In loving memory of Joanna Maria (Dilaj) Erland, age 95, who passed away on the 24th of October, 2026 in Ottawa, Ontario.
Joanna was born in 1930 at Dubowce, Poland. She lived through the events of the Second World War to include the Sybirak deportations to Siberian work camps and the subsequent Soviet amnesty in 1941 of polish citizens. She spent the remainder of the war in orphanages at Chust and Namangan, Uzbekistan. On cessation of hostilities, she and her brother made their way back to Poland. She eventually settled and worked first in Karpacz and later in Jelenia Gora, Poland. Joanna pursued a career with the National Bank of Poland after having completed her education in 1952 as an accountant. In those years she enjoyed outdoor activities and dancing as a member of a polish dance troupe. In 1958, she made the decision to emigrate to Toronto, Canada in search of her father and remaining extended family members. She met and married her husband in 1960 and they moved to Ottawa that same year. In the years that followed she raised four sons and returned to work at the Guarantee Trust bank. In her final years she enjoyed her outdoor yard and took pride in her extensive garden. In 2021 she received the Sybir Deportee Cross from the Polish Government in a ceremony at the Polish Embassy in Ottawa.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Katarzyna (Koazk) Dilaj (1901-1942) and Ignacy Dilaj (1897-1984); sister, Helena (1924-1935) and brothers, Jan (1922-1942), Jozef (1926-1942) and Michal (1929-1993); husband Jerzy Erland (1919-2012). She leaves behind her four sons and their spouses, eight grand children and two great-grand children.
She was devoted to the values of the Catholic Church and raising her family through those values with exceptional strength, selflessness, altruism and care. Her resilience to life challenges was exceptional. If you see a flower growing through cold cement, take a moment and appreciate it to honour her resiliency in life.
A service is planned this coming spring at Beechwood Cemetery as the flowers begin to bloom.
Sign the digital guestbook