elevated FQnEu June 22, 1937 – September 2, 2024

elevated FQnEu Visitation
Friday September 6, 2024 from 3:00 – 8:00 pm 

elevated FQnEu Holy Cross Catholic Funeral Home
211 Langstaff Road East, Thornhill, ON, L3T 3Z6

elevated FQnEu Funeral Mass – Chapel of St. Joseph (within the Funeral Home)
Saturday September 7, 2024 at 12pm

elevated FQnEu Entombment – Private Family Only. 
Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery

elevated FQnEu Obituary

elevated FQnEu Maria Gerarda D’Ambrosio, age 87, loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt of Vaughan, Ontario passed away on September 2, 2024 surrounded by loved ones.

elevated FQnEu Maria was born on June 22, 1937, to Giovanni and Incoronata Trolio in Guardia Lombardi, Avellino, Italy, the eldest of three sisters. During the second world war in Italy, Maria grew up alongside her sister, Francesca, and mother, after her father was captured as a prisoner of war. Years later, the girls were reunited with their father, and their family grew with Maria’s youngest sibling, Grace. Maria met her lifelong companion and beloved, Francesco (“Franco”); they married on September 18, 1955, and started a family shortly thereafter with the arrival of their daughter, Pierina. In March of 1958, the young family departed the port of Napoli to begin a new life together in Canada, where they had their son, Peter, and raised their family.

elevated FQnEu In Canada, Maria worked diligently as a factory worker to provide for her family. Always using her hands, Maria was an exceptionally hard worker, who spent her life cultivating and creating. As a lover of cuisine, family meals were the epicentre of her care, where she fed and brought her loved ones together. Whether she was crocheting, washing, fixing, Maria was always busy, lost somewhere in the house or in the yard, working on a project for her family.

elevated FQnEu Quick witted, Maria had a powerful and brilliant mind. She was a careful and curious observer of life, and collector of stories. She treasured conversations with her family and her community over an espresso.  

elevated FQnEu More than anything, Maria cherished her family and was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother. She selflessly dedicated her life to caregiving, helping to raise two generations, caring for her elderly parents and in-laws, and supporting her lifelong love, Franco, through his long battle with dementia. Ever reliable and endlessly generous, Maria gave everything that she had to her family and maintained a nurturing foundation for them to thrive.

elevated FQnEu Maria is now reunited with her loving husband and best friend, Franco D’Ambrosio, her parents, Giovanni and Incoronata, her parent-in-laws, Pietro and Filomena, her brother-in laws, Michele, Antonio, Vito, Francesco, and sister-in-law, Antonietta. Maria will be forever cherished by her daughter, Pierna (Luigi), her son, Peter (Loredana), grandchildren, Josie (Joe), Louis (Alessia), Sarah (Jafar), Matthew, great-grandchildren, Adam, Luke, her sisters, Francesca, Grace (Domenic), her nieces, nephews, her caregiver Violeta, and by her many friends and relatives.

elevated FQnEu In lieu of flowers, donations in Maria’s memory can be made to the  Arthritis Society of Canada and the Alzheimer’s Society.

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