Ontario’s pro-life community suffered the loss of another committed activist with the sudden passing of Stanley Grzywna of Toronto.
Grzywna, 68, died of heart failure July 5 at Sunnybrook Hospital. He had recently returned from the national pro-life conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Perhaps it is fitting that one of Grzywna’s final acts was in support of a national pro-life activity. A former employee with the Metro Toronto government, Grzywna is remembered by Campaign Life Coalition members and other pro-life workers as a caring father and family man who always found time to defend the unborn. He attended several CLC strategy meetings where he brought forth a number of practical suggestions.
He also encouraged his two sons, Stan Jr. And Joe, and daughter Joanne, to an unwavering pro-life commitment.
Friends recall Grzywna as a man who always had time to assist the right causes. Campaign Life Coalition member Tom Brown noted Grzywna’s enthusiastic support of the annual Christmas cakes sales, which have become an important fund-raising activity for Campaign Life.
“He was indispensable to the cake sale program,” Brown said. “Whenever we had to make special deliveries, Stan would drop whatever he was doing and come to help out.”
Activist Ann Dobson said Grzywna was a dedicated pro-life worker from early on. “He always found the time to help out in whatever way he could,” she said. “And you would never hear him complain about anything, no matter what hardships he might have faced over the years.”
Grzywna’s life was also marked by prayer and sensitivity to the needs of others. When his wife Emily was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and confined to Providence Centre in Scarborough, Grzywna would find time to visit her nearly every day.
Grzywna’s funeral Mass was celebrated July 8 at St. Stanislaus Church in downtown Toronto.
The family has asked for donations to the Province Centre in Scarborough, and to Campaign Life Coalition.
