Mary Frances Pluch

Mary Frances Pluch (nee Zeman) was born on June 14, 1929 in the town of Dolna Suca Slovakia, a farming town not far from the largest regional city of Trenchin. The second daughter of Joseph Zemanovich (1901-1959) and Ana Holicek (1900-1983).

Joseph emigrated from Slovakia in 1931. He was followed in 1934, by his wife, Ana, their oldest daughter, Anne (1925-1989) and 4 year old Mary.

Landing at Pier 20 in Halifax, Ana and her tow daughters were quarantined for 90 days due to little Mary having contracted rheumatic fever on the journey by ship. They eventually embarked by train to Montreal where they reunited with Joseph who had been working as a lumberjack in northern Quebec.

The young family settled in Montreal, where Mary recounted the harsh winters and in particular, the snow banks which she would often recall were “as high as the second story windows!”

In 1939, the family moved to Toronto, Joseph continuing to work in northern Ontario as a wood worker specializing in flooring. Mary remembered moving more than 8 times in 6 years, settling variously in Streetsville, on Bellwoods Avenue, Gore Vale and Quebec Avenue to name a few.

Sixteen at the end of the war, she took part in celebrations for VE and VJ Days (victory in Europe & Japan) as a high school sophomore, fondly remembering the pride she felt at being part of the war effort and organizing materials drives for glass, steel, wood and bakelite.

Working since her earliest teens, she held jobs at Christie Biscuits and British American Oil. Like her sister Anne, she was a keen follower of fashion and loved proudly recounting handing over half her paycheque to her mom to help with expenses, keeping the rest to spend on patterns and layaways for the latest Hollywood inspired styles.

In 1953, while a bookkeeper at British American Oil, a friend asked Mary to be a last minute second on a double date she had arranged. Mary and her friend met the two young men at what is today known as Holt Renfrew on the corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets. It was on that blind date she met her future husband Martin, whose first words to his pal as Mary exited the streetcar were “that is the mother of my children”. And, so it was.

Mary and Martin were married on June 5, 1954 and moved into a flat at Eglinton Avenue and Bathurst Street, where they lived until their first child, son Christopher was born in 1963 followed by the birth of their daughter Melissa in 1967.

Regulars at The Palais Royale the famous Canadian dancehall on Lakeshore Blvd. In their younger years, they loved going dancing and took in Toronto’s many classical music performances well into their late eighties, bringing their grandchildren along to daytime performances around the city.

Mary and Martin had a successful property development and management business, which allowed them to travel back often to Austria, Martin’s birth place. They enjoyed travelling to Europe as a couple and with their children every few years, spending summers in Ontario at their cottages in Claremont and Beaverton.

Mary was particularly fond of the family homestead in Beaverton, where family and friends enjoyed the splendour of the sunsets of Lake Simcoe.

Selling the property in 2004 they moved back to Toronto, very near the same neighbourhood where they started out as a couple in 1954.

Until her passing, Mary lived independently in her home of the last twenty years. Always stylish she never began a day without one of her signature colour coordinated and well coordinated outfits, hair, makeup and jewellery included.

She loved to laugh and looked for any opportunity to find the silliness and absurdity in life. No subject was off limits, no joke too risqué. Always up on current events, she was a passionate and confident defender her values and views.

Mary will be remembered most for her great love, so passionately, sincerely and often declared, for her children and grandchildren, daughter and son in law and loving husband Martin. She passed away peacefully at 96 on January 7, 2026, She was so very loved and will be so very missed.

Mary is survived by her younger sister Emily Bradshaw, her son Christopher (Kathy Nosich), her daughter Melissa (Scott Wilyman, grandson Owen and granddaughter Olivia)