Obituary of Dorothy (Dora) Kozelj

KOZELJ, Dora Maria (nee Jaklic) - Passed away peacefully at Sunrise of Unionville on Nov 23, 2024 in her 99th year. Predeceased by her husband Lou Kozelj and sister Zdenka Jaklic, she was the loving mother to Tom, Kathy (Mike), Barb (Jim), and Monika, and the very proud grandmother of Colin, Tyler, Jason and Shannon. In Slovenia, she is lovingly remembered by stepbrothers Janez Jaklic and Lado Jaklic and their families. She was an inspiration to all of us, independently living a healthy, active life for most of her 99 years.

Dora was born in Podborst, Sevnica, in the former Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), in 1926, and grew up in the city of Ljubljana. She liked school, particularly literature, which sparked her love of reading and writing. Many childhood summers were spent on a family farm near her birthplace where she made many cherished memories.

The second world war had a major impact on Dora's homeland and on her life. Towards the end of the war, with a group of friends, among them her future husband Louis (Lou) Kozelj, they decided to flee their country and seek the possibility of a better life elsewhere. The group lived for a while in Bologna, Italy as refugees before emigrating to Canada in 1948. Lou and Dora married a few years later, and settled down, first in Toronto, and then in Pointe Claire, Quebec, raising a family of four children. 

They enrolled their children in swimming lessons at the local Viking-Vanguard (LHRA) summer pool which eventually led to the entire family being heavily involved with competitive swimming and the Pointe Claire Swim Club over the next 20 years. Dora was background support, squeezing meals into daily multiple timetables, chauffeuring, and cheering at long, hot swim meets.

Together with husband Lou, they built their cottage at Lac Gustave in the Laurentian hills north of Montreal. After Lou's passing in 1991, this became Dora's beloved summer home for twenty years, where she swam, hiked and cycled almost daily, and created special memories for her visiting grandchildren. In her late fifties, she and Lou got their first bicycles as an anniversary gift from their kids; this ultimately led to Dora's cycling trip to Austria in her seventies, which was preceded by several months of cycling 25 km daily on Le Petit Train du Nord cycling trail. She took every opportunity to cross country ski to the cottage, breaking trail with her husband Lou, and she also regularly downhill skied with her kids in the Laurentians. In her sixties, she went parasailing in the Seychelles, and hot-air-ballooning in Kenya.

After returning to Toronto following Lou's passing, she continued with weekly ski trips to Collingwood, frequent ski vacations including the grandkids, as well as independent ski vacations, meeting new friends and opportunities along the way. Her last visit to Slovenia was in 2011, when she celebrated her 85th birthday with her overseas family, and visited many places from her childhood. And in her late eighties and early nineties, after other activities stopped, she continued going for long walks through her lovely Toronto neighbourhood.

Dora was an exceptional cook and baker, and always put on a very impressive spread for every holiday, birthday and homecoming celebration. Family favourites include potice, macaroni a la Pol Martin, cevapcici, chicken cacciatore, and the best apple pie ever!

Dora's last home, for the past four years, was at Sunrise of Unionville, where she received expert care and compassion from the 3rd floor Reminiscence staff. Heartfelt gratitude goes out to her care managers who loved Dora as if she was their own mother.

There will be no visitation or funeral service; a small celebration of life will be held when the family can come together. Personal condolences and reminiscences can be shared at www.dixongarland.com, which the family will greatly cherish. In lieu of flowers, donations in Dora's memory may be made to Sprint Senior Care Toronto.