Layla Louise Plastino

Layla Louise Plastino (Camerini) aged 56 years born in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, entered into rest at her home in Langley surrounded by family on January 3rd 2012. Layla is sadly missed by her loving husband Edward of 31 years; her son Paul and daughter Lorena; mother Maria Ermes Camerini; Sister Rita (Roy Pereira) and brother Robert Camerini; Daughter-in-law of Gino and Marlene Plastino, Sisters-in-law Sally (Dan Cronce) and Penny (Kevin Sprague) Nieces and Nephews Cristina, Mathew and Sabrina Pereira, William and Benjamin Ferrace-Camerini, Sarah Shober, Mary Stamper and Selina and Nicolas Sprague, as well as many relatives and friends and the Catholic school communities at which she taught. She is predeceased by her father Galdino Camerini.

A prayer vigil and visitation will be held on Tuesday January 10, 2010 at 7pm and Funeral Mass on Wednesday January 11, 2012 at 10:30am, both a St. Joseph’s Parish Langley BC.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Canadian Cancer Society, St. Joseph’s Parish or St. James Parish (Abbotsford) building fund.

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, Langley, BC.

Layla Plastino (nee Camerini)

On June 14, 1955 in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, Ermes and Galdino Camerini welcomed their first born into the world. With a cousin named Mayla, it was only natural that she be called Layla. She would be an only child for 4 years until sister Rita arrived on the scene, it would be another 8 years before younger brother Roberto was born.

Layla attended Catholic schools in her childhood, beginning at St. Marks Elementary for grades K-8 and the all girls’ high school - Mount St. Joseph for grades 9-13. As a child, Layla took piano lessons. Under the tutorage of some very strict and assiduous nuns, she achieved Grade 6 Piano Performance and Second year Theory. She was a responsible child and often cared for her younger siblings. She knew the importance of her Italian community and heritage. As a young girl Barbara Borgogelli was a favourite friend, a tradition carried down from their mothers who were childhood friends in Italy. While in high school her best friend was Debbie Spina (now Spur), and this friendship continued as they roomed together at the University of Western Ontario in London. Layla attended Western from 1974 to 1978 earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in English and Italian literature, and a teaching degree in her fourth year. During the summers, she worked part time at her godfather’s restaurant, The Coral Coffee Shop, as a waitress to help pay for university. In this job she learned how to deal with people, while still managing to earn some handsome tips. Balancing the whims of ornery cooks and appeasing customers, who insisted that the soup wasn’t complete without ketchup, was all in a day’s work. Layla also modelled clothing for events at the Italian club and high school, her slender frame was ideal for the task.

The summer before entering teachers college, she met her future husband of 31 years, Ed. Ed saw her across the dance floor and worked up the courage not only to ask her to dance but for her phone number. However, they both headed back to their respective schools within days, as Ed attended nearby Guelph University. The following January 1st she agreed to go out with him to a movie, he pined for her, she held him at bay. They continued dating while Layla was finishing teachers college, with Ed in his second year of studies. In what little spare time was available during Layla’s hectic days of schooling, going to movies and Mass at the Cathedral in London were favourite activities. When she finally started to practise teaching in London, she knew that her childhood dream of teaching was about to come true - she loved to teach. From an early age, that’s all she wanted to do – teach Catholic education to children.

After graduation Layla accepted a Grade 2 teaching position in Hornepayne, Ontario; population 600, counting wild dogs and black bears! She roomed with the school board Chairman’s family for the first year and Mrs. McCann in the second. CBC was the only entertainment in town unless you wanted to play pool with the CN track crew. Layla got her driver’s license in Hornepayne and bought her first car - a 1979 Camaro Rally Sport shortly afterwards. She had named it Persephone, after the Goddess of Spring, which it felt like when Layla took her car out of winter storage. With the Camaro it was said that she probably set a few speed records hurriedly traveling south to the Sault on weekends. Layla and Ed maintained their long distance relationship as he continued his studies in Guelph. Many long distance calls and letters kept them in touch over the years. After her first year in Hornepayne, Ed finally asked for her hand in marriage. Layla taught there one more year, while he finished his degree in Guelph. Layla and Ed were married in Sault Ste. Marie on August 9, 1980 at St Jerome’s parish. Layla’s friend from University, Lynda Cole was maid of honour and Ed’s cousin, Frank Plastino acted as the best man.

After Layla and Ed married, they settled in Sudbury where Ed had secured an accounting position. Layla taught for the Sudbury Roman Catholic school board until 1994. During this time she and Ed would move into their first home in Lively. In 1984 son Paul was born in Lively, followed by Lorena in 1987. In 1994 the family left Ontario for Langley BC. Ed had been asked to transfer to the West Coast and with Layla’s sister Rita and family nearby, the move was made. Layla taught at St. Patrick’s in Maple Ridge from 1996 to 2002, enjoying the Albion ferry each morning and night. After years of a long and unpredictable commute, Layla moved to teach Grade 7 at St. James & St. Anns in Abbotsford, the elementary school located next door to Lorena’s high school, St. John Brebeuf. This new commute provided hours of mother-daughter time as Lorena accompanied her mom to and from Abbotsford for the last three years of her high school.

To say Layla loved her two children was an understatement; her love for them had no bounds. Layla was the hub that her small family revolved around. She spent countless hours driving to dance and music, hockey and football – she was always the proud Mama. She taught them important lessons and values in a firm but kind way, guiding them to ensure they always had the support they needed to pursue their dreams. Christmas mornings were special times for the family of four. The gifts were secondary to the joy of being together, especially in recent years as Paul and Lorena have moved away from home. Layla’s phone calls to Lorena lasted hours; everything was discussed, from everyday life to the future. They were two women, more friends than parent/child in many ways. However she was always Mama, with advice and insights to keep her daughter on track. Layla loved to listen to Paul on his radio show, saying “that’s my boy” with pride whenever his voice would come on, she usually then turned down the volume for the modern rock that followed. With Paul phone conversations tended towards asking “Have you been to Church?”, “Are you eating okay?” and “Why do you keep putting me on the radio?”. She was always the loving and caring mother, never interfering.

Layla loved to teach the Catholic Sacraments to her students; she taught First Communion and Reconciliation in Grade 2, and Confirmation in Grade 7, and for a time CCD for students not attending Catholic school. She felt that when her Confirmation students correctly answered questions posed by the Archbishop it made all the hard work and preparation worthwhile. Her creativity was obvious in developing challenging and diverse student activities, such as getting the students to paint “like Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel”, laying on their backs under desks with paint brushes in the air. While admitting she wasn’t athletic, she showed her competitive side by coaching and organizing RC Challenge teams (aka Catholic Catechism jeopardy). Her photo club and quilting club were other endeavours for those not inclined to athletics, where she encouraged students, other teachers and herself to break from their comfort zone and discover something new. When it came to preparing for a school mass, she was the “go-to” person when something needed to be done, while organizing priests seemed to become a favourite pastime. Her Grade 7’s though were her passion. She would take pictures of each student at the beginning of the school year and again at the end; and the change was incredible. While the physical change was obvious, you could also catch a glimpse of the maturation and spiritual development.

She also gave generously of herself and her time. Layla gave to her school, her church, and numerous charities, adopted a foreign student with monthly donations, helped with CWL when she could and Pro Life was a favourite cause.

Layla enjoyed travelling far and near. She experienced several trips to Disneyland, where Ed bought her some Mickey ears with her name on them, and Disneyworld before and with family. Mexico was her favourite sun destination for warmth and haggling with the vendors. Vegas had also become a shopping destination; though Layla never met a city she didn’t like to shop in! She had visited Europe twice, once in 1983 with her mom for a month, staying with her grandparents in Fano, Italy and touring with Ed for 2 weeks. Rome, Florence and Venice were all visited on this trip along with relatives who lived and worked near Fano. In 2006 she and Lorena went to Fano to visit family and explore the region again, they would also visit Paris on the way home. They flew into London Heathrow the day they closed the airports due to terrorist bombing. Many text messages kept Ed informed and sane.

Layla liked reading, did a ton of Sudoku, and enjoyed her deck and planting flowers around the yard. She treasured trips into Vancouver to attend musicals and plays and loved exploring museums including those in Victoria, several in Rome and the Louvre and Musee D’Orsay. Layla also loved her pets. She always had a companion, her childhood cocker spaniel Cookie, the big male Siamese cat Chico, her precious Sophie and the special Lily, rescued from the SPCA and who loved her “mom”, if only for 8 short months.

Layla began to feel “tired” in the fall of 2011; it was chalked up to the busy fall, beginning another school year and getting started on whipping a new Grade 7 class into shape. By late October, the tiredness was so severe she started to miss school, something that had been a rarity over the years. A sore back finally forced her to visit to a clinic, from which an ultra sound revealed a mass as the source of the pain. On November 3rd she entered Langley Hospital to deal with fever and pain. Here more tests followed to reveal a mass in the colon and nodes in the liver. On December 3rd she was moved to Vancouver General Hospital to hopefully deal with the mass in the colon, but only to discover nodes in the liver were from an unknown source. Layla returned to her home, enjoying one final Christmas with her family, while still making frequent visits to Abbotsford and Langley Hospitals in the final weeks of 2011. She was scheduled to begin chemotherapy the day she passed away, at home January 3, 2012 surrounded by family.

While Layla was sick, she said some memorable things; when contemplating her illness, she remarked “why me, why not me?”, and to Ed “we’ll get through this together”. She even considered what she had done in life, commenting that “I think I lived a good life – I tried to bring children to Jesus”. She never talked of dying, but never seemed afraid of it either.

If attendance at a funeral mass is any indication, she touched many people in her 56 years, her school closed for the day so staff and students could attend - a very nice gesture. A memorial mass was held at St. James and St Anns in her honour on January 25, 2012, complete with a very moving pictorial video. She was interned at Gardens of Gethsemane in Surrey BC January 24, 2012.

Her family aches at the loss of a precious daughter, sister, mom and loving wife....but trusts in Our Lord and Saviour that we’ll be united some day.