I am now 47 but when i was 10 i lived in Israel with my family and live in the home of paul and Trudi fodor . All i have to  say is thank you they were the most beautiful people i knew and paul use to hold my hand os Saturday and walked to the synagogue which I loved ♥️♥️ i have a spot in my heart that will always be there’s

Gertrud “Trudi” Fodor: A Tribute

Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. …
Her children rise up and call her blessed;Her husband also, and he praises her: “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.” 
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. 

When you read those words about the virtuous wife, you can see Trudi: her quiet persistence in prayer, constant words of encouragement and faith, her steadfast refusal to be overwhelmed by circumstances and devoted love for her husband, Paul.  

Some of us have come to say good-bye to a mother, a grandmother, someone who couldn’t help mothering everyone she met. Some have come to remember her spirit, a remarkable heart for people.  Trudi  was such a rock of faith, so stalwart in supporting her husband and family through every kind of problem, illness or self-doubt that we know we’ve lost someone who personified God’s love, even with that quaint accent and those sweet ways of hers. She was showing it just as much with roomfuls of flourishing plants and pets, her cats and Heidi—the miniature poodle who traveled with her everywhere—and the many people who thought of her as their best friend. We all thought of Trudi that way. That’s why this loss is so difficult to put into words.
    
Other people speak of the Holocaust and its survivors with a distant reverence. Trudi never had that choice. She was born into a family of earnest, hard working folk in a little town of Insterburg, on the eastern border of Germany and Russia. After the difficult years of the Depression, her family settled in Brandenburg, 50 miles from Berlin, where she absorbed all the emotions of a nation in the grip of fascism. 

She was a German girl growing up under the Third Reich: cheering a victorious Fuehrer returning from Paris and then feeling the bitter, ashen waste of losing her most beloved cousin, Magda, in the massive bombing raids on Berlin in 1944. In the first years of the regime, she turned her backs on the Jews rounded up for death. But she was no longer so accepting near the end of the war, seeing boys—16 and younger—rounded up at gunpoint by the SS to serve as cannon fodder against the Russian onslaught in the last months of fighting. Even as her heart went out to those young men, some crying as they were led away, she couldn’t know that this was the same fate being handed to her own future husband, Paul, digging trenches for the retreating German army until he too was cut down by the Russians. 

As a young girl, Trudi was raised with an innocent, child-like devotion to Catholicism. In time, it meant less and less to her as the complications of war overwhelmed her and her family. Their priest died in a concentration camp for whispering to someone on a train that he didn’t fully approve of the Nazis. After the war, she seized the chanced to go to England and make a fresh start.

Paul, the young man she met in Darbyshire, entered her life as a local college English tutor. In time, his heartfelt devotion overcame all the barriers of language and a past that neither wanted to talk about. She didn’t ask if he was Jewish; he didn’t want to reveal it anyway. But early on she knew the deep scars that had been inflicted on his soul. She, too, was scarred. But they lived in an era when people urged each other to forget, to put the past behind them and hope for a brighter future.

They stayed in England for seven years, where Peter and Christine were born, until the opportunity came to go to Canada where Paul’s brother, Zeno, was already established. Here in Canada, Judy and Danny were born. The struggles of a young, needy family in a new country weighed heavily. Paul was starting to make a go of things in Toronto when he took his brother in law’s advice and went to Windsor in 1955—just as car sales went into a slump. 

Seeking help at a local church, he saw a sign for a film: “Souls in Conflict.” The title perfectly mirrored his heart condition and that film, about the 1954 Billy Graham crusade in England, changed his life. That evening, Paul took a step of faith from which he would never look back. Trudi reluctantly began attending services with him. But soon she began to receive the healing that she saw in her husband.  Only after they were completely joined together in their new faith did he confess to her that he was Jewish. She had the joy of never having brought up the subject. And she was able to say, “I always thought you were…”

Those of us who knew Paul and Trudi as a couple were always touched by the affectionate bond between together. And this was the foundation for a home filled with love and security for their children. Even when money was scarce, their children always had the feeling that there would be enough—they knew they were cared for. 

We never felt or saw the changes they experienced, all the ways that God worked in their lives. Paul not only grew spiritually, he grew in his practical abilities and found better financial opportunities. 
He had returned to a good job in Hamilton and for over seven months, once he was invited to take over the Hamilton Friends of Israel, he questioned the call. But then he had to decide whether or not to commit himself to serving God or making the best possible living for his family. Once again, it was Trudi who encouraged him to take that step. She understood that his Jewish identity was not something to be hidden; that it was at the heart of what he had to say about his faith. 

It took years for them to grow into their task, but they came to play a major role in the lives of many searching Jewish young people whose faith journey led to their home—many of them, like me and my friends, had parents who were Holocaust victims. Few people understood, even then, the implications of being the children of survivors. Paul and Trudi radiated those qualities of healing that were so desperately needed. I was with them as they traveled with us to conferences and meetings: mentoring and teaching us about stable, caring, mutually supportive family life. 

But in other ways, their ministry was just beginning to hit its stride. They began a remarkable ministry of tours to Israel that inspired those around them to open their hearts to the Holy Land and understand the unique reality of Israeli life. In time, that ministry laid the foundation for another important step—for Paul and Trudi to move to Israel where Paul finally claimed his rights to Israeli citizenship.

Once again, Trudi’s passionate heart for Israel allowed them to do together what would have been impossible alone. They had a year-long sabbatical which began to acclimatize them to Israel. Wherever they went, they made friends, particularly among those whose lives had been scarred by the Holocaust. Danny recalls how they were stymied by a problem with customs—living in a cold empty house in Hod HaSharon on cots; but Trudi refused to be negative. How many thousands of small sacrifices of heart and spirit were part of her life like that?  She’d never let us know.

Living in Israel, Paul and Trudi’s nurturing qualities once again impacted many lives, especially among Holocaust survivors in Hod HaSharon, near Tel Aviv, where they first settled. They understood the vulnerabilities of people like them, furtively unable to let go of their fears that they might run out of food; unable to stop saving rubber bands and plastic containers for fear that they might be needed later. Their compassion and encouragement inspired new Russian immigrants. They understood the challenges of fitting into an alien culture. In Eilat, Arad and the towns where they lived in Israel, they touched people with a loving, caring spirit. Trudi was called Tova, or in its affectionate Hebrew form, Tovale. 

Paul and Trudi lived in Israel until 2000, when illness and a desire to be closer to family brought them back to Canada. Through it all, Trudi gave out of her boundless heart and lively personality, matched with a great capacity to see all that was best in any situation—this was her ministry.” Danny passed on to me some of the special remembrances that he has received from Israel. As Proverbs 31 says, “let her own works praise her:

God bless the memory of His faithful servants,Trudi and Paul, good friends and fine people. Taube Furst Lann in Eilat

I thought of her often… I know she is happy with Her LORD and re-united with Paul. Please pass on my love and blessings to all of you who are Paul and Tova's legacy. Love from Alison Marshall

Shalom from Eilat! I will remember Tovah always as my Israeli-mother. She took good care of me and I felt her love even she wasn’t here for years anymore. She prayed, I believe, everyday for Israel! She really was our IMA, like Ovadia said right now, and we will miss her always! God bless you, and keep you. Tovale is with her beloveds, Paul and Yeshua, so she is happy forever!  Raija-Liisa and Ovadia

Here are words from a distinguished theologian and his wife: Dear Daniel, Our condolences. Your mother and father left a precious legacy of love and forgiveness. May the fruit of their lives continue to multiply. Seth and Ling Postell

Similar messages came from Beatrice and Moshe Dayagi, a retired Isaeli major; and there were many other dear friends, including the jewelers Zvi and Fieda Weiss.

Each family member recalls her with the same great affection. As a young man, Peter confessed that he’d once said, “She’s too good a mother.” But then, he also recalled her later years, legally blind and struggling with deafness, she displayed a remarkable balance of suffering silently and letting others know her frustrations; all without bitterness or anger.

Melanie and Judy, mother and daughter, recalled how she was always encouraging, getting them to sing a song or go to prayer whenever things seemed too hard to go on. As Judy says, she taught us to trust God, to be resilient and enjoy the good things that give us joy. They remembered her reciting: “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:6).

Chrissy’s first thought was the memory of her mother’s smile—“it was gold”—and how she was always praying for her children and concerned, right up until the end. 

Even so, they delighted in her curious expressions—the little Germanic touches that were funny but sweet. And yet Trudi always wanted to know what was going on around her.

The last days were difficult and she had sensed that it was time to go. She lived over the past decade with Danny, and we must acknowledge the special role he played in allowing her to have her own place during her last years. Beloved friends, including Bill Thompson, Irwin Wolski, Betty Hammond and Mary Pride visited weekly. But she knew her time had come. Physically and spiritually, she was ready to go and be with Paul and with the Lord.

Still, she loved all her family with enduring affection: each one was precious to her as diamonds. That included nieces and nephews, Dietmar and Marg Reinkober and her brother’s children, Tammy, Lana, Monica and Klaus. 

But above all, she was Mother to Peter and Sandie, Christine and Lyle, Judy and Don and Dan. She was Oma to Rachel, Sarah, Denise, Jeremy, Michael, Jordan and Melanie. She had also the wonderful gift of great-grandchildren, Evelyn and Olivia. Not all of them could be here, but all are remembered.

We stand with the writer of Proverbs and say:  “Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.’” 
      
In the book of Judges—the Sefer Shoftim—Devorah was not only a prophetess but a judge as well. But when she describes herself, her highest designation is “a Mother in Israel." 

Trudi, Tova; that is your legacy. And now your family and those who loved you are called to carry forward your character of love, faithfulness and devotion. This world is richer because your heart was open, despite years of pain; you first learned and then taught us how to be fully true to your Master who said, “Love one another.”

You will always live in our hearts and prayers.

To my dearest Oma -

I already miss you so much and extremely grateful that I was able to spend umpteen weekly visits with you whilst in Canada this past year before I started my immigration process & left Canada.  I'm also very gateful that you were with us in spirit as I was wedded to my husband in April.  I'm so very glad that we were able to have our lovely telephone conversation together on December 22nd.  As always, I will remember your kind words forever.  I love you & miss you very much! 
RIP  Omee - - you will be missed immensely!

Your eldest grandaughter, 
Denise

OBITUARY

Gertrud Fodor

February 21, 1923 – December 28, 2010

Marlatt Funeral Home, Swackhamer Chapel

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