Dainis Juris Lazda

Dainis Juris Lazda loved by everyone in his family closed his eyes for eternity on August 26, 2025, after an extended illness in the hospital of the small town of Limbazi, Latvia. He is going to be fondly remembered by his wife, Anita; greatly missed by his three children and four grandchildren: Kārlis Jānis with wife Krista and daughter Kaija, Laura Māra, and Paulis Dainis with wife Daina and their three children, daughters Selga Daina, Zinta Kristine, and son Kristaps Paulis. He will also be remembered by his oldest brother, Jānis Ojars, his wife Velta, and the rest of the Lazda family. His other brother, Paulis Indulis, passed away this year on March 22nd.

Dainis was born in Rīga, Latvia, on November 14, 1939, the youngest son of the Lutheran minister Jānis V. Lazda and his wife Margareta. He spent his early childhood in the pastorage of the village Birzi, Latvia. At the age of four in 1944 during World War II his family fled their home on foot to escape the oncoming communist Russian Red Army. They arrived in Rīga and from there were able to get passage on a ship that took them to Germany. There they spent five years in a Displaced Persons Camp in Fellbach, Germany, before immigrating to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here Dainis attended grammar school, became proficient in the English language, graduated from high school and was active in the Latvian community. He continued his education at the Grand Rapids Junior College and graduated from Michigan State University in 1964 with a degree in Landscape Architecture. He earned and saved enough money from his paper route to pay for his college education. As a reward his graduation gift from his father was a VW Bug.

Dainis began his family life while residing in Cleveland by marrying his first wife, Māra Iliņs, and having three children with her. It was very important for him to instill Latvian history, Latvian values and culture into his children. He was extremely proud that all of his children and grandchildren could speak, read and write the Latvian language. Later in life he found renewed happiness with his second wife, Anita Bērziņs, who had arrived in the US after Latvia regained its independence.

Dainis enjoyed being at home with his family. It was particularly important to him to provide interesting experiences for his children. While living in Connecticut he broadened their knowledge of history and the world around them by taking them on little excursions, with all five members of the family crammed into their little orange VW Bug. He planned trips to Cape Cod, Old Sturbridge Village and Salem in Massachusetts. In a trip up Mount Washington in New Hampshire the family was able to experience the extreme changes in weather conditions. In New York City they visited the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the now no longer existing Twin Towers. They saw all the historic monuments in Washington, DC, including a visit to the top of the Washington Monument and the following climb down 896 steps, not an easy feat. After touring the White House the family experienced a moment of panic when toddler Paulis unbeknownst to anyone decided to return to see the President. Security returned him safely. Another almost annual activity enjoyed by all was hiking up Mt. Monadock in New Hampshire with the Stuberovskis family, often with Paulis on his father's shoulders, while Kārlis and Laura plowed ahead with the Stuberovskis kids. Dainis found time to engage in special activities with the boys, like a trip to the Indy 500 with Paulis, and helping Kārlis with baseball pitching and Boy Scout projects.

Another of Dainis' home activities was working in the garden by growing delicious tomatoes and finding the best locations for planting perennials and annuals. He also undertook huge projects. He not only designed the front yard of their Connecticut home, but by himself built the brick sidewalk from the house to the driveway and planted rhododendrons, azaleas and a dogwood tree. There were times when he needed help with his projects, and he found extra workers right at home. The front lawn needed replanting and reseeding. After digging up the grass, his three children along with all the neighborhood kids were put to work picking out all the rocks before top soil could be brought in. Reward was a trip to Dairy Queen. He continued beautifying the yard in the Deerfield home and enjoyed laying in a hammock reading either a book or his favorite Time magazine to keep up with politics and world events.

Dainis' projects weren't confined to the outdoors. He painted, wallpapered rooms and refinished bathrooms. He excavated by himself a portion of the basement and poured concrete with the help of his colleagues for new basement walls in the Deerfield house so that Kārlis could have his own bedroom. His talents extended also to furniture building, like the bookcase he built in the late sixties with very few tools in their apartment. This sectional has survived many years and several moves and is still proudly standing in the Deerfield living room. Laura also benefited from his craftsman skills when he built her a large desk and shelves for her bedroom walls.

Family accomplishments meant a lot to Dainis. Since Kārlis was a silviculturist there was a special feeling of camaraderie between them because both of them dealt with the outdoors and nature. He was very proud of Laura's accomplishments as a social worker and took great pride that Paulis chose as his career to be a pilot. Again great excitement, joy, happiness and pride when the grandchildren started arriving. July 2005 when Selga and Kaija were born and March 2007 with Zinta's arrival were months of celebration. Kristaps arrival in 2008 meant a continuation of the family name.

Professionally, Dainis excelled as a landscape architect. The focus of his work was to maintain harmony with the layout of the land, not to disrupt it or work against it. Following this principle, his designs were both functional and beautiful. He started his professional career working for the City of Cleveland. From there he moved to Connecticut and worked for Maine & Associates until the 1970's recession hit the East Coast. Thus began a search for a new job which he found with Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill in Chicago. The family left beautiful Connecticut and moved first to Mundelein, IL and then finally settled in a house in Deerfield, IL on Crabtree Lane, where he resided for the past 50 years. In this new Chicago position he had the opportunity to be part of the design teams for the Chicago O'Hare Expansion Project and the Lake Shore Drive Project. Then when an excellent job opportunity opened up at Perkins & Will, Dainis accepted it. This position involved a considerable amount of overseas travel. He worked on projects in Egypt, Indonesia, Bali and Iraq. One Thanksgiving he was responsible for entertaining four Iraqis visiting Perkins & Will. Dainis and his wife served them a homemade traditional Thanksgiving dinner which the Iraqis seemed to enjoy very much. He also supplemented his income by working as a consultant designing plans for his clients' yards.

In the latter part of his life, Dainis divided his time between Latvia and the US, spending the winter months in Deerfield and the other half year in Rīga and the small coastal town of Tuja where Anita had a summer cottage overlooking the Baltic Sea. Here walking along the beach gave Dainis a sense of peace and that he had returned to his ancestral homeland. Skiing was another activity that Dainis enjoyed. He and Anita were members of the Chicago Latvian Ski Club and enjoyed outings to the ski resorts out West. For many years the two of them took vacations to Jamaica staying in hotels overlooking the beaches of the Caribbean Sea and in the evenings enjoying the beautiful sunsets over the water.

Another part of Dainis' life was his affiliation with the Latvian fraternity Fraternitas Lataviensis. His godfather, Egons Lazda, introduced him to this organization and encouraged him to join the Toronto group, which he did. For Latvians during the time period when Dainis was in college belonging to a Latvian sorority or fraternity was very important, and it was considered a life-long commitment. Toronto was too far away for him to be active there, but he participated in the Chicago group. To this day, he still has the fraternity's cap, "deķelis", and the black, white and gold ribbons worn across your chest at get-togethers.

Dainis was cremated in Latvia, and Anita will bring the urn with his ashes back to Chicago. He will be laid to rest according to his wishes together with his parents at Mount Olive Cemetery, 3800 North Narragansett Avenue, Chicago, IL 60634.

A memorial service for Dainis will be held on November 14, 2025, at 11:00 am at the Latvian Zion Lutheran Church in Chicago, at 6551 West Montrose Avenue, followed by a brief farewell ceremony at the Mount Olive Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family would welcome donations made to the Latvian Occupation Museum in Rīga, Latvia. Checks may be made out to OMFA and sent to Ilze Resnis, 10930 Nollwood Drive, Chardon, OH 44024.

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