NELLA LOUISE MacCALLUM September 2, 1917 – May 23, 2017 Nell grew up in North Toronto in a house built by her father. Her parents, Giulio De Zorzi and Maria Secco had emigrated from San Giorgio della Richinvelda in 1912. She grew in the midst of an extended Italian family, spending summers working and playing at her uncle Tony De Zorzi’s farm in Vineland. The two North Toronto schools she attended were newly established. After a Catholic elementary education at St. Monica, she earned a commercial degree at Northern Vocational School. During the Great Depression, she helped support her parents, working as a Store Clerk and Factory Hand at Laura Secord, Helena Rubinstein and Hunts Bakery. She married Hartley MacCallum in 1940 and while he was serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, she was involved in war work, assembling radar sets at Research Enterprises. She raised her two children in the 1950s and during the 1960s and 70s, served as the capable Office Manager for the family’s construction firm. Her recreational activities included gardening and refinishing antique furniture acquired at farm auctions. One of her most cherished memories was of visiting Expo ’67 with Hartley in her fiftieth year. After losing her husband in 1979, she joined the Women’s Auxiliary at The Hospital for Sick Children, where she worked supporting children and parents in the surgery waiting room. She became known for donating her skillfully knitted dolls, which were sold to raise funds for the Auxiliary and which fetched high prices. She moved to the Claremont Retirement Residence in 2002, where she continued to contribute her knitting skills for charity. In addition, for seven successive years she and her friend Ted served as lifestyle models for the Claremont’s annual calendar, which was sold to raise funds for Free the Children, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Children’s Wish Foundation. She is survived by her sister, Doris Easto. Predeceased by her brothers Santé and Alfredo and her sister Lily Bates. Dear mother of Gaye Hogue and Peter MacCallum. Grandmother of Michael and Gregory Quirk and great-grandmother of Kristen Quirk and Shane Quirk. Nell also leaves behind a second family of the staff members at the Claremont Residence, who gave her the nickname “Nella Bella”. A reception to celebrate her long life will be held at the Claremont Residence on Sunday, June 11th between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.