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Obituaries

BETTY LEINBURD

Betty LeinburdBetty Leinburd (née Calmanovici) passed away peacefully, in her sleep at home on March 2, 2018 at the age of 95.

Our Mom was a total character. She was an example of the axiom that what doesn’t kill you makes you tougher, and boy was she tough. She had to be, to make it through the first 40 years of her life.

She and our Dad were born in an era that was one of those historical periods where the world went mad, especially for Jewish people. If WWI and WWII are viewed as one war, with a 20-year gap, then our parents had the misfortune of being born right in that gap, not quite, but close enough to be near the centre of the hurricane that engulfed most of the world at the time.

Betty Leinburd was born on April 25, 1922 in a traditional Jewish family in a small town in what had been the border lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Bukovina, Romania, in the town of Falticeni, a town founded by Jews around 1720. She was the youngest of three children born to Calman and Gitel (née Herman). Her father owned a grain mill in the town and she had two older brothers, Eli and Lica.

She had the pleasure of living through crazed, right-wing messianic fascists running Romania in the 1930s, the Nazi-allied fascists running Romania during WWII (who were, believe it or not, a different group of fascists than the right-wing messianic flavour which came of age in the pre-war era), and then, as if that wasn’t enough, the quasi-eastern despotic communist government running Romania after WWII, until she and her husband were finally given permission to leave Romania, after nine years of waiting to leave that deranged place.

There were maybe 10,000 people in Falticeni at the start of WWII of whom 7,000 were Jewish. For a small shtetl in the Balkans, it was a very cultured place. Falticeni had its own classical orchestra, was home to world caliber writers, artists, and sculptors and by all accounts, she was exposed to a sophisticated cultural life.

Falticeni was 20 km from the town our Dad was born in, Suceava, and where their children were born.

But that small distance of 20 km meant Falticeni was in what was considered Romania proper and a different province from the town our Dad lived in. That was enough to prevent Betty’s family from being deported to slave labour-detention camps, and killing fields, run by the Romanians, where a few hundred thousand Jews, including our Dad’s family, were deported to during WWII, in an area bordering then-Romania’s east boundary, called Transnistria.

During the war years, the mayor of Falticeni was General Neculce. For some reason which we don’t know, that general hired our Mom’s brother Lica, who was then 18, to be his driver, even though all Jews had been thrown out of the Romanian army.

This general had two nephews, whom he had sent to Hitler youth camps in Germany during the summer, and then, when they returned, during the war years, he had them come to Betty’s house, every Shabbat with food and wine, still wearing their SS uniforms.

That relationship saved our Mom’s family during the war, and after the war, when Romania held trials of its Nazi collaborators, our Mom’s brother Lica gave evidence at the general’s trial, which helped save his life and that of his two nephews.

In the spring of 1944, our Dad and his family were able to leave the camps in Transnistria, and made their way back to Suceava, where they had lived before the war. Whatever they had owned before the war was of course gone or taken from them.

Our Dad had met our Mom’s brother, Eli, while the Calmanovici family was briefly in Suceava, and it was Eli who introduced our parents to each other. Betty Calmanovici and Jacob Leinburd were married on Jan. 25, 1945, in Falticeni and were married for 42 years, until Jacob passed away in 1987.

About one year after their marriage, on April 20, 1946, their first child, Paul, arrived.

After the war, many family members fled Romania and moved wherever they could. For most, that meant going to Israel first, and later, to Canada.

Betty and Jacob settled in Suceava and managed to have a life under what became a communist dictatorial regime. In 1994, we visited Romania with our Mom, including Suceava, and were able to see what had been our home, our synagogue, and our neighbourhood. Mom pointed out the houses where our relatives and family friends all lived, in adjacent streets. Visiting Falticeni on that same trip, our Mom’s home and neighborhood no longer existed, having been redeveloped.

Times were tough after the war. Everything was scarce. The memory of what they had just survived lingered. It was not until ten years after the birth of a first child that our Mom felt comfortable to want another child, and so it was that on October 16, 1956, their second son, Sorèl, was born.

In January 1959, after a 9-year-wait, our parents were given permission and a month’s notice to leave Romania.

Our Mom and Dad went to Bucharest, and stayed with our Mom’s best friend from kindergarten for a couple of days before taking a train to Athens. We found out not long ago from the son of our Mom’s best friend, that he remembered his father and our Dad at that specific time; our Dad was afraid of trying to take US$3,000 with him since Jews were not allowed to take anything when leaving Romania, let alone foreign currency. They were checked thoroughly, and if they were caught, they would either not be allowed to leave or would be thrown in jail. So he gave the money to our friend’s father.

Our friend’s father was just as terrified and didn’t want to accept it. So both fathers went to the bathroom, shredded the money and flushed it down the toilet.

That was a snapshot of the world Betty came from.

Our parents, thankfully, made it out of crazy Romania in 1959 with a couple of suitcases, some dishes, photographs, two kids, and went to Israel, settling for a few months in Kiryat-Gat and then in Hadera.

Life in Israel at that time was very spartan, hot, and hard. Betty and Jacob had many close friends living there, but their parents and some other relatives had already made their way to Canada, and we followed eight months after arriving in Israel.

In October 1959, they came to Canada, not knowing a word of English, with nothing except two children full of attitude.

Like so many immigrants before them, our parents settled in Winnipeg’s North End. Betty and Jacob got jobs in the garment factories. Betty wasn’t cut out for working in factories, and she did whatever she could to earn a living, working as a babysitter, then working evening shifts as a nurse’s aide at the Winnipeg General Hospital.

Our parents struggled along, living on a sort of immigrants’ row on Lansdowne Avenue, between Main Street and McGregor Street, where many other post-war migrants from the Ukraine, Poland, and Germany lived.

Eventually, around 1966 or 1967, our Dad found a business partner, Don Levine, also a Holocaust survivor, and together, they opened up their wholesale and retail textile business in the Market Square area of Winnipeg, called JD Textile.

And so, seven or eight years after arriving in Canada, our parents then moved from North-End Lansdowne to suburban West Kildonan where the city then ended, having bought a bungalow for $18,000 on Forrest Avenue, and Betty no longer had to work as a nurse’s aide. She became a home-maker, and the subsistence living of our parents eased off and they then took their place in the lower middle class of this great country.

Betty really loved to cook and even more, to bake.

Her cooking was a blend of the rustic culinary flavours of her home country, melding the foods and influences of Romania with the Balkans and Turkey, and above it all, Jewish interpretations of it.

But her baking was heavily influenced by the hangovers of Vienna and the Austro-Hungarian empire which ruled the area before WWI.

It was Jewish Ashkenazi soul food at its most flavourful.

Weekday dinners generally were never less than a 3-course meal, with salad, soup, and a main entrée.

And Friday night dinners were typically open to any family or friends visiting; it was generally a feast consisting of salad, soup, at least one or two vegetable dishes often including ghiveci (a Romanian version of ratatouille), chicken, beef, fish or all three, and of course, dessert…a baked shmeten torte or cake, or both.

It brought total joy to her heart to see our friends gorging on her baking. That was Betty Leinburd.

When her daughter-in-law Judy, first came to Winnipeg to visit, Betty introduced her to gefilte fish. Judy loved it. So for years after, even when a flight landed at 11:30 at night into Winnipeg, Betty would have a meal with gefilte fish waiting for Judy at her home.

Unlike her baking, Betty was not all sweetness and sunshine.

She was demanding, opinionated, tough to satisfy, and more than a match for handling two sons who threw everything they had at her. She gave as good as she got.

One measure of life is not the years that you live, but the life lived in those years.

Like many of her generation, Betty really didn’t look back, only ahead. And she really tried to enjoy life fully. After what she and her husband had been through, they never wallowed in what once was, or could have been…they were very much rooted in the here and now.

Betty was an adventurous spirit, very social, and gregarious, with a zest for living and always game for a party, for a night of rummikub or kuluki with friends, for a movie, for dancing, for theatre, the symphony, opera, ballet, live music, and travelling. She did not say no to anything.

When it came to dancing however, the tango was her favorite, to dance and to listen to.

Rummikub was the vehicle for getting together with friends, and enjoying the evening of good company and fine food (did we say she liked dessert).

Hawaii was a big favourite of hers; later after her husband passed away, Florida was a destination because her brother Lica was there along with many other Romanian friends and some relatives who had settled on the east coast. She returned to Israel a few times. Later in her 80s, she went to Portugal and Spain.

In 1989, she visited Hong Kong for 17 days where her son was then living. She took to the city with gusto and shopped the stores and markets with a veteran’s savvy. While she didn’t wield chopsticks, she was totally game for all of the local food and tried as many varieties of Chinese cuisine as was offered to her and thoroughly enjoyed the Cantonese, Swatow, Chiu Chou, Szechuan, Shanghainese, Northern, and Hunanese cuisines, along with Indian, Thai, and French. She took in classical Indian Kathakali dance, Israeli world music, and jazz…she was all over it, and that was Betty Leinburd.

Betty walked every day for at least an hour from the time she was around 50. Weather didn’t deter her, nor did the temperature, and even when visiting other cities, she needed a brisk daily walk to keep her in a good mood. She would put her head down and march off with determination and speed and was not interested in slowing her pace for the times someone accompanied her. You had to keep up or she would leave you behind.

When she was around 87, on a clear, sunny June day, she went for a walk. Something happened, she slipped and lost her footing on the sidewalk outside her home. She fell, landed on her face, and while fortunately, nothing was broken, looked like she had been in a bar brawl with a shiner and some lacerations on her face. When given a walking stick a couple of days later, to help with her balance, she looked at it, and noted that it “…was a cane…for old people, and I’m not using it.”

A few years later, Betty went for her daily walk outside on a September day, slipped and fell and broke her hip. By then, she had a caregiver with her during the week and wasn’t supposed to walk on her own over the weekends. But she did. And, of course she never, ever used that walking stick.

Tough woman that she was, she still made it out of surgery, and six weeks or so later, out of the hospital, and beat the odds of mortality after that event.

After that, her inability to have that vigorous daily walk, accelerated the onset of dementia. Yet when playing rummikub, she still corrected other players in their counting for most of the next 3 years, even though her cognitive capacity diminished.

Upon meeting Ceci, the woman Paul was dating several years ago, she immediately had to know the date planned for the wedding, even though Paul and Ceci had not yet discussed it. She knew right away that it was only a matter of time and she was right.

Her cognition may have been going, her body was not what it once was, but her appetite and her gusto never diminished to her final days. She still loved going out, even if it involved a wheelchair, having a glass of wine, and being in the company of others, usually being among the last to go home, whether from Paul and Ceci’s wedding, or a Pesach seder.

Ironically, as Betty’s dementia progressed, this very tough woman got sweeter. In her final couple of years, she was, despite her dementia, in a positive emotional state, generally content with each day’s events, and never losing her voracious appetite.

After her passing, we received many phone calls and emails from family and friends around the world, all of them women, and each noting to us how inspirational our Mom had been to them in different ways over the years.

Betty is survived by her two sons, Paul (Ceci Kaufman), Sorèl (Judy), four grandchildren, Lauren (Jeremy Levy), Cole (Kira Hayman), Jacob, and Noah, her brother in law, Joe Leinburd (Clareta), and sister in law, Liza Calman. She was predeceased by her husband Jacob, her parents, Calman and Gitel, and her brothers Eli (Evuca) and Lica (Liza). It was a long journey from the other side of the world to Winnipeg and Betty made the most of almost every day. It was a very full life. She is and will be greatly missed by many other family members and friends in Canada, the United States, and Israel.

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Obituaries

SIDNEY RITTER

August 30, 1936 – June 20, 2025

Surrounded by his loved ones, Sidney left this world peacefully on Friday, June 20, 2025.

He is survived by his children Michael (Flynn Gerb), Beth Goldberg (Bobby), Alan and Andrea, and his sister-in-law Elsa Swedko (the late Norman). His memory will live on in his grandchildren, Zachary Goldberg (Karlene), Jessica Goldberg (Rhys Sharkey) and Stefanie Steigerwald (Alex), Halley Ritter, Brianna and Madeline Ritter, Francie and Sari Goldenberg, and great-grandchildren Brooks Goldberg and Ava Steigerwald.

Sidney was born and grew up in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, where he forged many lifelong friendships. He moved to Winnipeg following his marriage to the love of his life, Hinda, of blessed memory. Together, they built a beautiful home for their family, filled with love and caring for their community. Sidney’s commitment to making his world a better place is evident in his extensive volunteer work with the Chai Folk Ensemble, his synagogue, Folklorama and the Folk Arts Council, and his exemplary 62 years of perfect attendance at the Rotary Club of Winnipeg.

Funeral services were held on June 23, 2025, at the Rosh Pina Memorial Park. Contributions in Sidney’s memory may be made to The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, or to a charity of your choice.

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Obituaries

BARBARA KAPLAN (z” l) April 7, 1942 – May 16, 2025

A star back in the sky – the life and story of Barbara Kaplan.
The story of Barbara Kaplan is as unique as the woman herself. On April 7, 1942, a creative and gifted soul was born to Sidney and Rose Rosenblatt. She will be deeply missed by her entire family, including her beloved husband of 55 years, Harry, her two children, Shawn and Carrie, her siblings Shelley Rosenblatt and Robbie Rosenblatt, and sisters-in-law Lorraine Kaplan (David z”l) and Sharon Rosenblatt. Barbara will also be fondly remembered by her many cousins, nieces, nephews, and cherished friends.
Barbara lived her life in full colour. This was evident in everything she did, from how she raised her children and nurtured her family through special celebrations, to bringing a canvas to life, playing the piano, and the many creative words she put to paper throughout her life. She lived with a higher purpose; one she often mused about in her writings or through the art she created.
Barbara had a unique talent for both imagining beauty and creating it. She embraced what she was gifted to envision and the beauty she saw before her. She made things beautiful and saw the beauty in everything. Best once described by her son Shawn, “she was like a human paintbrush, touching things and adding vibrant colour and life.” Barbara brought these gifts into her professional life, graduating from Interior Design in 1986, at the age of 44. She mused and collaborated with her dear friend and business partner, Toby Vinsky, to run Interiors by Design for 25 years. She lived and taught by example, passing on her passion for the creative world to her children.
Barbara often said that “there are no mistakes in art,” and if life imitates art, the story of Barbara Kaplan is one of a profound life lived with vibrancy, passion and love. May Barbara’s special way of observing, representing, and living in the world be a blessing to all who knew her.
Donations in Barbara’s memory can be made to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, where the BABS Scholarship (Better Arts, Better Souls) will be created to support aspiring young artists.

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Obituaries

MINNIE BELL

It is with deep sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Minnie Bell on June 8, 2025, at the age of 92. She is survived by her loving husband of almost 70 years, Dick Bell; her children, Joady Bell (Larry Bloom), David Bell, Karyn Burleigh (Paul), and Debby Brown (Bob); grandchildren Cory, Breanne, Jenna (Adam) Jordan (Kady), Jason, Jonah (Danielle), and Justin; and great grand-children Charlize, Zack, and Mimi.
Minnie was predeceased by her parents Freda and Abraham Bay; sisters and brothers- in-law, Jen and Alec Goldman, and Dorys and Morris Silver. She was Aunty Minnie to nieces and nephews; Tannis and Sheldon Mindell, Glenda and David Segal, Les and Andi Silver, Fern and Narvey Goldman, and Andi Bell.
Minnie was born in Winnipeg on September 11, 1932 and grew up in the city’s North End. She attended William Whyte School for grades 1 through 9 and graduated from St John’s Tech.
Minnie and Dick initially met at a YMHA dance. They were later reacquainted in Winnipeg Beach, which was when their love story began. They were married October 10, 1955 at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.
The Bell family was a very busy household. Minnie had her hands full with four active children, especially while Dick travelled for business for over half the year. Minnie volunteered for several organizations including Hadassah and Shaarey Zedek Sisterhood. She chaired and canvassed for CJA Campaigns and Men’s Youth Aliyah.
Minnie and Dick were always strong supporters of the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, the Holocaust Museum, the Combined Jewish Appeal, and the State of Israel. They had a mutual love of music and international travel. They also shared a love of cruising and embarked on over 30 cruises before slowing down and spending their winters in Palm Desert.
Dick had quintuple heart bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in 1986 when he was just 58 years old. Minnie made it her life’s mission to advocate for Dick’s every medical and emotional need from that time forward. Thanks to Minnie’s tremendous efforts on Dick’s behalf, and to Dick’s own commitment to daily walks and a heart-healthy diet, he is still alive today at the age of 97.
Minnie always took great pride in her appearance – her hair, makeup, lipstick and perfectly manicured almond shaped nails were all of utmost importance to her. She was also known for her beautiful heels – Naturalizers or Clark’s were never an option! Minnie especially loved her off the shoulder sweaters and blouses. She also loved hats and typically donned a selection from her extensive collection for synagogue services.
The family wants to especially acknowledge a number of individuals for their exemplary love, care and devotion to Minnie- Dr. Cynthia Sawatzky and Dr. Keevin Bernstein; Dr. Harvey Chochinov; the staff of the outstanding Simkin Centre and, particularly, the staff on Weinberg 1.
Minnie and Dick’s caregivers and companions, namely, Mae, Sandra, Nettie, Estella, Amanda, Cora, and Tammy were all of invaluable assistance in caring for both of them over the past few months. They truly became a part of our family and we thank them all from the bottom of our hearts
For those who wish, donations in Minnie’s memory may be made to the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre or the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Choir and Music Fund.

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