Hayati called me when I was out this evening at a meeting. His sister Fevziye passed away on Thursday. He had been to see her at 9 p.m. and she was in a coma. He stayed with her for an hour, then her daughter Banu came and stayed with her until she died at 4 a.m.
I feel so sad right now especially for Hayati, Banu and Ali and Gupta.
Fevziye was a wonderful lady, cultured and charming. I stayed with her and her Mother in Turkey for one month in the late 1970's. All the relatives came to see me and I have so many wonderful memories of the many kindnesses the whole Kurtulan family showed me. Mrs. Kurtulan reminded me of my grandmother and we took to each other right away. Fevziye and I got along so well together. Fevziye and Hayati did most of the translating, although some of the relatives did speak some English. No family could have been nicer to me than them.
I was so happy that Fevziye came to live in Canada once she retired so that we could see each other. Banu and Ali and the twins were here already, as was her brother Hayati.
I remember one time in Toronto Fevziye and I were waiting for a streetcar and a European gentleman came up to her and asked her to marry him. It was a total surprise as we did not know him.
Naturally, she was very nice to him and thanked him, but of course, she did not know him. We had a little chuckle later on about it as she figured that he wanted a housekeeper. She was a modest person but in reality, he would have been a very lucky man if he had succeeded in persuading her to see him again.
So many memories flood through my mind of a wonderful friend. May God grant her paradise.
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