Obituary of Elsie Hilda Osmar

October 4, 1932 – Riga, Latvia

December 7, 2022 – Calgary, Alberta

With immense love and eternal gratitude for our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and sister Elsie Osmar, we announce her passing on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, in Calgary, AB, at the age of 90, surrounded by the care and devotion of her family.

Elsie, born Elsa Hilda Broks on October 4, 1932, in Riga, Latvia, was the first-born daughter of John and Tekla Broks, and older sister to John and Aina. At age twelve, she and her family bid farewell to their beloved homeland to seek refuge from the WWII occupation, settling into camps in Austria. When her father set sail to secure a brighter future for his family in Canada, Elsie embraced her responsibility to faithfully ensure the wellbeing of her mother and siblings while they awaited reunion, becoming the resourceful, courageous, and selfless young woman her interrupted childhood required her to be.

Her father fulfilled his promise and arranged for his family’s long-awaited passage to Canada. Arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax in March 1949, they boarded an immigrant train headed west to find their father and their future in Pearl, ON.

The future flourished when Elsie met and fell in love with Norman Osmar and together, they built a sixty-eight-year marriage rich in simplicity, earnestness, laughter, and humility. Elsie was Norman’s Queen, and his endless devotion was hers.

While Norman built his exemplary career as a long-haul driver spending many miles away on the road, their three sons Norman Jr., Dow, and Dean would come to intimately know, respect, and admire the woman who made an ally of her early life, devoting her strength, selflessness, and love to become their steadfast and joyful mother.

Though home was grounded in their Northern Ontario beginnings, Elsie and Norman embraced the opportunities of family life in Calgary, thriving there until their rural roots beckoned them home upon Norman’s retirement. With time they returned to Calgary, settling into a contented later retirement, once again close to the sons and families they adored.

Elsie’s capacity to tenderly lead and generously love was her hallmark, and she wrapped it around every grandchild, niece, and nephew in equal measure. As grandmother, great-grandmother, aunty, and great-aunty, she loved each new generation in the heritage she cared for her own brother and sister, bestowing her strength, comfort, consistency, and tradition upon their hearts and identities.

Elsie shared a lifelong, unparalleled affection with her sister Aina. Following the death of their parents and brother John, Elsie and Aina remained. They remained faithful in the sisterhood that formed them, and their sisterhood was dazzling. Laughter poured from their stories, smiles burst, and hips swayed to their favourite songs, tastebuds delighted in cherished family recipes, hot summer toes cooled off together in the lake, weddings and births were blissfully celebrated, and memories of Latvia, and family gone before, were cherished. Their relationship was extraordinary.

Since her beloved husband Norman passed away in 2020, Elsie has been held in the tender care of her first-born son Norman and wife Debra, the selfless love and commitment she exemplified, poetically returned to her full circle. Elsie’s gentle spirit lived and departed in faith to courage, acceptance, family, and love.

Elsie leaves to cherish her memory her three sons, Norman Jr. (Debra) Osmar, Dow (Gerda) Osmar and Dean (Jennifer) Osmar, all of Calgary, AB; her four grandchildren, Jason (Agi) Osmar of Calgary, AB, Sean Osmar (Megan Patterson) of Moose Jaw, SK, and Halie and Garreth (Yana Gritsenko) of Calgary, AB; her five great-grandchildren, Devon and Liam Osmar of Calgary, AB, and Kane, John and George Osmar of Moose Jaw, SK; and her sister Aina (Bob) Adamo, of Thunder Bay, ON; as well as her nieces, nephews, and other relatives. Elsie was predeceased by her husband Norman (2020); her parents Tekla (1970), and John (1985); her brother John (1959); and her nephew John Adamo (2014).

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed here. 

In living memory of Elsie Osmar, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Deerfoot South, 12281 – 40th Street SE, Calgary, AB t2x 3j3, Telephone: 403-256-9575.