Svetlana "Anne" Valcanis
25th of November, 1937 ~ 22nd of March, 2012
My Baba, Svetlana "Anne" Valcanis passed away after a protracted battle with gall bladder cancer. She was 74 years of age. Born in Bapchure, a rural village in Macedonia she survived war, near-starvation and a Spartan, often brutal existence in Communist Romania. She eventually made her way to Australia where she worked in defiance of cultural discrimination, raising two children, Alec and Olga while working in factories and other odd jobs. She also had one of the biggest hands in raising me also - she was the first face I would see as an infant in the morning and one of the last at night as my parents would work long hours and weekends. She slipped away in a palliative care home with her family by her side. By all accounts, she felt no pain.
I'll miss you Baba. I loved you with all my heart.
Please read and pass on her remarkable story.
Rest In Peace.