Tjitske van Engelen

It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of our mom, Tjitske van Engelen; affectionately known as Omi/Tessa. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, on September 24, 2026 at age 96.

Tessa was a cherished mother to her two daughters Claudia, and Irene (Garry); a loving grandmother to Tonicha (Mark), Juri (Jenni), Erin (Robin), Aysha (Jeff), and Jesse (Melissa), and to her seven great-grandchildren (Abby, Lucas, Joshua, Sebastian, Maya, Annu and Leo) who brought immense joy to her later years. She will also be greatly missed by Kaoru, (father of Tonicha, Juri and Erin) for whom she had a deep affection.

Tessa was also very fond of her three step-daughters Val (Chris), Sandy (Darcy) and Cathy (Scott) and remained quite close with them after the passing of her second husband, James.

Born in the Netherlands in 1930, Tessa immigrated to Canada in 1953 after surviving WW2. While Tessa suffered many hardships, she was passionate about her family and had a love of travelling; she built community wherever she went and had a large circle of friends. She had a variety of careers throughout her life, but she was trained as a nurse and was a life-long caregiver.

After retirement she spent six months in Guatemala where she cared for children with cleft palates. Later she received an award for her 25 years of volunteer work with Victoria Hospice where she sat with patients providing both emotional and hands-on-support. She also loved tending to the hospital gardens. Known for her tea and apple cake, speculaas, drawer of smarties and black licorice and love of flowers, Tessa was also an avid painter, potter, knitter, reader and gardener.

Tessa was predeceased by two sons, and two husbands (Hartgert van Engelen and James MacDonald), and by four brothers (Ton, Johan, Ben and Bertus).

Tessa is survived by two sisters (Gerda and Jeanne).

We hope you will come share some stories with us at her celebration of life. Date to be announced later.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Operation Smile:

https://operationsmile.ca/where-we-work/guatemala/