Anna Kaljas

1911 - 2010  (99 years)

• Name	Anna Kaljas
  Born	1911	, Estonia   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Died	8 Apr 2010	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region	Bef 2012	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-17366
  Person ID	I17366	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Kitchener's 'Mother Teresa' dies at 98 By Greg Mercer KITCHENER - To most of us, she was Anna Kaljas. To the ex-cons, addicts and homeless who got off the street because of her, she went by another, simpler name \emdash Momma. For over 50 years, Kaljas, 98, took in the worst kind of cases, the people no one else wanted. In her two boarding houses, she gave them a bed, food, clothing and affection. When she died Thursday, peacefully in her former home, her residents were devastated. "They're going to miss her terribly," said her daughter-in-law, Maggie Kaljas. She is remembered as a tough, no-guff woman who knew her residents had her back if one of them got a little over-heated. And Kaljas was a true, one-of-a-kiind character. For many years, she was known as the Snake Lady, because she had adopted several snakes \emdash including a python, two boa constrictors and a huge anaconda. Local police occasionally dropped off exotic pets that had been abandoned, and some local schools organized groups of students to see her collection. Though she "retired" from her boarding home job in early 2007, Kaljas never really left her life's work behind, Maggie Kaljas said. Until health complications kept her away, she would still show up on Fridays and regularly spend the weekend with the residents who treated her like a mother. Over the years, those residents had included pregnant teens, prostitutes, refugees, the homeless, and people suffering from mental illness and addictions, who she affectionately called her "goofballs." In return, people called her Kitchener's Mother Teresa . The Estonian-born immigrant, who spent five years in a German prison camp during the Second World War, first bought a house on Frederick Street in the 1950s and turned it into a boarding house for refugees. She soon invited in youth who had spent time in correctional centres, and by 1970, bought the house next door and expanded her operation. She had been doing this kind of thing all her life. At age four, young Kaljas worked with her aunt helping mentally ill children in a local hospital in Estonia, friends said. She revered her aunt's dedication to the less fortunate, and carried around a picture of that aunt in a locket. "She just felt the less fortunate needed the same care and love that everyone else got. She thought they deserved the same," said her longtime friend, Janice Weber. "She was a saint." Kaljas did it all. She'd cook full Christmas dinners so her residents felt at home. She used her training as a nurse's aide to dole out their medications. She'd manage their disability and welfare cheques and ration out their money, teaching them to budget. She was their counsellor, too, confiscating their booze, drugs, even glue, and helping them clean up. In return, residents paid her what they could in rent. "In her old-fashioned and motherly way, she helped some of the most anti-social and occasionally generous people out there," said Frank Etherington, a former Record reporter who covered Kaljas and wrote a play about her, entitled The Snake Lady. "She wouldn't take any nonsense." But it was her devotion to her boarders that left the biggest impression on civic leaders. "I don't know any other person who gave so much of her herself to others in need," said Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr. "It was never about Anna Kaljas. It was always about the need that was staring her in the face." In 1983, she received the Order of Canada, a honour she proudly celebrated by wearing her medal almost everywhere she went. But Kaljas was unquestionably an original, a woman who flouted the rules of standard homeless shelters and institutions. "She detested those rules and regulations, and stayed outside of them for years," said Etherington. She took in the people who were kicked out of other addiction and homeless centres. For many of them, a bed in Kaljas' home was their last resort. \bThe Waterloo Region Record 8 Apr 2010

  
  

• Sources

  [S602] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - The Waterloo Region Record (March 2008- ), Kitchener's 'Mother Teresa' died at 98 - 8 Apr 2010. [S220] Waterloo Region Hall of Fame Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1911 - , Estonia Died - 8 Apr 2010 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region - Bef 2012 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth