Laine (Jürgens) Vesk.Courtesy of family
Laine Vesk: Estonian. Refugee. Mother. Independent. Born June 5, 1930, Tallinn, Estonia; died Jan. 14, 2026, in Toronto, from medical assistance in dying; aged 95.
The early life of Laine Jürgens was the stuff of fairy tales. She lived happy and carefree in Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn with her parents and her brother, who was 10 years older. Their home looked over the harbour and was surrounded by gardens tended by her mother.
Her father was a successful merchant sea captain and as a young girl she would spend school vacations on his ship, disembarking at various ports of call (Sweden, Finland, England and more) as she sailed the Baltic Sea and beyond with her doting dad.
But in 1940, her idyllic world turned upside down. As part of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Estonia came under the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence and allowed the Soviets to invade. The Pact collapsed in 1941 when the Nazis double-crossed the Soviets and invaded Russia (and Estonia). This led to the “Great Escape” in 1944 when about 80,000 Estonians fled across the Baltic Sea by boat.
Laine Jürgens was one such Estonian. Her father and his ship were about to be conscripted into the Soviet navy when he fabricated an excuse to return to his office. Instead of returning, he hopped on a bike to pick up 14-year-old Laine from where she was staying with relatives, and brought her home. Laine and her parents didn’t escape on her father’s ship but on another that sailed in a convoy always one port ahead of the Soviets.
Reaching relative safety in Germany, Laine lived as a refugee in a displaced persons camp. She quickly learned German and acted as translator for her parents. Later, she moved to England and received a three-year scholarship to study at the City College and Art School in Norwich, England, where she became proficient in English. After she received her diploma in Design, she followed her brother and new sister-in-law to Canada in 1954. Her parents joined them shortly thereafter.
Toronto was Laine’s new home. With a large Estonian diaspora in the city, she was able to reconnect with many friends. It was here that she again met Endel Vesk, a childhood playmate of her brother. Shortly after Laine was born, 10-year-old Endel and his parents came to visit the new baby. His mother proclaimed an enthusiastic “welcome to my new daughter-in-law.” She was prescient! Their courtship was brief but intense, and they married in 1955.
They welcomed two daughters: Hedy and Karen. Laine’s parents lived nearby and provided supportive care for the girls in their mother tongue. Laine felt Estonian traditions were important to carry on. Her mothering style was strict but loving, with the intent to raise her daughters as she herself had been raised. (It worked; both Hedy and Karen would become creative and fiercely independent like their mother.)
Laine worked as a designer at a uniform company and later joined A.C. Nielsen as a data librarian. The family travelled and skied regularly. In 1960, Laine and Endel built a summer home in Ontario’s Kawartha cottage country.
After Endel died in 1990, Laine mourned but carried on, filling her life with line-dancing, oil painting, calligraphy and even more travel. She also spent time alone at the cottage, where there was always a project to tackle. Despite the misgivings of her daughters, she would stubbornly climb a ladder to clear leaves and tree debris off the roof, and would wield a chainsaw with confidence. There was little that would daunt her.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, she returned to Estonia to visit with Hedy and Hedy’s husband, Tim. Laine enjoyed reconnecting with her cousins who had remained behind the Iron Curtain but it was very emotional for her to experience it without Endel.
In the early 2000s, Laine faced age-related macular degeneration, which radically curtailed her independence. She soldiered on but the disease was fast moving and debilitating. With her family’s help, Laine downsized into a retirement home. Hedy and Karen looked after their mother unfailingly through all her transitions.
In her 96th year, after a lifetime that ran the gamut of highs and lows, she chose to end her life on her own terms. She remained a force of nature until her last breath, dispensing life advice to staff and friends on her way out the door. She was actually looking forward to the next adventure, and wondered if it was dusty “on the other side.”
Tim Sellers is Laine Vesk’s son-in-law.
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