VILLA, Lydia Burgos - Lydia Villa, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother passed away peacefully on June 5th, 2021 at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga.
She was born in Tanauan, Batangas, Philippines August 18th, 1944 to Rufino and Basilia Burgos. Lydia was the last surviving and youngest sibling to 4 brothers and two sisters. Her best friend and eldest sister who raised her like a mother, her Ate Susay just passed away last year.
In 1969 Lydia left her college sweetheart Gabriel Villa in the Philippines to go the Netherlands where she would work for the next 3 years. There she met a significant group of ladies who would become her lifelong friends. In 1972, all the ladies then immigrated to Canada.
One year later, she lured her sweetheart from the Philippines to Canada as well. They were married October 27th, 1973 at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto. In 1974, they had Michael and then Jason in 1977. Together they raised their family downtown Toronto in Parkdale. Here they would meet even more lifelong friends known as the Jameson Originals. As the boys grew, they slowly moved westwards to Etobicoke and then eventually a couple homes in Mississauga.
Lydia worked as an accounting clerk / bookkeeper for various companies including Neilson Cadbury, Neilson Dairy, Saputo and RealStar Management. Along the way, her work friends would become very close friends both in and out of the office.
Lydia loved to travel and explore the world. It doesn’t matter if it was a cruise, a pilgrimage or a tour she would just love to enjoy, take pictures and have a great time soaking in the culture, food and traditions of whatever country she was in. As long as she was with her friends and her mahal (love), she was very happy.
Lydia encouraged her boys to be loving and supportive adults and hard workers. She always supported our family’s participation in sports and community activities, including endless hours cheering at baseball games for her boys and more recently her grandsons. She particularly loved watching her princess Caitlyn climb up the rankings being one of the province’s top gymnast for her age. She was our most adamant supporter and seldom missed one of our events. Indoors, outdoors, hot, cold dry or wet… over half her life she spent thousands of hours sitting in bleachers to be there when we won or lost.
Lydia was also deeply rooted in faith. Our family has been brought up in the teachings of Jesus Christ. She was part of many faith groups including Family Choir, Magnificat Prayer Group and Marriage Enrichment #7. She would always be the one to bring families and friends together to pray at all our homes because she knew faith played a big role in relationships and strengthening those bonds.
Lydia used that faith along with the love of her family and friends to fight and beat cancer not once, not twice, not three times, but four times!!! In the end, the fifth time was just too much for her body to handle. Lola had such a big heart that she shared with all of us and it’s ironic that in the end her heart was just too weak to fight another day.
She loved, and was loved deeply by her husband and family. Lydia also made friends everywhere that she went. She is survived by her husband of over 47 years, Gabriel; her two sons, Michael and Jason; two daughter in laws Tamara and Dawn and 4 grandchildren: Caitlyn, Justin, Maxwell and Jackson.
Arrangements are entrusted with Scott funeral home, Mississauga chapel.
In lieu of flowers, and envelopes the family has created a “GoFundMe” page in order to build a generational monument in her honour. Proceeds will also be donated to the Princess Margaret Hospital where she fought her many battles with cancer. Please feel free to donate here - https://gofund.me/bc0d5f15
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