PUUSA, Raimo 'Ray' Eino Heimo - (1933 - 2021) Died on February 28, 2021 at Scarborough General Hospital. Born on January 18, 1933 at Viipuri, Finland.
As one of eight children (with his youngest sister on the way at the time), the second-oldest Raimo (as a young man of almost 19 years old), was the only family member who spoke English when the Puusa family immigrated to Canada in December 1951 during the Cold War era.
Once in Canada, Raimo spent time in a Timmins sawmill with his father Eino and several brothers before the family settled in Toronto. Raimo became a carpenter like his father Eino. Through a family connection, Raimo was introduced to Jean Mary Hill (a recent immigrant from Derbyshire, England), and they were soon married on August 5, 1958.
Raimo had the opportunity to enter teacher’s college and became a technical trades teacher instructing in carpentry. Raimo obtained a teaching position in Windsor, Ontario in 1962 so he and Jean moved there. A son named John soon followed in October 1963.
While living in Windsor, Raimo not only taught school and night school but also began part-time studies at university while also building a new house with help from family members, including his father Eino who was a skilled carpenter. Raimo was able to secure a teaching position with the Scarborough Board of Education in 1966 so he, Jean, and John moved to Scarborough. He continued his part-time university studies at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
During his time with the Scarborough Board of Education, Raimo taught at Tabor Park Vocational School and Bendale Secondary School before joining the staff at the new Maplewood Vocational School in 1968, where he taught carpentry, geography, and history until he retired in 1988.
Raimo’s love of nature was apparent in the flower gardens, maple trees, and other vegetation which one saw when visiting Raimo and Jean’s east Scarborough home. During the 1970s, Raimo also found time to purchase land and built two cottages assisted by his teacher buddies and some family members, each accompanied by a Finnish-style wood-burning sauna, one at Big Gull Lake and the other at Kawagama Lake.
During retirement Raimo had the good fortune of some travelling opportunities to Finland, Sweden, and Russia, not to mention Cuba, Mexico, and South America (where his university-acquired Spanish came in handy), and Australia and New Zealand.
Arrangements entrusted with Giffen-Mack funeral home, Scarborough chapel.
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