Mária Anna Hidasy (Deák)

Mária was a wonderful, chic and generous woman, with a big heart, good sense of humour, and with an almost perpetual smile. She will always remain, for her immediate and extended family, a beloved mother, grandmother (Nagymama, Nagyi) and great grandmother (Dédi).

She was born on June 17, 1928 in Budapest, Hungary. In Budapest she was a handball player and a respected chartered accountant. She survived the Second World War in the heavily bombed capital of Hungary, was internally exiled from her Budapest home with her family by the communist regime and lived through the 1956 Hungarian revolution. She arrived in Ottawa 1976.

In Ottawa, she was faced with the challenge of pursuing her profession while learning a new language, eventually succeeding as a bookkeeper working for KMart.

After loosing her husband in 1990, and loosing her job with Kmart in the early 90’s because she was over 65 years of age, Mária became involved with the small Calvin Hungarian Presbyterian Church in Ottawa, as volunteer treasurer and a Director on the Board of Directors. She also volunteered at the Hungarian House and joined their choir.

She loved to cook and always encouraged others to eat more of her food (‘egyél’). She loved to swim and devoured fruits, especially cherries. She loved to drive, and look for the best deals in various produces for church fundraising lunches and bake sales.

Mária was a dog whisperer. She would take 5 times as long to get from A to B, because she would stop to talk to dogs barking at her from the other side of fences, assuring them in a sweet voice, that she was not there to hurt them. Much to her delight, most dogs would soon stop barking.

She loved her family. She loved spoiling everyone. She loved socializing with house guests. She loved playing cards and often hosted a group of friends.

She left this world on May 10, at home, five weeks shy of her 96th birthday. She was preceded by her parents (Anna and Ferenc Deák) and her beloved husband of 40 years (István/Stephen Hidasy). She will be missed by many, but especially by her daughter Catherine Bélanger (Patrick Hollier), by her precious grandson Barclay Easton (Erika Easton) and by her adored great grandchildren Katalin, Payton and Kaszara Easton.

‘We shed tears because she is gone, and we smile because she has lived.