Emilia De Francesco

In 1958, my mother Emilia (nee Greco), who had not been past a 20km radius of where she was born, travelled with two daughters Adriana aged 2 and Maria aged 4, across the ocean to be reunited with my father (Ernesto) who had arrived a year earlier in Toronto.

Not speaking other than a dialect and barely literate, she courageously travelled Naples to Halifax, Halifax to Toronto to establish a better life for her family.

She, known by all as Gilda, lived her life with great unconditional love for her family - four children and nine grandchildren, and touched the lives of many others who still hold her in high regard.