Obituary of Virginia Smith

Forever loved, but never forgotten - We don’t say goodbye, we share the pain of parting to embrace the joy of meeting again. 

On Friday, August 6, 2021, at the age of 67, Virginia was ready to live life again without the barriers that kept her stagnant for so long. She was ready to move beyond her physical being to do the things she always loved free of pain.

She has left her legacy to live on through her daughter Jennifer Tosello (Troy Nelson), and granddaughters Meghan (Sugarbee) and Madison Tosello (Chickadee). She will be greatly missed by her soul mate of 26 years Bruce Baber. Her parents Ernie and Ginny Gulyas and sister Kathleen van Graft (Laurens), nieces Gabrielle, Julianne, and Vanessa van Graft will miss her insightful guidance. She is survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family Tillie Baber (Paul) and her daughters Tannis and Sierra, along with Aaron Baber (Sandy).

Some of Virginia’s greatest joys involved gardening, spending time with family, bird watching and creating thoughtful unique gifts and personalized cards. She had a real gift for writing poetry which we always said should be in the Hallmark cards.  She lent her charisma and strong work ethic to Aurora’s for many years and was known for always smiling and having a special way of treating customers with a personalized experience to the point she would have requests from repeat customers to sit in her section. In her early years, she was an accomplished synchronized swimmer and was known in the YMCA community.

All of her “kids” were blessed to learn many valuable lessons such as, painter’s tape has many uses and 13 kids in a Pontiac Laurentian “Uncle Buck” is never enough. Anyone who knew Virginia knew that she was an insightful mentor, friend, always smiling and that her door was always open. She always accepted and welcomed anyone with no judgements. Some would say she was the neighbourhood mom.

A special thank you to her caregivers at the March of Dimes and nurses at Bayshore (notably Kim Timmerman) who always went above and beyond in caring for her over the past 7 years.  During her last 48 hours, a special thank you to Sault Area Hospital paramedics, emergency staff and the nurses and doctors in ICU.

A private family service will be held at Northwood Funeral Home Cremation and Reception Centre (942 Great Northern Rd, 705-945-7758). At Virginia’s request in lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Algoma Residential Community Hospice (ARCH).

Virginia had a spirited love and connection for dragons, which is no coincidence since dragons symbolize power, wisdom, strength and leadership. 

“Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by
dragons we must fight in order to conquer it” (Alexandre Dumas)