Maria Harsch

Passed away peacefully in her sleep, Saturday July 2nd, 2016 in her 92nd year, at Peoplecare AR Goudie Long Term Care Home in Kitchener. Born in Klein Liebental, Ukraine (Russia), on July 8. 1924, predeceased by her parents Walentyn "Valentine" Strauss and Leonide "Leonita" Kocyr (August 8, 1963) and her beloved husband of 27 years the late Gustav Harsch (March 4, 1981). Maria married Gustav on July 3, 1954 at Bethel Evangelical-Lutheran Church, 47 Sheldon Ave. N., Kitchener. Loving mother of David Andreas Harsch (wife Linda Theresa Botzang) of La Salette, and of Robert Richard Harsch of Kitchener. Cherished grandmother of Laura Dorothy Botzang-Krizmanic (Joseph Krizmanic) of Kitchener and proud great-grandmother of Julia and Michael Krizmanic. Predeceased by one brother Mark Strauss and six sisters; Regina, Eva, Odelia, Barbara (December 3, 1982) and her husband Stanley Kucharski (March 15, 1992), Theresa and Emma (September 22, 2004). Survived by her nephews Eugen Grass (wife Lucy) and Stanley Kucharski (wife Maria Kasprzak) all of Michigan USA. Maria worked as a seamstress at the Arrow Shirt Factory in Kitchener for five years until April 1960 and then became a full time homemaker. Her husband Gustav, also from Ukraine, sharecropped on a farm by Lake Simcoe and then was a rubber worker at UniRoyal in Kitchener for 26 years. Gus set up a shoe repair workshop at their house, a trade he had learned from his father, a shoemaker in Germany. Maria and Gustav bought their first house at 469 Courtland Avenue East in Kitchener on July 26, 1957. Maria continued to live on Courtland Avenue until February 8, 2012 when she moved to AR Goudie Eventide Long Term Care. Visitation for family and friends will take place on Wednesday morning July 6, 2016 from 10:30 am to 11:30 am at the Westmount Memorial Celebration Centre, 1001 Ottawa St. S. (at Westmount Rd., 519-743-8900. Christian Funeral Service will be held in the Westmount Chapel at 11:30 am., followed by interment at Woodland Cemetery. Memorial donations to the Alzheimer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario or the Delhi Community Health Centre will be gratefully acknowledged.