elevated 7doIi December 23, 1936 ~ March 26, 2026

elevated 7doIi Visitation
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
4:00  – 8:00 pm  
Queen of Heaven Catholic Funeral Home
7300 Highway 27, Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 1A5

elevated 7doIi Funeral Mass
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 10:30 am
Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation
Queen of Heaven Catholic Funeral Home
7300 Highway 27, Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 1A5

elevated 7doIi Entombment
Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery
7300 Highway 27, Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 1A5

elevated 7doIi Memorial Donations
Lumacare

elevated 7doIi Obituary
Vannina Furlan (nee Da Rios) died on March 26, 2026. She spent her final day with her children at her side.

elevated 7doIi She was born on December 23, 1936, in Stabiuzzo di Cimadolmo, Treviso, Italy, the third of four children. She grew up on her family’s farm near the Piave River, and despite moving to Canada in 1957, kept her memories of the terrain alive in vivid stories she shared with her family and in songs she would sing, such as “Il Piave mormorò.”

elevated 7doIi In the early 1950s she met Efrem Furlan over a watermelon at a local fair. He moved to Canada in 1954, and they carried on an epistolary engagement until she joined him three years later. They built a life in Toronto together, where she raised four children and helped to raise seven grandchildren.

elevated 7doIi She was a natural nonna. Berry picking in the back garden, walks in the nearby ravine, baking cookies in the kitchen: her boundless energy and capacity for delight granted these everyday activities a magical glow. She hosted big family dinners for every holiday, each meal starting with a pot of her comforting chicken soup and including a mess of her famous roasted potatoes. She could be counted on for birthday serenades by telephone, and loved to sing, including Italian songs and lullabies, and songs with lyrics she improvised.

elevated 7doIi She was a minister of the Eucharist for many years, giving communion to the sick and elderly in hospitals and old age homes, as well as a dedicated volunteer at her local church, St. Wilfrid’s, and with Meals on Wheels. Despite her limited schooling and rural Catholic upbringing, she maintained an open-mindedness about the changing world that could surprise.

elevated 7doIi She spent many mornings in the last years of her life at Lumacare’s BOOST program, which contributed greatly to her post-stroke quality of life.  

elevated 7doIi She will be deeply missed by her four children and their spouses: Angelo, Jack and Daniela, Rosalinda and Carlo, Christina and Graham; her grandchildren and their partners: Cassandra and Dennis, Zachary and Jaleh, Miranda, Connor and Breanna, David and Angelica, Nicholas, and Lucas; her great-grandchildren Dashiell, Jude and Millicent; and her brother Vittorio. She also leaves behind nieces and nephews. Vannina was predeceased by her husband Efrem, her parents, Giacomo and Olinda, and her siblings Luigi and Maria.