Najla Ghantous Darwish

It is with great sadness that we announce that Najla Ghantous Darwish (Alan 2006), 92, born to Salim and Lottie Ghantous, went to be with her Lord on February 16, at the Cedars Home for the Elderly in Montreal, just eleven days shy of her 93rd birthday. Loving mother to Michael, Linda, Joanne (Peter), cherished grandmother to Stephanie (Val), Cristina, Michelle, and Matthew (Camelia), and great-grandmother to Oscar, Estelle, Lily-Rose, and Gemma. Predeceased by her brothers Nicky (2017) and Fred (2021).

Najla grew up in the Mile End and Outremont districts of Montreal, where she enjoyed spending time with her many cousins and close friends. After finishing High School, she studied fashion and became the fashionista of her community. She was a lifelong member of St. George Orthodox Church and an active member of the church’s Ladies Aid Society. After leaving her career in the fashion industry, Najla qualified as a Real Estate Agent, a job that she enjoyed for many years well into her seventies.

Najla was known for her impeccable honesty, graciousness, and kindness towards everyone fortunate enough to cross her path. She had the most winsome smile that would light up her beautiful face. It was common for people, family, friends, and, in later life, caregivers alike, to ask her to give them one of those amazing smiles, to which she mostly obliged. Najla enjoyed traveling, visiting scattered relatives, entertaining, and playing cards with “the girls” on Saturday nights. But there was nothing she loved more than spending time with her children and grandchildren whom she has left with years of wonderful memories. In her later years, simple pleasures like sharing tea and cookies or walking in the garden at Sunrise Senior Living, where she resided for eight years, took on greater meaning. She will be profoundly missed.

Warm thanks and appreciation are extended to the wonderful staff at Sunrise and the Cedars for their care over the last nine years combined, as well as the many home caregivers for some years prior.

Funeral visitation will be held on Wednesday, February 19th from 2-5 and 7-9 p.m. at Centre Funéraire Côte-des-Neiges, 4525 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges. Religious service at the same location on Thursday, February 20 at 10 a.m., and from thence to Mount Royal cemetery.

Donations in her memory may be given to the St. George Ladies Aid Society.