TARANNUM KAMLANI
Toronto Star Staff Reporter

An elderly couple clinging to life after their car rolled over on the 401 on the weekend may have been on their way to visit their daughter, neighbours say.

Evald Leetma, 98, was driving his Pontiac Sunfire on the 401 near James Snow Pkwy. in Milton on Sunday afternoon when the crash occurred.

He was taken to Milton District Hospital by ambulance.

His wife Anna Leetma, 95, was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital with head injuries, police said.

The Leetmas, who lived in the Eglinton Ave. and Yonge St. area, came to Canada from Estonia via Sweden just after World War II, according to neighbours in their Corinth Gardens co-operative.

George and Lydia Poolma lived upstairs from the couple.

Recently, Anna had been "very sick, she couldn't be left alone at home," Lydia Poolma said.

Evald Leetma was one of the first people to own an apartment in the co-op, which was built by a group of Estonian immigrants in the late 1950s.

He was the co-op board's first president and held that position for 20 years, according to George Poolma.

"He was a lawyer, back home in Estonia, and when he came here he had a small contracting business until he retired," George Poolma said.

The Leetmas' daughter, Eda Kalm, lives on a farm near Kitchener.

She was widowed a few years ago and "Evald and Anna used to go to see her every week," George Poolma said.

Current co-op president David Honigsberg said he was "always worried about (Leetma) getting into an accident."

He added that he admired how Evald Leetma was able to climb up and down stairs and still drive, despite his age.

Police said they believe the crash was a single-car accident, although it is possible another vehicle was involved and its driver left the scene.

Evald Leetma had a valid driver's licence, police said.

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