Marion Marts

Dearest Auntiie Marion – she was always such a vision and I held her in such awe. Not very many girls had an Aunt who lived in California! During my early years we exchanged long hand written letters on a regular basis and I will always cherish the memory of anxiously awaiting the arrival of the postman to see what news Aunt Marion had for me this time. When Wayne and I, on the spur of the moment, decided to take our first trip on a plane to California in 1989, Aunt Marion and Uncle Don graciously housed us for those 10 wonderful days. We flew in on Thanksgiving and what a wonderful reunion that was. Aunt Marion bought me the cutest 'baby doll" pyjamas for my birthday while we were there and, believe it or not, I still have them. I just can't bear to part with them. Like Aunt Marion, I absolutely fell in love with California and to this day, that is our destination of choice. I am so thankful for all the visits we were able to have over the past 20 years. Leslie and Cindi – you will miss your wonderful mom terribly but you must try to hang on to all the wonderful memories and years you had with her.

A great loss for the family. Aunt Marion was my first role model and I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. She was my own Auntie Mame – so glamorous and sophisticated, moving to another country with her girlfriend, and having a career at a time when women were encouraged to leave school and marry right away. I loved to ply her with questions about her boyfriends and there were many but Uncle Don was always in the picture and the whole family was delighted when they announced their elopement and then came back to Canada so we could have a celebration with them. Aunt Marion was very generous to her little Canadian niece. She asked what I would like for my birthday and I wrote and told her I would like a Nancy Drew book. She sent me a carton of 39 in the set! The next year I asked for a bathing suit. She could not decide which would look best and sent me three – one was tartan, one was peppermint stripes and the other was floral – I was quite the envy of the other girls at the local pool! She also sent me Mexican jackets which I adored and no one at our school had ever seen the like. Her sense of humour was matchless and I will always remember her as the bright light in my growing up years. She made all my party clothes until I was ten and when she decided to make the move to California on a permanent basis, she gave me her electric Singer Sewing Machine leaving me as the family seamstress! She and Uncle Don were larger than life and my husband Gordon & I remember them fondly with love.Gordon & Diane (Wattam) Leaker