Who is Ida?
Ida is named after Maddalena “Mady” Ida Ricci. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Great-grandmother.
Born in Switzerland in 1936, Mady’s life was quickly upended by both the outbreak of World War II as well as the untimely death of her mother from breast cancer.
In the early 1950s, her family moved to Brazil for a complete reset. While in Brazil, Mady met the love of her life, Primiano “Primo” Ricci and promptly got married. They had their first child, Tommaso, while there, and after a move to Uruguay and another child, Lidia, the young couple moved back to Primo’s hometown in Italy.
They had three more children in Italy before learning that Mady’s family was now in Canada. Mady and Primo made the move to Canada in 1970, where they stayed until their ends in 1993 and 2023, respectively.
As a young woman, Mady was an astute learner and a talented guitar player. Due to financial hardship, Mady was unable to start university once she got to South America, and instead worked to help make ends meet.
Our story, though 70 years old, is unfortunately still extremely common in many places in South America, including Mady's former homes, Brazil and Uruguay. For this reason, Ida will be fundraising to create a non-profit based in South America with the sole goal of helping children receive better access to education, called The Lumina Foundation.