Born on a cold winter morning on “Larsosgard” farmstead as an Estonian Swede on the west coast of Estonia, Irene passed gently in the arms of angels to be with her Lord with her daughter, granddaughter and close friend at her side in the late afternoon of Thanksgiving Monday at the North Shore Hospice. After a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer on July 9, 2019, Irene remained stoic, grateful and the epitome of grace. A bittersweet summer passed with beloved family and dear friends visiting and supporting her as she moved closer to her final days. She felt that she had lived a full and rich life.
A joyous and relatively carefree youth was interrupted by the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1940. Being of Swedish descent, she and her family were able to be evacuated to Sweden in July 1944 before the Iron Curtain dropped. In Stockholm she met and married an Estonian refugee Rudolf Olljum in May 1950 and together they immigrated to Canada in May 1951. After 6 months of work in her brother’s logging camp and a year of living in an attic suite on Homer St., the newlyweds scraped their money together to buy their first home in East Van. Irene became one of the only female business managers in a North American car dealership in the 1950s. She gained her CGA degree in 1977 and one of her proudest accomplishments was receiving the CPA certificate at the age of 89!
She was honored to receive the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of the Polar (Northern) Star for her volunteer work to preserve and advance Swedish language and culture in Canada. She received the Estonian National Council award for her volunteer work for the Estonian community in Vancouver. A certificate of recognition and thanks was awarded to her in 2014 from the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran church.
Predeceased by Rudolf in 2005, her parents Lovisa and Johannes and her siblings Eric, Alfred, Alide, Rosine, Axel, Regina and Ingrid. Left to mourn her loss is her daughter Lilian, her son Alar (Ana), her grandsons Landon and Tayler and their father Bill; her granddaughters Linda, Laura, Liv and their mother Lia; her brother Elmar in Sweden; and all her nieces and nephews and their families as well as the many close friends. We will forever remember the kind and generous manner with which she treated us all. A special thank you to Dr. Shoults who discovered her illness and to the doctors, nurses, staff at the NS Hospice and chaplain Rev. A. Rebane.
Memorial service is at 10am on November 9th 2019 at the Estonian Church 6520 Oak Street. In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to the Swedish Heritage in British Columbia 1812 Duthie Ave. Burnaby BC V5A 3R3, Covenant House or the Union Gospel Mission.
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