Riitta was born in Kotka, Finland in 1926 on October. Her mother Maarta and Eino who were told that she was a weak child and wouldn’t make it to her toddler years. Her father suffered with addiction which was a stress upon their lives. When we visited Finland in the 1980’s we visited her modest childhood home near the Gulf of Finland. She always remarked how she loved the sea and felt particularly at home whenever she spent time on coastal shores. She told us that she was a very strong swimmer as a young woman and same in the local lake for long distances. With her father’s early death, she was taken to live with her paternal aunts in southern Finland and separated from her mother and older sister for long periods. She was a favourite of these aunts who took turns keeping her over the long Finnish summers. She often spoke fondly of her childhood experiences at her Grandparents home and the homes of her father’s relatives. She told us frequently how she used to lie in the grasses for long periods staring at the clouds and imagining various shapes as if she were the only one ever to do so. Those clouds became a focal point of her later paintings which often feature big blue skies with lofty clouds.
Returning for school and to live with her mother, she completed her schooling in Kotka during the war years. Kotka is in the south eastern corner of Finland near the Russian border which became a much closer border by the time the war ended. Both Russians and Germans were seen in Kotka at various times during those difficult years when Finland fought to retain its independence from the Russian aggressors. The hardships she endured with her mother during the second world war played a large role in shaping her perspective in life, as so many from her generation. Undoubtedly, her amazing resilience and perseverance stem from those experiences.
She met her future husband Ville while studying English at night shortly after the war. It wasn’t long after that they moved to Sweden and had their first son, Hannu. A few years later, they immigrated to Canada in 1952. They first settled in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. It was a rustic existence where they had to break the ice for water and heat their home with a wood burning stove. Not long later, they moved to Montreal and eventually welcomed her Mother from Finland as well. Our “Mummo”, or grandmother, was an important support to her both in the good times and the challenging times. It was in Montreal that many of Riitta’s fondest, strongest and most enduring memories came from and where Mya and Kari were born. She loved Montreal living right next to the Forum which brought in the greatest acts of the 60s. There they saw not just the unbeatable Montreal Canadiens but Nat King Cole and many others. It was a time full of significance for her as a new Canadian. She often reminisced of those wonderful years there.
The FLQ era in Quebec over language sovereignty forced them out of Quebec to Denver Colorado in June 1969. We travelled extensively throughout the south western states during those years and once again, she loved the varied landscapes of the Rockies, prairies and deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. However, after 5 years they seized their first opportunity to return to her beloved Canada to Calgary, in June 1974. It was a great deal of gratitude and relief that we all returned to Canada and particularly for Riitta who loved Canada and Canadians above any other country where they had lived.
Riitta and Ville worked very hard to provide as full and comfortable a life for their family as they could. Riitta work 2 jobs for decades. She spent many years working nights at the RBC data centre and made many long-term friends there some of whom are here today. She made friends quickly and easily and loved to visit whenever time allowed. Working long hours was a necessity from her perspective, to create the home and life that she wanted. She decorated our home with many works of art and beautiful pieces Inuit sculptures.
Being immigrants, we had limited time to spend with a few relatives from Finland and Sweden who came to visit us in Canada. Riitta’s mother came a few times from Montreal and indeed last came in 1976 when she passed away here and is buried next to where Riitta will rest today. She nevertheless maintained a lifelong contact with her and Ville’s relatives through letters and the occasional phone call.
It was important to both our parents that we had opportunities to travel. On car trips around Alberta Rockies and the BC coast, Riitta always commented on the nature around her with admiration and wonder. She loved stories and documentaries regarding nature marvelling at the complexities and splendour of nature. Riitta’s appreciation for nature and eye for artistry in many areas lead her to discover oil painting in her retirement. A quick, largely self-taught student, she developed her talent to the point where her paintings sold and even grace a BMO corporate office in downtown Calgary.
In 1996 she was thrilled to welcome her first grandchild, Alex or Asek as he became known to us. As Mya was working many hours to make ends meet, Riitta became “Mummo” to Asek and took care of him along with Ville in their early retirement. She deeply loved him remarking upon his beautiful eyes reminding her of her father. She doted upon him as a child and he always remained a source of immense pride as he grew into adulthood.
In her retirement, she enjoyed opportunity exercise her creative gifts in the garden and with fabrics and yarn. In fact, earlier she made most of Mya’s childhood dresses and clothes as well as many items for the home. Crocheting in earnest, she started her collection of internationally famous potholders. She gave them to virtually everyone she encountered or who visited her. Not to overlook her crocheted potholders which span a large portion of the globe! :). In fact, she made so many of them when she later lived with Mya and John that they began to overtake her little apartment and she bagged them up behind her sofa.
She very warmly welcomed John and his two daughters, Lyndsey and Emilie into her life with the arrival of her second grandson Beni in 2006. Beni was lucky to have grown up with Mummo as a daily part of his life when Riitta moved in with the family in the summer of 2010. She was a bit part of our lives and travelled wherever we went. She did a bit of city travelling herself taking the bus to unknown places and somehow always making it back. On more than one occasion, a strangers car pulled up and out came Riitta waving a friendly goodbye to whomever she befriended in an effort to make it back home. She kept active shovelling snow in winter and raking leaves in the fall much to the amazement of both family and neighbours.
While her dementia brought all sorts of challenges to us in terms of her safety and other elements of everyday life, she was never one to admit any changes or concerns and rather became more creative in her story telling. She loved having tea served by a proper Englishman and her regular butter and bread sandwiches. The family took her on their travels to the BC coast and Hornby Island where she was back on the shoreline immersed in unspoiled Canadian nature. Walking down and up steep hills to the beach were part of her routine in those first days on Hornby.
Later days on Hornby found her sitting in the sun and crocheting yet another potholder always warning us “not to wash them in hot water”. Her eye for colour meant that we had every imaginable colour combination totalling about 2000 potholders after a few years. Mya decided that it would be best to try to do something positive with all these potholders and they were sold on Hornby Island in the tourist season at the local coop store. They sat at the till being sold by donation and eventually raising over $2000 for the elder housing society.
Living with Mya and John for over 8 years, she eventually began to need more care and moved to Nanton Alberta Silver Willow Lodge for the past year and half then to George Boyack for these last few months.
Her passing was peaceful and largely guided by her infinite strength and indominable life spirit. Mya sang her a Finnish lullaby as she passed on to her next journey. She is at rest now after a beautiful life and leaving a beautiful legacy for us all.
