Obituary of Rita Cannuli

Rita Cannuli

(nee Delfino)

 

Rita was born April 12, 1925 in Montreal to Josephine Garneau, born in Beauport, Quebec, and Stefano Delfino, born in Reggio Calabria, Italy. From this bi-cultural pairing came Cecelia, Rita, Adele, Robert, and Paul. There were  also  two half-brothers, Edmond and Joseph Audard from her mother's first marriage. All have pre-dececeased her.

 

Mum had good memories of growing up in Montreal even though there were tough times during the Depression. Her mother took care of the vegetable garden, made preserves, and tended to her family and to the boarders in the house the family rented in St.Henri. When the family moved to Rosemount, her father encouraged his eldest daughters to perform at Marquette Hall. They sang, acted, and danced as part of the children's theatre arts program. The girls knew all the latest dances and were known as 'Les Reines du Charleston'. It was at Marquette Hall that Eddy Cannuli fell in love with Rita but he was shy and didn't dance; she wasn't interested. A chance meeting on a bus several years later brought them together. Dad, back from serving with the liberation army in Holland, was now an outgoing and erudite young man who loved to dance. They married in 1947.

 

Mum's first language was French but she went to English school. She was gifted in languages and learned some Ukranian from her best friend's mother especially words pertaining to food. She decided to learn Italian after  she married Eddy.

 

When her father lost his job as a blacksmith for the Canadian Pacific Railway he became involved in workers' rights and unionizing. He was an anti-Fascist during the war and passed on his passion for social justice to his oldest daughters. In 1955, our mother attended the World Congress for Peace in  Helsinki. As she proudly recounted to us, she shook the hand of Ho Chi Minh (other attendees were W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Howard Fast).

 

Mum went out to work after Grade 10, to help the family. She modelled the latest fashions at various clothing manufacturers. She then worked as an operator at the Bell Telephone company. Mum stayed home when she and Dad started their family and went back to work at the Bell in 1963. She loved her job as a 411 operator. For years she worked the evening shift so she could be home with us during the day. Our Nonno took care of us until Dad got home to cover the evening care.

 

Mum lived through extraordinary times in her beloved Montreal: the Great Depression, the war years, the Duplessis era, the Quiet Revolution, the Sixties, the Peace Movement. We joined Mum and Dad in Ban-the-Bomb marches in Montreal and Ottawa. Our home on Vianney Avenue was a haven for our friends and friends-of-friends who were advised they could stay at the Cannuli's whether they were visiting Expo 67, avoiding the U.S. army, or escaping from repressive regimes.

 

There was always music in our house, from the songs of Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger to Quebecois and Italian folk music, Big Band Era music, and CBC Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. Our home was famous for its parties and feasting. Three generations of family and friends would gather  for holidays and celebrations. It was truly “la famiglia numerosa”.

 

Mum always led an active life, learning Spanish and Russian and taking classes with her younger sister, Adele; Belly Dancing , swimming, and exercise. Mum and Dad travelled extensively: Morocco, Italy, Spain, Germany, and other European countries, and attended the  Moscow Olympics. As they got older, they chose to spend the winters in Naples, Florida.

 

When Dad died in 2008, Diane moved back into the family home to help Mum.  In 2017, at the age of 93, Mum courageously agreed to sell the family home and move to Ottawa where more of her family now live. She bought our house on Belleview Drive and Lorraine and Diane lived with her. We helped her with the things she found difficult but mostly she was independent and healthy. She attributed her longevitiy to eating lots of leafy greens. taking high does of Vitamin C, and walking, which she continued to do even when she needed to use a walker, 20 minutes six times a day in a circuit in the house.

 

We celebrated her 100^th birthday in April with two parties to accommodate all the friends and  family. Mum was thrilled and talked about it for weeks..

 

In the last year of her life she would sometimes question why she was still on this earth. She tired easily and worried about losing her sight. After she fell and broke her hip in July, our atheist mother  joked from her hospital bed that maybe the fall was a gift from God.

Mum  chose to die on August 20, 2025. She was grateful to be given the time to say her goodbyes to friends and family, several of whom drove from Montreal or flew in from Vancouver to spend time with her. Others connected with her through video calls, including her son Mark in Vancouver who could not visit because of illness. Mum was lucid, sharing her memories and love until the end. She was  thankful for having had “such a good life”. As her day of death approached, Mum wanted to hear Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” and often quoted from this with a smile “And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain...I did it my way.”

 

We are  grateful to the staff of the Queensway Carleton Hospital for their care and compassion and for the doctor and nurse who provided MAID so Mum could have the “good death” that she wanted with Lorraine, Diane, and Carol at her side. It was a beautiful end to the life of a special woman. It is difficult to believe that our beloved mother, the last of her generation on both sides of the family is gone. It was a privilege to have loved and cared for her. We miss her.

 

She leaves her daughters Lorraine and Diane Cannuli and Carol Denton, all of Ottawa; son Mark Cannuli of Vancouver; grandchildren Andrea Brooks and Stephen Chekmar (Heidi Doxtator) of Ottawa, Andrea Chekmar of New Westminster;  Liam, Zach, and Miguel Cannuli of Vancouver;  great-grandsons  London and Emry Brooks, Griffin and Harrison Chekmar, all of Ottawa, and Arlo Smith of New Westminster, as well as numerous nephews and nieces.

 

Cremation has taken place. Silas the cat  has been sleeping on the couch near the table on which rests Mum in her bio-degradable urn. We will bring her back to Montreal next spring to lie with Dad in Mount-Royal Cemetery.