Rayisa Yakovlyeva

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Rayisa Yakovlyeva who passed away peacefully on October 12, 2022. Rayisa was born on November 23, 1925 to Grigoriy Vasiliskin, and Ephrosinia Ermolayeva in Ukraine. Beloved wife of the late Ivan Yakovlyev. Ivan was a soldier during World War II and when his tank was shot and he was wounded, Rayisa’s parents hid him in the basement of their home in order to help him. Once he recovered he left once again for war, however, he had fallen in love with Rayisa and returned three years later, and they were to be married.

Rayisa and Ivan had three children together, the late Valery, the late Tatiana, and Olena. Devoted grandmother to Soussanna, Ivan, Andrey, Maryna and Alina, Tatiana and Anna, and great grandmother to Sofia, Maksim, Sergey, and Daniel, Sergei and Alexander.

Rayisa was so very proud of her work in the orphanage in Ukraine where she dedicated 40 years to help children after World War II. During her time there, she oversaw home economics. She was an excellent seamstress, needleworker & fabric cutter, neighbors and friends would often come to her to make them beautiful dresses. She maintained her work ethic far into retirement and she imparted those principles onto her children and grandchildren.

Rayisa came to Canada in 2013 and had the pleasure of enjoying her family here. Together they would visit the CN Tower and travel to Niagara Falls. She especially loved the pumpkin, apple and raspberry farms she visited in GTA and would reminisce about her beautiful garden at her home in Ukraine.

She was very strong willed and had strong opinions. She would always have suggestions on how people should live their lives, raise their children and even run countries. She seriously considered writing letters to some of the world leaders with suggestions on what they should do to make the world the better place.

Our grief over losing Rayisa is infinite, her family will miss her very much – our loving memory of her will always remain in our hearts.

Memorial donations may be made to the Red Cross to Ukraine.

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