Beatrice Levis

1918 - 2018

Bea lived with grace and dignity, true to her principles. Her rewarding last trimester was dedicated to doing what she loved: making a difference for Seniors. She was well recognized for her work, winning the following awards (among others): the Order of Ontario (2006), Ontario Government and City of Toronto Senior of the Year (1995), the Contstance E. Hamilton (1997) and Dan Benedict awards (2005.). In 2013, the Ontario Gerontology Association honoured Bea with the Positive Aging Award (which had been won by the long-serving Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion the year before).

Bea was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1918, but the roots of her activism were shaped in Tsarists Russia, from which her parents and most of her extended family were refugees from widespread anti-Semitic pogroms. For the first five years, Bea spoke only Yiddish. However, soon after beginning school in a one-room rural schoolhouse, she was at the top of her class. Bea became the school's piano player, having learned learned to play by the school's Catholic nuns. The Yiddish/Catholic linguistic legacy of this childhood stayed with Bea. When surprised or stressed, Bea would utter one of two epithets: "Oy Mumenu," or " Oh Mother of God."

Bea had an innatly positive disposition, but the uncertain family circumstance of her childhood helped to nurture her optimism. Her father bought and sold scrap and her mother did sewing piece work for the garment trade. Like refugees everywhere, her family could not dwell on a mythical ideal past. If you "Can't Go Home Again" the only choice is to build a better future, for one's own family, and for society as a whole.

Our family has summarized our mother's philosophy of life with this good advice for anyone facing difficult situations: "Be Like Bea...Look forward not back...Work for a better future."

Bea had a quick mind and good aptitude for study. At the end of Grade 13 she graduated as Humberside Collegiate's Valedictorian, then went on to graduate in English and Economics from Victoria College, University of Toronto, and later doing post-graduate Women's Studies at OISE.

She married our father, Terry, once he'd returned from action in WWII, and they opened a music school in Calgary, the Alberta Accordion Academy. Bea translated her early piano lessons to the smaller keyboard, and became an excellent accordion teacher. The Academy's best publicity resulted from its participation in the Calgary Stampede Parade. Just picture it: a flatbed truck carrying twenty or so accordionists, including Bea, in stetson hats and cowboy regalia... and, quite unusual for the Stampede, playing Bach and Beethoven to the crowds.

In 1960, Bea went back to school to teach high school. It meant a move to Toronto across the country in a turquoise Chevy half ton truck, towing a yellow Mini Minor with the spare tire perched on the white roof. In such a conservative era, our journey garnered a lot of attention. In Toronto the six of us lived in a two bedroom apartment next to the Brunswick House for two years as Bea completed Teacher's College. One of our memories of this time was a seated Bea studying for the tough exam, chewing on licorice cigars because she had quit smoking. Somehow, despite being surrounded by the chaos of three pre-teens and a toddler, she was able to stay focused on her studies.

Once certified, Bea began 28 years of teaching at Mimico High School, where she taught English, Latin, Remedial Reading and Economics. She developed into a patient but firm teacher, with a kind heart. For many years, whenever she ran into former students they would tell her how she had changed their lives. Right up to her retirement in the mid-1980's. Bea and some colleagues would often spend their lunch hours either jogging along New Toronto streets or swimming at a local community pool. Living next to Grenadier Pond at the time, Bea and Terry would walk through High Park or up to Bloor St. for shopping, prompting some neighbours to wonder why they didn't save time and just take the car. Some of these activity-phobic neighbours passed on decades before before Bea and Terry, who were still active and engaged nonagenarians.

Bea had a lot of zest for life, and was passionate about music, the arts, theatre and travelling. Bea and Terry had many travel adventures, travelling by car long distances to California or Northern BC, and were unwilling to give up sleeping in tents until well into their 80's. After retirement at age 65, Bea travelled to Europe several times, along with the Middle East, Cuba and China. And then life really began!

One of Bea's biggest achievements was a nine-year struggle build the OWN Coop. When Neo-Con Mike Harris became Premier of Ontario, one of his first acts was to halt construction of pending provincial affordable housing projects. Bea and other grey-haired activists manned the barricades, ensuring that the OWN Coop was one of the last co-ops built. Bea and Terry were then back on the barricades as the neo-conservative government then downloaded OWN and other provincial co-ops to the newly formed megacity of Toronto.




Bea and Terry moved into OWN co-op in 2007, and a few years later, her daughters, Kim and Dona moved in to take care of them as they aged. We are now facing a new Neo-Conservative Provincial Government. But just two days before she died, Bea's last political act was to vote NDP by mail-in-ballot. She died June 2, 2018, just days before Doug Ford was elected Premier of Ontario. As we get ready fight new battles to protect affordable housing and the social safety net, Bea's spirit will guide us.

Bea Levis was predeceased by her husband, Terry, and her oldest daughter, Colleen. She will be dearly missed by her three surviving children, Kim, Dona, and Jan Levis, her grandsons Sean Levis and Cal Scott-Levis, her grand daughter-in-law, Redonna Enriquez Levis, and her great grandson, Sean Rae Enriquez Levis. She will also be missed by all the people at the OWN Coop, Care Watch, OCSCO, the Ontario Health Coalition, and many other organizations to which she dedicated the last part of her to life.

by Kim, Dona, Jan, Cal Levis




Celebration of Life

July 28, 2018 2:00 PM

First Floor Meeting Room115 the Esplanade

Buzzer 246 or 247.

RSVP kelevis@gmail.com




In lieu of flowers, donations are being accepted for the OWN Temporary Housing Assistance Fund:

OWN Coop

115 the Esplanade

Toronto, ON

M5E 1Y7