TAVARES, Maria Helena (nee OLIVEIRA) - September 9, 1932 - January 16, 2021
It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Maria Helena Tavares, who passed away at the age of 88.
Maria immigrated to Canada on November 15, 1967 with her five children (Manuel, Joe, Helen, John, and Mary) from the remote Azorean island of Sao Miguel (Portugal).
Her late husband, Antonio, had relocated some time before for work, and greeted her and their children at Toronto International Airport with six winter coats in hand.
Within weeks of arriving, Maria found a job as a cleaner; it would be the job she held until the day she retired. She worked so hard to help provide for her family, making sacrifices that are hard to grasp for so many today.
She lived for her five children, and then for her seven grandchildren, watching them all grow to achieve the success and security that she prayed she would one day live to see, becoming a great-grandmother to five beautiful girls in the process.
That she immigrated to Canada with so little and left this life with so much is a testament to her strength and resilience, and to her hard work and overwhelming love for her family. Her memory will live on in the hearts of the family she leaves behind. Rest in Peace to a loving sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
The family would like to thank the first responders and ICU team at Toronto Western Hospital for doing their best.
Due to COVID-19, a private family ceremony was held.
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