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Obituaries

GLORIA KOHM 28 Tammuz 5783

It is with profound sadness we announce that Gloria Kohm passed away on July 17, 2023, 84 years old, surrounded by family and friends, at the Victoria General Hospital. She was at peace.
Gloria had a beautiful soul. She was loving, courageous, strong, wise, determined, hard working with an adventurous spirit. She was a very warm, caring, passionate “full of life” person with a tremendous sense of humour. She always tried her best – never giving up, despite whatever challenges she faced.
Gloria was born in Winnipeg and grew on Matheson Street. She had an idyllic life, much loved by her parents Max and Gertrude Tessler, her brother Ivan and extended family. She was raised in a home filled with yiddishkeit, family and friends. She attended Luxton School and St. John’s School, cheder and the YMHA. The family attended the local synagogue where Max was a chazzan.
Max and Gertie left no stone unturned to locate any survivors of Max’s family from the Shoah– the Tesslers – and bring them to Winnipeg.
Gloria’s maternal grandparents, Isaac and Annie Altman lived nearby and ran a dry good store. Mom also brought much joy to them. She was a loving and beautiful child, with flaxen hair and blue eyes, who modeled in her youth.
Gloria enjoyed summers at their cottage on Pine at Winnipeg Beach.
Gloria loved regularly going with her father Max to his store, Academy Hardware. It was their special time together. Gloria watched her father act with integrity in business, and learned how to be a great salesperson. Max passed away in 1966.
Mom was an accomplished pianist. She was trained classically. She also had the voice of an angel. She loved to play and sing Yiddish pieces. She would often bring emotions to the surface of her audience.
Gloria attended the University of Winnipeg, beginning at age 16. She married at 18 and had three children (Nada, Lynne and Stuart). She often said that the greatest joy of her life was having children, and grandchildren. She loved us deeply. Sadly, Nada and Stuart passed away in 2018 and 2021 respectively. Her brother Ivan passed away in 2014.
Growing up, mom was the best. She cherished, supported and encouraged us. Nothing was too much for her kids. She was always organizing and finding ways to enrich our lives. Our home was open to neighbours and our friends. Friends enjoyed coming to our home as it was warm, welcoming, full of treats and mom’s amazing cooking! Gloria treated everyone with kindness and friends have commented through the years how mom helped them and positively impacted their lives.
Gloria attended night courses at the University of Winnipeg for years, as her children were growing up, to complete her Bachelor of Arts. Education was very important to mom and she instilled this value in her children. Her mother Gertie had attended University when it was not common for women to do so. Mom stressed the need to “get a profession so that you can always support yourself… you can do anything you desire.”
Once her kids were young adults, Gloria attended Social Work at the University of Manitoba and graduated with honors. At first, she worked with CFS in Winnipeg, but had a great adventure by moving at age 47 to the Northwest Territories to accept a job as the Area Superintendent of Social Services. She lived in Coppermine which is above the Arctic Circle, and did ground breaking work. She traveled by dog sled to remote areas, flew in small planes, went by boat, and skidoo as needed. She had a range of experiences including running the court, and arctic char fishing! Once she organized a charter flight for her and a few colleagues to fly to Greenland for the long weekend!
As her mother Gertie’s health was failing in 1988, Gloria returned to Winnipeg. After that, Gloria worked in sales – her forte. She was a great sales person who acted with integrity in all of her dealings with many satisfied customers through the years.
Gloria related to people in a very special way. She enjoyed people. She loved their stories, their history. She would talk to people wherever she went. She would connect with people and put a smile on their faces. People were drawn to her.
Gloria was compassionate. She would tell us to treat people well, “Be kind; if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all; Treat people how you want to be treated; Do not judge others.”
Mom also had other sayings that guided how we lived (as did her mother) such as “It’s better than a kick in the pants” (meaning be grateful); There is a lid for every pot (meaning there is a partner for everyone, so don’t give up hope); You have to accept the things you cannot change.” (meaning do not give up, persevere, and make the best of a situation).
Gloria was always up for a good adventure. She would spontaneously try new things without hesitation. She was a lot of fun. She had a good sense of humor!
Gloria was very well read and curious. Mom was interested in politics, history, geography, science, anthropology – everything really. She was dubbed the “Queen of Crosswords” and “Queen of Trivia”. As her vision was failing, mom would blurt out answers before we finished reading the question to her! It was amazing to watch her in action. She took the ritual bow and smile for each game played and won!
Mom loved to travel and would have wonderful stories and adventures she would regale us with for years. She also enjoyed Mah-jong, mysteries, movies and bowling.
Mom believed in giving back and among other things, was on the board of National Council of Jewish Women, president of Kiwanis ladies, a board member of the International Centre, and volunteer with United Way, Cancer Society and Women’s Health clinic.
Despite facing challenges, Gloria never gave up. She was strong. She was courageous. She did not falter. She was determined and pragmatic. She dealt with each blow with courage, optimism and dignity, setting an example to all who knew her.
A funeral service, officiated by Rabbi Matthew Leibl was held on July 20, 2023, at Chesed Shel Emes with interment at Shaarey Zedek Cemetery.
Gloria was grateful to G-d for her blessed life. She was grateful for her family – her children, her grandchildren, Daniel and Ashley, her son-in-law Michael, her extended family and dear friends – especially her beloved friend Elizabeth. Her love was endless. The values and love she imparted earned her the love and respect of those who knew her. Although mom will be deeply missed, her life was an inspiration to us and her legacy will live on forever.
Donations may be made to the Jewish National Fund of Canada (204-947-0207).

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Obituaries

MORLEY JACOBS APRIL 16, 1941 – JUNE 26, 2025

With deep reluctance to post his passing, our adored Moishe who fought to stay as long as possible, left us, in the early hours of June 26th; while his presence resides in memories, the activities he pursued in the purposeful life he lived, remain.
He never lost the use of his affable charming smile under his blue eyed gaze; an intent listener, even in his last days, who made you feel seen and heard. To be known by Morley was a privilege; to have been his friend often felt like walking with a prince of angels, when he spoke less and listened more.
Dr. J as his students over the years would tell you, he was the kind of mentor you could trust. His passion for excellence in education was intense and generous, inspiring his students with their own potential to realize a career.
A PhD in Biochemistry, Morley lectured in classes and labs at RRCC, where he connected one by one, year after year with a multitude of young people. Reaching beyond this, Morley successfully petitioned the provincial government and won the retention of the Biochemistry Department at RRCC, following which he expanded the opportunities for students on practicum in this field, through a Jobs co-operative program. In the Biology/Chemistry Departments at U of W, as the Co-op Coordinator, Morley developed the program within the province and beyond for graduate students in applied Sciences Degrees.
In subsequent years, he connected graduates of the RRCC course, who wished to continue in Biochemistry in a reciprocal agreement to earn and achieve a Bachelor Degree in Biochemistry at University.
For 13 consecutive years, between1989 to 2002, Morley served as an elected School Trustee in the Seven Oak School system. He was an educational activist working on multiple committees, knew the principals and teaching staff at each school, always searching for increasing student successand a long time proponent for Year-round Education.
Through those years, Morley attended dozens of schools, personally documenting results of their YRE programs.
Selected to serve as the chairperson on a variety of boards, including the Seven Oaks School Board, he took on each role with dedicated time, organizing, improving, and encouraging an elevated standard of public service. His days were filled well into the evenings, with volunteer work and on weekends when he decided to partner with like minded friends, he brought computer tutors and kids together with an early learning education opportunity.
Along with all of that work, Morley found time to run the Boston Marathon to raise funds for the I.L. Peretz School in 1978 was a long time member of the CIC and served as Mid-Canada AOAC President. A lifetime believer in blood donations, Morley was honored as a distinguished citizen with humanitarian recognition, for the number of donations he gave over the years. On retirement, he researched and developed a Greenhouse Nutrition project to improve food sourcing for Northern communities and in that same period, spent 8 years writing a book, he hoped would be a legacy for people to understand the biochemistry of nutrition, “The Guide: To Understanding Nutrition and the Body’s Response to Food”, which he published in 2018.
He was still busy enjoying his first years in his eighth decade, planning future trips, and long walks with whomever wanted to come along, staying fit and eating well on his early morning rise, when he would be proactively planning the day; he loved life.
He believed each day was the privilege to make choices that made a positive difference to the people you loved and the work that you did. Through all of those decades, the longest number of them, he spent as a playful guy with our adored kids and grandkids. In hundreds of family photographs, he was the playmate in any game, goofy in every dress up, airplane ride giver, stellar hide and seek player, breakfast every morning maker, unabashed Karaoke singer, and the guy you wanted when you needed someone to make things right.
Born in Portage la Prairie, the third child of Abraham and Rebecca Jacobs, in 1950, Morley
moved with his family to Winnipeg, his older siblings, brother Joe (OBM), sister Toba Isler (resides in Florida), settled in at 529 Rupertsland, where he made many lasting friendships over his lifetime. Raised with strong Jewish beliefs in an observant and caring family home, he studied at Talmud Torah, excelled at school, and acquired the foundations for community, family, honorability in character, and the value of knowledge.
Morley considered it fate that we met on his 18th birthday at a Rec-room party in 1956. Nine years later, we married at the Shaarey Zedek, on May 2nd, 1965.
Husband who treasured the miracle of us, who supported the fulfillment our mutual dreams, he was my person who stepped up in all of our critical hours, my trained Lamaze partner for the birth of our children; we were two young people, who raised each other higher as we grew older together. When we met it was instantaneous friendship and when we married, it was a bond of mutual adoration, with all of those glorious years together, sixty nine of them, whatever happened, our togetherness was a state of being that nurtured us all.
Beloved by his nieces, Pam Weinroth (Robert), Rhonda Kupfer (Sam), and nephews, Scott Jacobs (Heidi) and Mark Jacobs, for whom he was an active uncle, visiting whenever he could as they grew up and married, happily around long enough to play with their children.
Mahjong sit-in player for any game, Morley was a cribbage master, who did a daily Sudoku-chess and a cipher quiptoquote, while at the same time; he was a researcher par excellence who was able to make the most complex biochemistry understandable. Strong and agile, he was an athlete from youth, a track star and marathon runner, in high school a basketball player while through his life a huge fan of baseball and hockey, he was noted in his early teens as an avid ping pong player.
For all the years people knew him he was humble with his own notable achievements academically, but remained generous with intellectual sharing, correcting only with honorable concerns. It was his ease in praising and engaging in progressions that valued excellence, through all of his years, daily, Morley was the legacy of his smiles of confidence for others. Morley was a guy who frequented the pleasure of being forever joyous with children, and as every family pet could avow, he was the doted upon favorite.
His time here blessed everyone and everything, and we know he would hope to inspire that in others.
Etched into our collective family sharing of him, we are his memory keepers held to our own souls with enduring honor for how he conducted himself in his life, evermore: Children, Stephanie Jacobs-Lockhart and Morrison Jacobs; our son-in-law, Darwin Lockhart and daughter-in-law, Jennifer (Lisakowski) Jacobs; and our grandchildren, Jonah Samuel Lockhart, Elle Talia Lockhart, Adli Jayden Jacobs, Mazie Carolyn Jacobs, and me, Bev (Berkal) Jacobs, the woman who had the privilege of him for all of those years, nothing to mourn and everything to remember with joy.
Services were held at the Chesed Shel Emes, and the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery, officiated by Rabbi Matthew Leibl, attended by pallbearers, Morrison Jacobs, Adli Jacobs, Darwin Lockhart, Mark Makarovsky, Michael Meyers, and Mark Kogan.
Donations in memoriam may be made to a charity of your choice.
We know his spirit will continue to be a blessing for all, if there was a way his neshamah would find it; to be the valiant progenitor for a great renewal in this world, in peace, love and humanism.

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Obituaries

ETTIE (EDDY) WERIER

Ettie Werier passed away in her sleep on July 25, 2025, at the Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence in Winnipeg.

She will be hugely missed by her many friends and her family. Eddy was predeceased by her husband Lawrence, her younger sister Naomi (Wolfe), her older sister Sherry (Chochinov), her parents Max and Annie and her beloved grandson Koby.

Born Ettie Rubinfield in Ustryke Dolne, Poland in 1928, Eddy arrived in Winnipeg in 1931. She spent her childhood in the North End, where her parents ran a little grocery store on Alfred Avenue. She grew up to be a beautiful young woman with a warm smile and a quick mind.

She met Lawrence Werier, the love of her life, on a train ride to Winnipeg Beach. Eddy obviously wanted adventure, otherwise she would not have chosen Lawrence to be her beloved husband of more than 75 years, because he was always unconventional, but somehow this fit her perfectly. They were married in 1949 and started a family in 1952. While raising three children in River Heights, Eddy often travelled the world with Lawrence, visiting countless out-of-the-way beaches and dozens of countries.

Eddy had a quiet charisma. Maybe it was the mischievous sparkle in her eye or some droll bit of storytelling but all were attracted to her goodness, kindness and wit. Eddy was known for her intelligence, competitive spirit, and love for her family. She was an accomplished bridge player, and whether competing online or with her “bridge ladies,” she played to win, even on her last day. She was never an athlete, but at the age of 50 she took up tennis and became a force to be reckoned with until she retired her racket due to bad knees at the age of 85.

Eddy spent the last few years of her life enjoying the community at the Shaftesbury Residence and developed a strong and loving relationship with her companion and caregiver Tess Braun who is grieving the loss alongside the family, including Eddy’s surviving brother Jack Rubinfield. The family will especially miss the generous love and support she gave her children Kerry, Clifford and Jodie and their life partners Suzanne, Sabrina and Michael, and her grandchildren, Cynthia, Alex and Koby. Whether chatting with Grandma on Facetime or hugging her in her Shaftesbury suite, her family treasured the moments when we could come together in Winnipeg and bask in her smile. If you feel inclined to make a donation in Eddy’s memory, please choose a charity of your choice.

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Obituaries

Dr. VELIMIR KON B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Sc., Ph.D. September 18, 1950-June 27, 2025

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Dr. Velimir Kon, or Shlomo, beloved husband of Branka and father of Deborah and Lea. Velimir was an accomplished teacher and academic, and he was renowned for his intellectualism, humility and humanity.
A gentle soul who was always sociable and who genuinely loved people, Velimir was equally at home in the university classroom as a professor and as a secondary school Biology, Chemistry and Math teacher in Northern Ontario (Big Trout Lake) and Manitoba (God’s River, Berens River). Velimir made a difference to many First Nations students throughout a career that spanned decades. He was dedicated to his students, colleagues and family. An adept and talented pianist, Velimir enjoyed the arts and of course Jewish humour. He was an avid shul goer and supporter of Israel and enjoyed his duties in shul as a Kohayn. Velimir was a man of faith who was able to fuse his love of science and Judaism.
Born in Croatia, Europe (the former Yugoslavia) to Shoah survivors Rose (Rochel, ne Lederer) and Arnold Kon (Ariel), Velimir immigrated to Canada with his wife and girls in 1988, making many personal sacrifices along the way to ensure a peaceful and safe life for his family. Adaptability and optimism characterized Velimir. Known for his heart of gold, Velimir touched the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing him. A love of Jewish values, family values and life-long learning and education characterized Velimir. With his charming, outgoing and friendly personality, Velimir welcomed everyone into his life and into our home.
His kindness, humour, generosity and goodness will be deeply missed by his family and friends in Winnipeg, Victoria, B.C., Guelph, ON, Osijek, Croatia, Belgrade, Serbia, Los Angeles and Boston, U.S.A., and Israel, Jerusalem, Haifa and Karmiel. Baruch Dayan Haemet.
A traditional funeral was held on June 30, 2025 at the Hebrew Sick Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can still be made to Chabad Lubavitch of Winnipeg, B’nai Brith or the JNF.
Velimir will be forever missed and cherished by Branka, Deborah and Lea.

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