Endla Virve Waimel

1932 - 2011  (79 years)

• Name	Endla Virve Waimel
  Born	1932	Kitchener Waterloo Commission, Kitchener, , Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Female
  Business	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	Rockway Drive Bed and Breakfast
  Name	Endla Virve Loney
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-202599
  Died	29 Jul 2011	Freeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Buried	Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I202599	Generations
  Last Modified	9 Jun 2025

  
  

  Father	George Waimel,   b. CA 1890,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Alide,   b. 1895,   d. 1995  (Age 100 years)
  Family ID	F56729	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Escott Darby "Darby" Loney,   d. 1982
  Last Modified	10 Jun 2025
  Family ID	F56730	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Kitchener-SeaCreature-001.jpg The Girls were not identical twins! One grasps the sea creature while this one is a hands-off Nereid. In this 2007 photo at a storage site, Endla Loney, the sculptor’s sister, examines the statue’s condition. She campaigned vigorously to find a permanent home for the statues. Her wish came true when they were unveiled at Centre in the Square on Feb. 26, 2011. - Robert Wilson , The Record The Record - mills, r. (2020). Flash From the Past: Lonely Girls sit out the pandemic at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square. Retrieved 10 April 2020, from https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9937813-flash-from-the-past-lonely-girls-sit-out-the-pandemic-at-kitchener-s-centre-in-the-square/

  
  

• Notes

  LONEY, Endla Virve Peacefully, at Freeport Health Centre of Grand River Hospital, after a lengthy illness, on Friday, July 29, 2011, at the age of 79. Much loved wife of the late Escott "Darby" Loney (1982). Endla is deeply missed by her son Michael Loney, and daughter Gioja Loney (Ross Phillips), and by granddaughter Michelle Loney. Missed by stepson-in-law Doug Couke (the late Mary Couke) and their children John, Susan, Debbie, Jenny and David. Sadly missed by "Canadian grandson" Terrence Zheng and family. Also sadly missed by her nieces, Gayle Waimel, Sherry Curnew, Endla Anderson, Anita Cowan, and nephew Victor Waimel, grand-nieces Jenny Watt, Sarah and Courtney Curnew and by grand-nephews Chris and Alex Blackwell. Endla was predeceased by her parents Alide and George Waimel, sister, Helen Waimel Robertson and by her brothers Olaf Waimel and Hants Waimel. A Kitchener born artist, she was a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and currently has her sculptures on display at the Homer Watson House and Gallery, 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener until August 14, 2011. After raising her family in Toronto, she returned to the Kitchener area where she became actively involved in her community, touching the lives of many friends and neighbours. At her Kitchener home she ran Rockway Drive Bed and Breakfast, forming life-long friendships with many of her guests both from within Canada and abroad. Family and friends will be received at Robert Ruggle Funeral Home, 617 King St. N, Waterloo, on Friday, August 5, 2011 from 11-1 p.m. The funeral service will immediately follow in the funeral home chapel at 1 p.m. Reception to follow. Interment in Memory Gardens, Breslau. As expressions of sympathy, donations to Homer Watson House and Gallery, Humane Society Kitchener-Waterloo or a charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family and may be arranged by contacting the funeral home at 519-888-7700. Tributes may be made on-line at: www.robertrugglefuneralhome.com Waterlo Region Record 29 Jul 2011 ______________________________ Lifetimes: Artist always on the go Sep 19, 2011 Waterloo Region Record Endla Loney of Kitchener; Born: July 4, 1932 in Kitchener; Died: July 29, 2011 of a blood disorder Faith Hieblinger was chatting to an artist about restoring sculptures by deceased Canadian artist Helen Waimel Robertson when something odd happened. The executive director at Homer Watson House & Gallery recalled "he said he couldn't really restore them without an (original) image. "I had no idea if there were pictures or not." So Faith did what most staffers do at Homer Watson House when faced with a dilemma. "We asked Phoebe, our ghost." Within minutes, there was a knock at the door and there stood Endla Loney, Helen's sister holding a folder of photos, the exact photos the artist required. Endla had come to the gallery inquiring about purchasing the long abandoned Homer Watson homestead on Tilt Road and the fact she was carrying photos of Helen's sculptures was completely co-incidental. Faith remembers that the folder also held images of Endla's sculptures. "I didn't even know she was an artist." That encounter eventually resulted in an exhibit of Endla's sculptures. "People came to the exhibit and wanted to purchase pieces," said Faith. But it was too late. Endla had a fatal blood disorder and couldn't even attend the exhibit opening, after two years of planning. "I just wished she had allowed herself to be exhibited and accepted herself as an artist," said Faith, recalling how Endla was modest about her work. Daughter Gioja Loney said her mother didn't consider herself in the same league as Helen. "She never really thought it was good enough," said Gioja. "She was probably as equally talented, but in a different way." Endla was the only one of five children born in Canada to their Estonian immigrant parents who arrived in Canada in the mid 1920s. Her father, a pharmacist in Estonia, took a job in Cambridge foundry and Gioja believes the sisters inherited his artistic ability. "He was a good artist as well." Endla attended the Ontario College of Art and in the 1960s, took a job hand drawing business charts. It was detailed, boring work and Endla soon left, joining a Toronto architecture firm as partner. Gioja's memories are of an energetic, creative, often flamboyant mother who always had a project on the go. When her brother Olaf Waimel built Leisure Lodge in the 1940s, Endla did the artwork for the popular Cambridge nightclub. Gioja said "My mom always worked. I thought it was strange, but now I'm grateful we had these experiences. It made life interesting. Everything was a big production." Endla married Escott "Darby" Loney, a general manager for a Toronto firm, in 1953. The couple had two children and after he died in 1982 and her business closed, Endla retired, moving to a home on Rockway Drive in Kitchener where she ran a bed and breakfast. Gioja said her mother often took in international students studying at Eastwood Collegiate Institute and several became lifelong friends. "She always looked after everybody," said Gioja. "She was very, very kind and was always there to help anybody. "She was actively involved in the community and was interested in what other people were doing. She loved animals and was interested in animal rights." Endla was also interested in history and when son Michael Loney wanted to purchase and restore the 1800s birth home of Canadian artist Homer Watson, she became the home's advocate. While the board of directors at Homer Watson House saw the old house as a hopeless case, Endla did not and after purchasing the building in 2003 with her son, they spent the next five years restoring the home. "I thought it was fraught with problems," admitted John Rutledge, of the Goderich based firm John Rutledge Architect. John is a volunteer with the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, an organization that provides professional services for restoration projects. He said he changed his mind about the impossibility of the project once "I realized Endla's determination." The mostly plank and plaster house had been uninhabited for a couple of decades, closed up tight, damp and rotting. His job was to find a way to restore the home, regardless of his initial reaction to its decay. Regional councilor Jean Haalboom suggested that Endla deserved a medal for having the vision to see beyond what other people saw: that Homer Watson's birthplace needed a wrecking ball. "For her, Homer's birth house symbolized Canada's beginning on the stage of international landscape painting." Jean also said that restoring the old house became a "significant key to the story of Homer Watson" on the international stage. Homer Watson House & Gallery's curator, Sandu Sindile, said the exhibit of Endla's work in August, entitled Reflections, featured 10 sculptures in plaster, terracotta and bronze. "There is a powerful connection between Homer Watson and Endla Loney," said Sandu. Jean added that aside from the Homer Watson house project, Endla's dream was to have the Bullas nymphs sculptures restored and displayed after years of sitting in storage. "Her sister was the sculptress," said Jean. "It was constantly on her mind. We had many talks: who, where and how to get them in the public eye. She was their champion." The nymphs, commissioned in 1940 for Bullas Bros., on Charles Street, were restored and placed at Centre in the Square, Feb. 26, 2011, a testament to both Endla's determination and her love of artistic expression. vhill@therecord.com Lifetimes: Artist always on the go. (2011). TheRecord.com. Retrieved 30 January 2019, from https://www.therecord.com/living-story/2587122-lifetimes-artist-always-on-the-go/

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1932 - Kitchener Waterloo Commission, Kitchener, , Ontario, Canada Business - Rockway Drive Bed and Breakfast - - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 29 Jul 2011 - Freeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth