Elizabeth GRAMKAU

M.D. On Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at the Elisabeth Bruyere Health Centre, Ottawa. Elizabeth Gramkau, wife of the late Joseph Pollonetsky, in her 81st year. She leaves her daughters Abby (Don Cockburn) and Susan (Tony Colantonio), and grandchildren Isaac and John Aaron Cockburn and Alessandro, Sophia and Michael Colantonio. Also survived by her twin sister Olga Chistiakoff, her niece, Marina and nephew, Alex, all in Australia. Visitation at the Orthodox Church, Cathedral of the Annunciation and St. Nicholas, 55 Clarey Avenue, Ottawa on Thursday, April 5, 2001 from 7 - 8 p.m. followed by the Panikhida at 8 p.m. Funeral Service on Friday, April 6, 2001 at 11 a.m. followed by burial at Pinecrest Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to McEvoy-Shields Funeral Home. Thanks to Dr. Belinda Barnes and staff at Elisabeth Bruyere Health Centre for their care and compassion. Elizabeth was born on July 2, 1920 in Bukhedu, Manchuria of a Russian mother, Anastasia Petrovna Bulatova, and Latvian father, Ivan Petrovich Gramkau, and was raised in Harbin, China. She did her undergraduate studies in Hong Kong and was interned during the Japanese occupation. She met her husband in Shanghai where she studied medicine at the French University L'Aurore. In 1948 they moved to Israel, and emigrated to Canada in 1954. Elizabeth was Resident at the Reddy Memorial Hospital and the Queen Mary Veterans Hospital in Montreal. In 1963 she came to Ottawa to become the first woman Medical Advisor to the Canadian Pension Commission and she later went to Health & Welfare, before retiring in 1990. She was widowed in 1965. An acknowledged russophile, Elizabeth was seconded periodically to serve as interpreter on Canadian delegations to the USSR and for visiting Soviet delegations to Canada from 1976 - 1990. She lived her life to the full and, with an indomitable spirit, surmounted daunting obstacles as a prisioner of war, and an immigrant. She later balanced the demands of a professional career, caring for aged parents, raising a family, and actively participating in community life at various levels including Home & School Associations, the N.D.P., Canadian Medical Women's Association, and Physicians for Social Responsiblity. She will be missed, and fondly remembered for her generosity, tenacity and determination. Ottawa Citizen, April 05, 2001