Erla Poschmann (nee Samuelsson), aged 88 of Oakville, Ontario passed away peacefully on October 29, 2019. Erla had been stoically battling with Alzheimer's for many years.

Erla was born on January 23, 1931 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and spent her school years both in Iceland – her home country – and Denmark. She met Jorgen Poschmann in 1950 while skiing in Iceland and in 1951 she followed him to the US where he was apprenticing as a ceramics engineer. They married on October 27, 1951 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and came to Oakville two years later where they raised six children (as well as many pet dogs and cats).

Erla was always very artistic and created beautiful things in many media – she painted, made jewelry, sewed, and knitted and she also enjoyed decorating some of the pots and vases made by Jorgen.   Erla was an avid Scottish dancer and she and Jorgen were amongst the first members of the Oakville Scottish Country Dance Society. They hosted many a lively dance party at their home of 60 years and Erla danced well into her 80's.

Erla was an outdoors gal, she loved camping in the earlier years and in later years she would spend weeks at a time up on the family cottage property near Bancroft, which she lovingly named "Gimli". After raising her children, Erla decided it was time to join the working world and made her debut in retail with years spent first at The Wool Bin and then at Birks at Oakville Place. Erla was also a great adventurer and visited many countries around the world with Jorgen while he was on his volunteer ventures with CIDA and CESO.

Erla is predeceased by her husband Jorgen and her granddaughter Kiersten. She is survived by her sister Ragna, her daughters Anne (Doug) and Lotte (Paul), and her sons Paul (Wendy), Gunnar (Cherry), Eric (Monica) and Finn (Heidi), her eight grandchildren Soren (Becky), Brett (Dara), Max (Jaela), Sean, Christian, Kenzie, Ainsley and Lachlan, and two great-grandchildren, Maisie and Leif.