In the last month of his life my Dad asked me on one occasion, when I least anticipated, the following question:- Tell me, have I done something useful in my life?
I answered him as briefly as I could:
- Of course, Dad you have done a lot of good and important things in your life. Dad, you have been a good husband, great father and grandfather, and wonderful great grandfather. You have done a lot of important things in your life …
He answered:
- Thank you… I did not know.
Before his funeral on February 6, 2008 I gave my eulogy to my Dad which summarized his life and his life achievements. This speech is repeated here as a permanent record of the final act in the life timeline of our dear father and our Dad. My eulogy was given in the Kopriva Funeral Home located on Lake Shore Drive in downtown Oakville, located in Ontario, Canada. It was 10 o’clock in the morning, in the presence of all family and friends from Oakville and Toronto. In my name and my sister’s name, this is what I said about our Dad:
It is with deep sense of honor and pride that we take this opportunity to speak to you today about the life of our father Mr. Vladimir Korenic. To all of our family he was very well known during his retirement years as “Deda” or “Dad”. To us he was always our “Tata”, which means “Dad” in Serbo-Croatian language.
Instead of mourning for his death, we wish to celebrate with you his life as one very long, happy, and dynamic life, which he lived to its fullest. So, for us this is the:
“Celebration of Life of our father Mr. Vladimir Korenic”.
Our Dad, our “Tata”, was born on June 6, 1909 in the city of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at that time a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a very well respected figure at the time, the professor of a Great Gymnasium (the high school in Banja Luka), and his mother was a concert pianist and music teacher. Our father had an older brother named Feodor.
Tata attended later secondary school in Sarajevo, in Bosnia, where his father David was a high-school principal, and the president of the Serbian-French Cultural Society. This was a place of new thoughts for the modernization and future of Europe.
After the First World War, our father’s family moved in 1924 to Belgrade, where our father Vladimir completed his high-school and graduated from the University of Belgrade as a Forest Engineer. He worked in the Ministry of Forestry for a number of years.
After the Second World War, in the early 1950’s our father got a job with Yugoslav Standards Institution in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. This was a turning point in his early career, and the direction he chose to follow afterwards.
As a young engineer specialized in process of making Federal Standards for Quality and Control in the field of forestry and wood industry, he was involved in numerous lengthy domestic and international meetings.
In his capacity as the Standards Engineer, he attended a lot of meetings all over Europe, and closely collaborated with the International Standards Organization, known as ISO. He often traveled to places such as Geneva, Vienna, Paris, London, Helsinki, Stockholm, Lisbon, and so on.
In 1957, our “Tata” was a part of a 3-person study group. This group visited the United States for 3 months, mainly focusing on the eastern part of the country.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, our father lived with his wife Jelena, and his small children Branislav and Milica in Yugoslavia, often struggling with daily life necessities in a country hit hard by the Second World War.
In the 1970, our father was engaged by the United Nations as a U.N. Expert to organize a Standards Institution from scratch in Ethiopia. With hard work he was very successful, and after 7 years spent in Addis Ababa, capitol of Ethiopia, he created with the support of the Imperial Government of the Emperor Haile Selassie I, the Ethiopian Standards Institution with over 300 employees.
While our father worked in Ethiopia, Milica met her future husband Avo Sevadjian. They got married in August 1972. They had first child, Kevork, in 1974. This was our father’s first grandson, and he was very proud of him. This was his little Kevolig. This part of our family moved to Canada in 1976 where their second child, Helen, our Dad’s first grand-daughter, was born in 1977.
At the same time, in 1975, our father made it possible for me to do postgraduate studies in the United States, where I completed studies in 1980, by earning my Master’s and Doctorate degrees. I stayed in the USA, where I got married. My wife Lauren and I had our daughter Stephanie in 1989. This was our father’s third grandchild, his dear Stephy.
In the meantime, our father got his second U.N. assignment in West Africa in 1977. He was stationed in Ivory Coast with its capital Abidjan. Both of our parents stayed there until 1981, when our father finally retired from the UN as the UN Advisor.
In the 1980’s, our father lived with our Mom in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, but each year they spent 6 months on the North American Continent, in the USA with me and my family, and in Canada, with Milica and her husband Avo. These were very nice and comfortable years for both of our parents, and we always smile when we remember the two of them as a great team in every way.
As the situation started to change in Former Yugoslavia in the early 1990’s, and the wars broke out, we advised our parents to come to us to avoid the hardships and dangers in a highly unstable country.
Our father and mother finally came to Canada in 1991. They stayed in Oakville with Milica and her family. They later had an apartment on Kerr Street, not far from here, where they lived a very happy and comfortable life. They were happy to be with their family in Canada, watching their grandchildren grow. Every year they came to visit me and my family in the US, or we would come here to spend some time with them.
In 2004, our mother Jelena died from complications from diabetes. Our father Vladimir could not stay much longer alone in the apartment on Kerr Street, so he moved to the Kensington in the fall 2005, where he stayed until his death.
"The Kensington” years were our father’s good years and quiet years. He was already at the age of 96 when he came to the Kensington, but he again found happiness there. His close friend was Mr. Gordon, with whom he sat at the same dining room table. We owe Gordon and many other Kensington residents, as well as to the entire Kensington staff a big gratitude for taking good care of our father for the last chapter of his life, and for the care they provided him in his short sickness that lead to his death on February 3rd.
In the several months our father had lost his appetite, and was beginning to slow down. He was otherwise in good health and never suffered from any disease or had any pains.
Old age suddenly caught up with our father, and he faded away in only one month.
In his life, our father (our dear Tata) achieved a lot. He lived very rich and dynamic life with many challenges. He went to many places around the world, met many people, made many friends, and left behind two children, me and my sister Milica, three grand-children: Kevork, Helen, and Stephanie, and two great-grandchildren: Kristian and Sebastian.
He was always eager to talk about many subjects, such as classical music and World Politics, and most of all enjoyed being with his family and friends. He spoke five languages: Serbian, English, French, German, and Italian. This he found very useful in many life situations, and it helped in his career.
To me and my sister he was a great father. To our mother he was a good and faithful husband for 58 years until her death. To his grand-children and great-grandchildren he will always be their beloved “Deda”. To us he will always be our beloved “Tata’.
Me and my sister Milica, and our entire family, have lost our oldest member.
Today, as we celebrate his great life, it is at the same time very hard for us to say “Good-Bye” to him. He will stay in our hearts forever!
“Tata, neka Ti je laka zemlja.”
Dad, let the soil be kind to you.
Dad was laid to rest next to our Mom at the Trafalgar Lawn Cemetery in Oakville at 11:30 a.m. There were a lot of flowers on the grave, and we put red roses on his coffin.
We then went to the same restaurant, Swiss Chalet, as we did when our Mom died in 2004. This was their favorite restaurant where they often went together with me and my sister Milica. This lunch was for family and close friends.
As we were leaving the cemetery, a major snow storm started. It was snowing the whole evening and night, and the next day it was impossible to approach the gravesite. There was almost 3 feet of fresh snow! My Dad wanted to have his privacy and not to be disturbed.
Now everything was different for me, and I had to start learning how to cope. There were no more the telephone calls from Canada, and I realized I could only talk to my sister from now on. There was no more,“Hi, this is Deda. How are you? Please can I speak to Branko…?”
A great man in my life was there no more. He went to his resting place next to his wife Jelena, our dear mother, our Mom, our “Mama.”
Branislav Korenic, PhD, the son