UPDATED – BERTOIA, Iole

March 2, 1926 — January 5, 2022

A Memorial Service will be held for Iole on FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022 AT 11:00 AM, at St Charles Garner Church, at 3645 Benvoulin Road, Kelowna, BC, V1W-4M7.
Reception and tea to follow. Inurnment will be at a later date. 

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Iole Bertoia on January 5, 2022.  She slipped away peacefully with grace, the same way she lived her life. Mamma was born in Orcenico Inf, Italy in 1926.  She met and married our dad, Calisto Bertoia, and they immigrated to Canada in 1957.  They built a life together in Trail, BC with their children, family, and friends.  Mum moved to Kelowna, BC in 2006 after Dad’s death, where she lived close by Nadia for 16 years.

Mum was a master seamstress, making many wedding dresses in her lifetime.  She loved to keep an immaculate home and was an amazing cook and hostess; she loved having family and friends around her table.  “Did you eat?” were her first words of greeting.  But, Mama always said her greatest joy came from being a wife and mother, and she was so good at both roles!

Iole lived her life with love and gratitude and made many, many friends along the way.  She was smart and funny, with an amazing memory for dates.  Her faith was her guiding light, and she was so generous with her time and with her love, but she was also occasionally feisty and could use Italian guilt to perfection.  We will miss her so very much, but her love will sustain us.  Dormi bene tesoro.

We want to thank her caregivers who looked after mum so well the last 3 years.  They enriched her life greatly.

Left behind to grieve with sadness, but also gratitude, are son Mauro of Victoria, BC and daughter Nadia, of Kelowna.  She is survived by her sister Dorina, in Italy; her sister-in-law Ister, in Italy; and brother-in-law Gino of Oakville, Ontario; many nieces and nephews who she loved dearly; and all the many friends she considered family.  She was also “honorary” Zia and Nonna, roles which she cherished.

A Memorial Service will be held for Iole on FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022 AT 11:00 AM, at St Charles Garner Church, at 3645 Benvoulin Road, Kelowna, BC, V1W-4M7.
Reception and tea to follow.  Inurnment will be at a later date.

Flowers are graciously declined, but you are welcome, if you wish, to donate to a charity of your choice in her name.

If you wish to send a condolence, post photos, or share a memory, please scroll down the page to the area called “Condolences”.

Iole Bertoia in her younger years