'THIS IS AN ANGEL': LOVED ONES MOURN DEATH OF BIJOY'S WORKER

'IT MAY BE HARD, BUT IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE. I CAN DO IT' WAS THE MOTTO NEWMARKET RESIDENT AND NATIVE OF MEXICO LIVED BY

Nobody knows when Gloria Gomez found time to sleep.

Originally from Mexico, she came to Canada a dozen years ago, working as a nanny for a Newmarket family.

At the same time, she got a job at Aurora's Bijoy's Restaurant and learned English and cooking as she took on a variety of roles, from sous chef to managing the eatery.

In 2016, she launched a business, taking online orders for meals that she would cook for clients.

Gomez cleaned offices at night.

She sent money back to her family in Mexico.

Four years after she set a goal of buying her own home, she had saved $40,000 for a down payment on a townhouse in Newmarket in 2015.

Rhyming off Gomez's accomplishments doesn't begin to capture her spirit in a life that tragically came to an end when she died on Sept. 14, two days after she had a massive stroke.

Gomez, who was 45, had suffered from severe headaches and blurred vision for 18 months and had seen several doctors.

Left behind are her devastated family in Mexico and friends who became like family here. In just a few days, the Latin community raised $18,000 to send to her family.

Restaurant owners Bijoy and Sujata Kanianthra and Gomez's best friend, Sal Jiwani, shed tears thinking of their lives now without her and laugh at the happy memories she has left them with.

From the smallest project to major life goals, if Gomez put her mind to it, nothing was out of reach.

"She had a line: 'It may be hard, but it's not impossible. I can do it,'" Sujata, Gomez's "Canadian mom," said.

"She wasn't a sitter. She didn't believe in sitting."

She didn't much like other people sitting, either.

Bijoy's staff, who see each other as family, would sweep the restaurant, only to find they hadn't met Gomez's standards.

"She would come behind and say, 'You guys are sweeping as if your mother

in-law is not here. You have to sweep as if your motherin-law is coming,'" laughed Sujata, adding that Gomez had a very kind heart and was full of integrity.

During the pandemic, as restaurants struggled with

lockdowns and restrictions, Gomez was happily working as waitress, dish washer, cook, bartender and cleaner at Bijoy's.

"She was my right hand," Bijoy said. "We miss her like crazy."

Server Rene Nah remembers Gomez's optimism, dedication and willingness to share.

As he recalled the elaborate meals Gomez cooked for him when he helped her with home improvement projects, Jiwani said he has never met anyone with such a kind soul.

He can't believe she died so young.

"You question things, you get kind of angry. 'God, of all the stupid people in the world, why would you pick this one (to take)?' And then I realize, well, because this is an angel," he said.

"I don't think there will ever be anyone like her. She was truly a blessing to so many."

One of Gomez's dreams was to take her family to Niagara Falls.

Jiwani took her brother, Raul, and her father, Pedro, when they came here for her funeral.