‘Very loving’: Mother and librarian remembered after being killed by falling branch in Montreal’s Côte Saint-Luc

Flowers brought Ljubica Milicevic the most joy.

And her daughter explained that her name — of Slavic origin — not only means “love,” but also refers to a violet flower.

The Montreal librarian, writer, mother and friend surely lived up to her name — remembered by her family as always sharing joy.

Just a day before Mother’s Day, the 76-year-old was killed by a falling tree branch in Côte Saint-Luc, while she was waiting for a bus at the corner of Queen Mary Road and Macdonald Avenue.

Her daughter, Isadora Nolan, told CityNews in an off-camera interview that she will miss her mother’s spontaneity and endless curiosity.

“She was very loving,” Nolan said. “Always honest and real with me.”

Milicevic was dedicated to children’s literacy, Nolan explained. One of her mother’s proudest accomplishments, she said, were the decades she spent as a librarian, helping children foster a love of reading.

“She never sought attention or acknowledgement,” said Nolan. “Typical introvert.”

“But for literacy and education and writing, she would come alive.”

Milicevic was also an avid writer.

An author of three books, Milicevic was in the process of finishing a fourth, said her daughter.

“She incorporated the war in her homeland in her writing,” Nolan said, “to create awareness about the consequences of war.”

Nolan’s mother and father arrived in Montreal from Serbia in 1974.

The morning before she passed away, Milicevic told her daughter that she had finally figured out the ending of her latest novel.

And though she didn’t get to completing it herself, it will be part of her legacy — and Nolan is hoping to finish the book herself, in her mother’s honour.

Firefighters, police officers and paramedics were dispatched to Queen Mary Road, near Macdonald Ave., around 12:50 p.m. on May 10.

When emergency services arrived, Milicevic was unconscious, and a citizen was performing resuscitation on her.

She was then transported to hospital in critical condition, and succumbed to her injuries later that day.

Her death is being investigated by a Quebec coroner.

Nolan said that she saw her mom the day she died, and that they had watched a movie together the night before the accident.

“Ironically, the night before, we watched the movie Nonnas,” she said, explaining how the film revolves around the main character opening a restaurant after losing his beloved mother.

“She felt good; loved it,” Nolan continued. “We’re Serbian, so we could relate.”

Nolan said Milicevic would want to be remembered as “just a human being who did her best.” And her best will certainly continue to be felt through the seeds she planted in her life — from her writing, literacy promotion and the impact she had on her family and friends.