Maria Juilland

1926 - 2020

Maria Juilland, 93, passed peacefully in January 2020.

Survived by her daughter Marie-Jeanne and two sons, Andre and Jacques, and grandchildren Adrian, Paloma, Oliver, Lauren, Lucien and Jean-Pierre.

Maria Zofia Kossowska, was born in Lodz, Poland, to a Jewish father, Henryk Kossowski, and Catholic mother, Cazimiera Biawek. Both parents were ardently working against poverty and child labor in their town's textile industry.

When Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, Maria's mother took them to Russia, where as Communists, she believed they would be embraced. Unfortunately, Stalin threw most Poles into cattle cars, shipping them to the frozen tundra Gulags in the north of Siberia.

Maria and her mother survived despite horrible illnesses and forced labor. When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin freed the Poles letting them join a Polish army.

Tens of thousands of former Polish POWs and civilians loaded onto railway cars, and when trains were not available walked with feet wrapped in rags or whatever was available. Hunger, disease and death traveled with them. It took our mother and grandmother more than a year to arrive at the Caspian Sea and board small over-crowded boats. It was here the journey ended for Maria's mother. Her body lies at the bottom of the Caspian Sea.

Now an orphan, Maria, joined other young adult women without family as part of the Polish Armed Forces based in Nazareth. Once the war was over, they moved to London where they were lucky to find a Polish nursing instructor who took them under her wing, and taught them English as well as nursing.

Upon graduation, Maria started her career by herself in Vancouver, BC. She had earned a Public Health Nursing degree and moved to Timmins, Ontario, where she met the handsome and charming Jean Juilland in a warming hut on the ski slopes. They were married a year later and 3 children followed in quick succession. They lived all over the US and Europe before finally settling in Redwood City to be close to grandchildren.

For much of her life, Maria supported the family as a nurse, often working nights. She was a life-long lover of plants and animals, and a successful self-taught and investor in the stock market and in real estate. Never taking her freedom for granted, she took her children with her in DC to protest the Vietnam War and support women's reproductive rights. She used the horrors of her war experience to teach her children to seek love and understanding and oppose discrimination. May she be an example and light, for all of us. We love you Maria!

Memorial service to be held on Friday, July 16 at our Lady of the Wayside church in Portola Valley, CA. In lieu of flowers please make donations to www.pathwayshealth.com.