam died, Petty moved to Toronto's Hazelton Place to be closer to family. She enjoyed the camaraderie, the bridge, the painting classes, the musical events, and its wonderful staff. The love and compassion of her personal caregiver, Felicidad Ullero, were beyond compare: Fely even learned to play bridge with her.
Petty will be remembered by those who survive her, including her sister Rhoda Broudy, her children, Kahrellah Landa, Murray Landa, and Elaine Dewar, daughter-in-law Leslie, grandchildren Anna Dewar Gully, Danielle Dewar, Samantha Landa (and partners Tim, Brandon and Greg), Jaime Landa, Alexander Landa, her great- grandchildren Lilah and Grace Gully, and her many nieces and nephews in Canada, the US, and Israel.
Funeral will be held at the Saskatoon Funeral Home, Monday, November 4th, followed by interment and a lunch of condolence. Shiva location: to be announced.
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