Edith Irene Klanert
May 31, 1925 – January 7, 2024
Edith passed away peacefully at Freeport Palliative Care facility in her 99th year. She was predeceased by her husband, Ewald (1981); her brother, Siegfried Neuland (1996); her twin sister, Gerda Ranzan (2022); and one daughter, Brigitte Schuchardt McInnis (2022).
Born in Lebau, Latvia to Karl and Isabella (nee von Stromberg) Neuland, Edith and Gerda fled their homeland in the late 1930s as young teens with their single mother to Berlin, Germany, when the Russian army invaded the Baltic States. While living in Berlin, she met her life-long best friend, Ruth. In 1948, after moving to Hettstedt to work, she met and married Ewald, and they soon started a family. By 1957, they had five children (the oldest born deaf) and found that they needed to flee their home due to political turmoil. As her mother, brother and sister had already immigrated to Canada, that was the logical place to go. But they had to get out of East Germany first. With the help of a discreet relative and a close friend, Edith masterminded a secret plan to get to West Berlin so that they could apply for refugee status and hopefully join her family in Canada. It took almost a year, travelling two kilometres on foot, then by train from Sandersleben to Berlin, and finally the subway from East Berlin to West Berlin. There they were helped by the Red Cross to be recognized as refugees, and after living several months at the refugee camp in Wolfsburg Castle, began their journey to Canada. Finally on May 22, 1958, the whole family landed in Montreal after 10 days aboard the Arkadia, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. After a few months, they settled in Toronto aided by the Salvation Army that gave them clothes to wear and a few mattresses to sleep on. Ewald began working at the Volkswagen Canada plant in Scarborough where German was spoken but he was also taught English. Edith started taking English lessons at night school and after a year was able to get a job as a bank teller, at which she excelled. In 1965, they welcomed their sixth child into the family. Throughout her career Edith worked for several different banks in branches and head offices in Toronto until she retired.
Edith was always physically active, beginning in Latvia where she and her sister danced ballet, once posing for a portrait that took so long to complete, they had to keep switching positions because they couldn’t hold the ballet pose that long! Edith loved swimming and passed that on to most of her children who participated on swim teams and became lifeguards. Living near the beach in Toronto, she would often go swimming at the beach and at the community pools, cycling in the summer and later in life took up cross-country skiing in the winter as well as walking year-round. At age 50 she learned how to downhill ski because her youngest daughter (then 10), who used to tag along with her older siblings, still wanted to go skiing but was the only one left at home with no one to take her. At age 53, Edith learned to water-ski and she had no trouble getting up on the first try. While in their 50s, both Edith and Gerda became more health conscious and joined in the ParticipACTION programme and gained the gold/excellence levels for their age range in all the activities. Even when she went to live at Winston Park, Edith participated in many of its recreation activities such as the Schlegel Olympics.
Edith loved to travel whether on vacation or just to visit family or friends in North America and Europe: From Alaska, and BC, to Florida, and the Dominican Republic, back to Germany for several visits, to Nova Scotia, and PEI. As Omi to 15 grandchildren, she was called upon and willing to babysit, sometimes travelling to Windsor or Barrie or Prince Edward County to do so. She loved spending time with family or friends near, on, or in the water, going boating or swimming whenever she could.
After 17 years as a widow and single mother, Edith met up with long-time Baltic acquaintance Peter von Harpe, the new love of her life. This brought a move to Waterloo from what had been her only Canadian home at 10 Hartford Ave. in Toronto. They were very happy together and many people commented that they acted like two teenagers in love. Edith enjoyed spending time at Peter’s rustic cottage near Bayfield. They travelled often, taking vacations to Florida and Jekyll Island, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as visiting family and friends.
She will be dearly missed by her children: Eberhard (Barbara) Klanert, Heidi Buffett, Hans (Marlene) Klanert, Gisela (John) Tomlinson, and Susanne (Paul) Marchment; her 15 grandchildren: Jason Klanert, Rhonda Weagle, and Rebecca Maw; Michael (Kelly) Turner, and Jason (Julie) Turner; Diana (Mike) Smith, and Daniel (Heather) Klanert; Tatiana (Alan) Paige, Christina (Mike) Power, Alex (Sandra) Schuchardt, and Sarah McGill; Mark (Nancy) Tomlinson, and Laura (Jason) Cole; Richard (Kathryn) Marchment, and Andrew (Catrina) Marchment; and her 32 great-grandchildren.
Cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Salvation Army or St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation as expressions of sympathy.
Messages and condolences may be left for the family at www.tricitycremations.com or 519.772.1237. Please visit Edith’s obituary notice on Facebook.