Anna Paunins
Born In: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Born: November 7th, 1921
Passed in: SYDNEY, Nova Scotia, Canada
Passed on: August 20th, 2009
With profound sadness we announce that our dear mother, “Nanny†and friend, Anna, passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with COPD at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney, on August 20, 2009, surrounded by her loving family.
On November 7, 1921, Anna was born in Vilani, Latvia and was one of nine children. Her youth was spent housecleaning, gardening, tending cows and horses, picking berries and mushrooms and she was most passionate about running everywhere.
The Second World War found Anna in Germany, involved in an underground covert brigade where she heroically provided safety and escape to the Jewish people in peril.
In 1946 she married her husband, Anton, settled in Germany and gave birth to Sylvia and John. She immigrated to Canada in 1951 with her family and made Sydney her home.
Anna is now happily reunited with her husband, Anton; her grandson, Seamus Flynn, along with members of her immediate family and relatives.
She is survived by daughters, Sylvia (Jimmy) Flynn, Three Fathom Harbour, Mary, Sydney; sons, John (Margaret), Cornhill, N.B., Leonard (Sandy), Meaghers Grant, Frank (Susan), Winnipeg and Tim (Katherine), Stittsville, ON; grandchildren, Angelina and Luke Flynn and Ashley Paunins.
In her final months and throughout her life Anna’s spirit was filled with a profuse love for Jesus and we know that she is now at peace in the arms of her Saviour and Lord.
Anna was an amazingly beautiful person with a deep love of life and believed with all her heart that we should love one another as Jesus loves us. So she spent her life loving her family, neighbours and all she met. She put love into action by being a faithful partner and friend to her husband, raising her children to have integrity and compassion, welcoming strangers and friends in her home, sharing what she grew in her garden with others and giving joy and comfort to others by placing their needs before her own.
Anna was gifted with many talents. She had a special love for music and played the accordion, autoharp, piano and harmonica. Her wish was to be a music angel in Heaven. She spent her leisure time knitting and crocheting beautiful afghans and loved to give them away as gifts. She had a very creative spirit and loved to paint pictures which we will now treasure. She loved work so much that it was hard to get her to rest even when she was not well. Even in Anna’s toughest times during her struggle with COPD she never complained, kept her sense of humour and always had a smile on her face. She truly showed us what it means to be a hero and her spirit, life and love will be etched in our hearts forever.
Visitation will take place at Sydney Memorial Chapel on Sunday, August 23, 2009 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A mass celebrating Anna’s life will be held at St. Joseph’s Church, Cabot Street on Monday, August 24 at 11 a.m. with Rev. Gerald Dunphy officiating. A reception will be held in the church following mass.
“Our precious one loved us and others so much and she will be so greatly missed.
Rest in Blessed Peace, Anna. We love you.â€
