Obituary for Ellen Sylvia Lehtela (Makinen)
Ellen Sylvia Lehtela (nee Makinen)
April 12, 1929 to May 28, 2021
With love we look back at the years we have enjoyed with our mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Ellen explored life with great enthusiasm. She has been a positive influence with her independence and curiosity for life. She had a special sense of humor evidenced by an encounter she had at a hardware store. The clerk commented “boy you are really smart”. Mother answered “yes but I would prefer to have been born beautiful”. The young man could not help but laugh out loud.
Ellen, who was also a beautiful woman by the way, returned to work in real estate after raising her children and then she mastered land and property searches and became an essential member of the law firms she assisted. In her retirement she rebuilt her family home, a log cabin on May Lake. There were always freshly baked cakes, cookies, pies, bread or pop-overs for the many friends and family that would always drop by. She was Ontario champion cross country skier in her teens and a self-taught craftswoman – birch bark baskets, lace, fabric mats on her mother’s loom. She was an active member of the Ladies of Kaleva most of her adult life and proud of her Finnish heritage. Although born in Canada her first language was Finnish.
Ellen survived her husband Oliver and her eldest son Frank. She leaves behind a family that includes 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. There is Ellen’s son John and his wife Tuula. They have three sons, Eric (partner Erika), Matti (partner Shawn), and Kyle. Her daughter Marianne and her husband Valdis have two children, Ellen (husband Jonathon) and Sam (wife Ashley and son Victor). Then there is Eleanor with her husband Alain who have three children, Brett (partner Alice), Aela and Lanig. Eleanor has lived in France since the early 1980s. Ellen’s youngest daughter Elaine and her husband Rob have three children, Wolfgang (with sons Saul and Seth), Karl (partner Nykole) and Amy (partner Ata).
On another note, Ellen will be missed by all the forest creatures that she loved and often fed: the wolf that slept in the wood shed, the bears that peered in from time to time and ate the apples, the squirrels and chipmunks that would sit in her lap and many, many more. But, not the porcupine that ate the outhouse…
Ellen continued to live on her own at her beloved home independently until May 2021. This was a pioneer home, built by her father and uncle in 1931 for a cost of $3, with none of the 20th century facilities (no running water, nor electricity). She had many friends and visitors from near and far. Despite her failing health she would often express friendly thoughts of the people she came to know. We thank Dr. Candice Walton of Maison McCulloch Hospice and nursing staff from Bayshore for giving her this long independence. The Maison McCulloch Hospice has been very supportive in the last days for Ellen. We thank them as well for all of their support. In lieu of flowers please donate to the Maison McCulloch Hospice or a charity of your choice.
We will miss Ellen deeply and her home on May Lake will be a lonely place without her.
For donations or messages of condolence, www.lougheedfuneralhomes.com
Arrangements entrusted to the Lougheed Funeral Home.
April 12, 1929 to May 28, 2021
With love we look back at the years we have enjoyed with our mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Ellen explored life with great enthusiasm. She has been a positive influence with her independence and curiosity for life. She had a special sense of humor evidenced by an encounter she had at a hardware store. The clerk commented “boy you are really smart”. Mother answered “yes but I would prefer to have been born beautiful”. The young man could not help but laugh out loud.
Ellen, who was also a beautiful woman by the way, returned to work in real estate after raising her children and then she mastered land and property searches and became an essential member of the law firms she assisted. In her retirement she rebuilt her family home, a log cabin on May Lake. There were always freshly baked cakes, cookies, pies, bread or pop-overs for the many friends and family that would always drop by. She was Ontario champion cross country skier in her teens and a self-taught craftswoman – birch bark baskets, lace, fabric mats on her mother’s loom. She was an active member of the Ladies of Kaleva most of her adult life and proud of her Finnish heritage. Although born in Canada her first language was Finnish.
Ellen survived her husband Oliver and her eldest son Frank. She leaves behind a family that includes 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. There is Ellen’s son John and his wife Tuula. They have three sons, Eric (partner Erika), Matti (partner Shawn), and Kyle. Her daughter Marianne and her husband Valdis have two children, Ellen (husband Jonathon) and Sam (wife Ashley and son Victor). Then there is Eleanor with her husband Alain who have three children, Brett (partner Alice), Aela and Lanig. Eleanor has lived in France since the early 1980s. Ellen’s youngest daughter Elaine and her husband Rob have three children, Wolfgang (with sons Saul and Seth), Karl (partner Nykole) and Amy (partner Ata).
On another note, Ellen will be missed by all the forest creatures that she loved and often fed: the wolf that slept in the wood shed, the bears that peered in from time to time and ate the apples, the squirrels and chipmunks that would sit in her lap and many, many more. But, not the porcupine that ate the outhouse…
Ellen continued to live on her own at her beloved home independently until May 2021. This was a pioneer home, built by her father and uncle in 1931 for a cost of $3, with none of the 20th century facilities (no running water, nor electricity). She had many friends and visitors from near and far. Despite her failing health she would often express friendly thoughts of the people she came to know. We thank Dr. Candice Walton of Maison McCulloch Hospice and nursing staff from Bayshore for giving her this long independence. The Maison McCulloch Hospice has been very supportive in the last days for Ellen. We thank them as well for all of their support. In lieu of flowers please donate to the Maison McCulloch Hospice or a charity of your choice.
We will miss Ellen deeply and her home on May Lake will be a lonely place without her.
For donations or messages of condolence, www.lougheedfuneralhomes.com
Arrangements entrusted to the Lougheed Funeral Home.