Veronika Niedra Poth died June 4, 2004, at her home in Morgan
Hill after a six-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. She was
the daughter of Jazeps and Paulina Niedra (
”Reed”), born Aug. 14, 1926, on their homestead near Balvi,
Latvia, the eighth of nine children.
Veronika Niedra Poth died June 4, 2004, at her home in Morgan Hill after a six-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia.
She was the daughter of Jazeps and Paulina Niedra (”Reed”), born Aug. 14, 1926, on their homestead near Balvi, Latvia, the eighth of nine children.
In 1944 Latvia was occupied by German troops, but as the eastern front was collapsing and the Russian communists advanced west, her family fled the farm, leaving their possessions behind. In exile in northern Germany, she worked at a forced labor munitions plant for a time.
In 1949 Veronika and her older sister Melanija traveled by steamship to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, then by train to Toronto, where they spent a year as indentured servants, working as housemaids. Having established a foothold in the New World, they were eventually able to bring the rest of their family to Canada.
She attended Wellesley School Of Nursing in Toronto, Canada, and met her future husband at the nurses’ graduation ball in early 1953. She married Norbert Poth, a recent immigrant from Heidelberg, Germany, on Dec. 26, 1953 and they made their home in Toronto, while she worked as a registered nurse, helping to support her fledgling family.
While touring the United States by automobile in 1957, they bought an old homestead in Oregon where the family soon moved. Unable to find work in the area, they moved to San Francisco for two years, but in 1959 moved back to their country home. Veronika once again became a nurse and sole breadwinner while her husband attended Southern Oregon College in Ashland to retrain as a teacher. During this time they both became United States citizens.
In 1967 her husband landed a teaching position in Morgan Hill. During the early years there, Veronika helped supplement the family’s income by working in a local nursing home. She was the proud mother of two sons and an avid homemaker, delighting in decorating the small house they had bought at the end of Peak Avenue. Over the years she was an avid traveler, camper and hiker, and enjoyed opera, needlepoint, gardening, cooking and reading. She loved animals and until her death was accompanied by her faithful dog, Ladybug, who followed her like a shadow. When her eyesight began failing, she continued to enjoy books on tape from the public library. She was active in St. Catherine’s parish, volunteering to help stuff envelopes, launder altar linens, and later become a lay eucharist minister. Even as her health declined in later years she continued to attend daily mass.
Veronika and her husband celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December 2003. Veronika was a superb listener and because of this had many friends and acquaintances wherever she traveled. She is remembered fondly by all who knew her.
She is survived by her husband, Norbert; sons Andrew and Felix and his wife Pamela; grandchildren Eric and Angela, all of Morgan Hill; brother Alberts Niedra, sisters Rozalija Upenieks and Melanija Zvidrs of Toronto, Ontario; Anna Grizan of Windsor, Ontario; and Maria of Riga, Latvia.
Visitation and Vigil Service took place Monday at Johnson Funeral Home. Funeral service was this morning, June 7, at St. Catherine’s Churcy, followed by interment at Mount Hope Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be made to Hospice of the Valley, 1150 S. Bascom Ave., Suite 7A, San Jose, CA 95128-3509.
