Obituary of Eva Christine Smith

Eva Smith

In her 91st year, Eva Christine Smith (nee Meyer-Bremen) passed away as she would have wished—peacefully, in her sleep, at home with family. Eva was born in 1926 to a prominent family in Dresden, Germany. Shortly after WWII, travelling on her own, Eva left what had become East Germany. Slipping through the border in East Berlin, she immigrated first to England, where she worked in London for five years, and then to Canada, where she lived the rest of her life. Eva met her husband, Paul Smith (originally from Gananoque), at the Strathgowan Badminton Club in Toronto in 1954, quickly coming to embrace his close-knit family and their cottage in the Thousand Islands. A wonderful cook and gardener, loving mother, keen tennis player, vigilant housekeeper, enthusiastic world traveller, and lover of opera, Eva’s indomitable spirit and ever-present optimism shone through her life. Always eager for new challenges, Eva treated each of her family’s moves around Canada (Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Kingston, Mississauga, and then back to Kingston) as an adventure. A late-blooming community college student in her 40s, an active cross-country skier until her late 70s, and a skilled bridge player into her tenth decade, Eva remained active, alert, and planning her next trip to the very end. Eva is predeceased by her brother Alexander and her sister Liselotte. She is survived by—and greatly missed by—her husband of 62 years, Paul Smith; children Karen, Stephen, and Charlotte; grandchildren Jamie, Michael, Jennifer, Daniel and Jeffrey; and, in Germany, by her brother Jochen Denso, niece Ulrike Berger, and nephew Christian Denso. The family is grateful to Dr Colin Wilson, Destiny Mather, Greg Duff and the staff from the CCAC and Assisted Living Kingston for their care during the last year. A reception will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 21: please contact the family for details.