SILVIJA KAULINS

Silvija Kaulins (Dzelme) passed away peacefully on January 27, 2026, at the age of 80. Born in 1946 in a displaced persons camp in Esslingen, Germany, to Latvian parents Irena and Vladislavs, Silvija immigrated to New York in 1948 with her family and later moved to Indiana to stay with the McCullaugh family. She attended Butler University, graduating in 1968 with a major in French, and completed her master's degree at Sorbonne University in Paris in 1971. Silvija taught French at Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis from 1971 to 1982 and served as Department Head from 1974 to 1982. She met her husband, Valdis, at a Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Toronto in 1981 and married in 1982, moving to Canada with their daughter, Karlina, born in 1985. Silvija taught at schools around Whitby before joining Woodbridge College as a French teacher in 1988, where she remained until her retirement in 2010. She was a cherished member of the Latvian community in Indianapolis and Toronto, and will be remembered for her good character, patience, and kindness.