elevated PzfMm December 10, 1926 ~ September 5, 2026 

elevated PzfMm Visitation
Sunday, September 13, 2026 from 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 
Assumption Catholic Funeral Home Chapel
6933 Tomken Rd, Mississauga, ON L5T 1N4     

elevated PzfMm Memorial Ceremony and speeches at 3 p.m.

elevated PzfMm There will be a private interment on a later date. 

elevated PzfMm We lost our wonderful mother Barbara Tomc on Saturday, September 5, 2026. She was 99 and would have turned 100 in December.

elevated PzfMm She was such a kind, warm, and loving person. Rest in peace beautiful soul. We are just heartbroken.

elevated PzfMm Born in 1926, Barbara grew up in a remote part of Croatia. She endured terrible poverty in her childhood and often described her constant hunger, her lack of shoes, and her fear at some of the challenges she had to face, like taking cows to a distant pasture at the age of 4. Her mother, Anna, was only 16 when she married and 17 when she gave birth to Barbara. My grandfather, John, left for Canada when my mother was 3 to try to find work. Ten years went by before my grandfather had a job and enough money to send for his wife and daughter. My mother and grandmother, who had never been more than a few miles from their village, travelled by train to London in 1939. Their ship was the last to leave England before the onset of World War 2. My mother told me that as soon as she and her mother got to Larder Lake, a small mining town where my grandfather worked as a gold miner, they gorged themselves on white bread, which they had never tasted before. My mother, who was 13 at that time, was an excellent student and despite speaking no English and having to start in grade 1, she quickly worked her way to her proper grade and graduated with the students her age.

elevated PzfMm She loved living in Northern Ontario and took advantage of skiing and swimming. She moved to Toronto in 1950 where she met my father Joseph. They were married in 1958. My mother loved intellectual and political discussions. She also loved poetry and would read us “Annabel Lee” and “The Highwayman” while we were still in the cradle. In addition to Barbara’s intellectual gifts, she had an amazing way with sewing and crafts and made beautiful embroidered pieces and outfits for her daughters and granddaughters. She taught us how to draw. She had a fierce fighting spirit too and we all learned courage and fortitude from her example. She was truly an incandescent soul.

elevated PzfMm Barbara is predeceased by her parents Anna and John Sestrich and survived by her loving daughters, Kristina Garcia and Sandra Tomc, her husband Joseph Tomc, her sons-in-law, Miguel Garcia and Roger Larry, and her dear grandchildren, Olivia and Vivian Garcia, and Scarlett Larry.