Janina Teresa Lazurko, at the age of 95, passed away on November 16, 2025 in Ottawa, Ontario. She passed in hospital surrounded by her loving granddaughters Caitlin and Anna, youngest son Jan, and daughter-in-law Constance.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Cole Funeral Services & Highland Park Cemetery, located at 2037 McGee Side Rd, Carp, ON K0A 1L0. The Celebration will occur Saturday December 6, 2025 between the hours of 14:00 and 16:00.

Janina was born in Znosicze Poland to Olga and Andrzej Podlesni on October 22, 1930. Her father owned and operated a flour mill until the start of World War II at which point her family relocated many times throughout Poland, various parts of Russia, Czechoslovakia, East Prussia, and Germany. Schooling was difficult to obtain however she did graduate from high school at school camps located in Pfulingen and Schweningen Germany.

Following the war, Janina and her older sister Irene(1929) left Pfulingen in June 1949 to emigrate to Canada through Napoli, Italy, where they spent a few weeks before boarding a Greek vessel to Canada. They landed in Halifax in mid-July 1949, and eventually travelled by train to La Tuque Quebec, and then to a logging camp in La Trenche Quebec where a Hydro Electric Dam was being built. Janina worked in the kitchens for 18-months serving the workers and engineers building the Hydro Electric Dam.

Janina moved to Montreal to be with her sister Irene and brother-in-law Boleslaw, where together with a Priest from Shawinigan, they helped to sponsor the rest of their family to join them in Montreal. In January 1951, her parents Olga and Andrzej, and sisters Eugenia(1932), Mary(1937), and Ida(1945), arrived in Canada.

Janina is survived by her sister Ida Godefroy of Montreal QC, sons Edward Lazurko of Salmon Arm BC, Jan Lazurko of Carp ON, granddaughters Dr. Anna Lazurko of Jasper ON, Dr. Caitlin Lazurko of Ottawa ON, and great granddaughter Eloise of Ottawa ON, nieces Barbara McKeeby of NY, Wanda Szeremeta of California, Dianne Hoover of London ON, Sharon Gollanek of Mississauga ON, and nephews Zigi Gadomski of BC, Ted Gadomski of Montreal QC, and Edward Gadomski of Montreal QC.