Montreal woman killed by falling tree branch remembered as ‘an angel’

Family and friends are mourning the death of a 76-year-old woman who was killed by a falling tree branch while waiting for a bus in Côte Saint-Luc.

Ljubica Milicevic was at a bus stop on Queen Mary Road, just before MacDonald Avenue, on May 10 when she was struck by a large branch. Emergency crews arrived to find her unconscious, while a bystander was already performing CPR. She later died in hospital.

“You know when you love someone, but then when a loss like this hits so suddenly, it’s crushing,” said Talya Pardo, a close friend who worked with Milicevic for 24 years at the Solomon Schechter Academy’s elementary school library.

“Her daughter and her partner are both shattered. They’re really having a hard time, as you can understand. I think really, it’s just time. I think they’re still in shock.”

Pardo described Milicevic as a loving mother, a dedicated librarian, and an author of three books that drew from her experiences growing up during the war in her homeland of Serbia.

“Through many difficult times in my life, she was there as a guide, as a support,” said Pardo. “And so a lot of the things that she’s taught me over the years that maybe I didn’t even always listen to are coming through in my head now as I kind of move through the week and move through my days now.”

“She was just so wonderful. I always called her my angel. That’s how I saw her. She was an angel sent to Earth because she was with me through very difficult times in my life and always helped me keep one foot in front of the other.”

The fatal incident occurred on public land. In a written statement to CityNews, the City of Côte Saint-Luc said it maintains an inventory of public trees and inspects them regularly, including the tree in question. A coroner’s inquiry is underway, and the city says it is cooperating fully.

“These things tend to happen, you know, spontaneous, unfortunate accidents that can be kind of bizarre, you know, standing at the bus stop and the branch just falls,” said Pardo. “But on the other hand, it’s also important that I think investigations are done by the city and by journalists like yourself to make sure that whatever maintenance schedule they had was on track and was reasonable to keep the tree healthy.”

Pardo added that, so far, the family has not heard from either the City of Côte Saint-Luc or the City of Montreal.

“The other thing I would say when it comes to the city, maybe both Montreal and Côte Saint-Luc is, you know, regardless of responsibility, I think, you know, outside of responsibility for the incident, they have responsibility to their citizens and neither has reached out to the family, frankly, to offer any condolences or to comment to them on the incident at all.”