The daughter of Ljubica Milicevic, the 76-year-old woman killed Saturday by a falling tree branch in Côte Saint-Luc, says her mother spent her life championing education. Isadora Nolan described her mother as independent and free-thinking, noting that her greatest achievement was the decades she spent getting children to read and love books. “One of her proudest accomplishments is her years of service as a librarian — producing future critical thinkers and leaders through the power of fiction, storytelling, and nonfiction,” Nolan said in an interview on Monday. Nolan said her parents arrived in Montreal from Serbia in 1974, and Milicevic went on to work at Solomon Schechter Academy. She was also an author who spent considerable time writing about the war that had affected her homeland. “She was very nurturing and very respectful of different people. She was open to people, and I think that’s why she had such a bizarre and strange life — and a bizarre and strange ending,” she said through tears. Montreal police (SPVM) responded to multiple 911 calls Saturday around 12:50 p.m. at the corner of Queen Mary Road and Macdonald Avenue. Milicevic had been waiting for a bus when the accident happened. She suffered a serious head injury and was rushed to hospital in critical condition, ultimately succumbing to her injuries later that day. Milicevic, a proud trilingual, authored three books, including a children’s book, and was in the process of finishing a fourth. “She was just loved, and a lot of people referred to her as an angel in their lives,” Nolan said. “She was very modest. She was very kind-hearted. She didn’t have a lot of judgment or intolerance.” An only child whose father passed away from cancer many years ago, Nolan says this loss has been heavy — but she’ll remember her mother for her unconditional love and unwavering support throughout her life. “But what’s hurting me the most is, she was just telling me that morning, before she passed away, that she had finally figured out the ending of her novel — and that she only had a few more weeks of work ahead of her.” “So, I think her boyfriend is going to help. He’s more francophone. He’s going to read it, and we’re going to try to finish the book,” she added. A Quebec coroner has opened an investigation into Milicevic’s death.
