passed away peacefully, on June 12, 2020 at Heritage River Seniors Residence, Elora. Marjorie was born in Smithville, Ontario to Elizabeth and Cecil Lounsbury and had one brother, Basil Lounsbury. She attended school in Smithville to age 16 when she attended Alma College in St. Thomas, Ontario. She loved being at Alma, where she took university level courses as well as pipe organ lessons at St. Andrew’s Westminster United Church in London. Following that she attended University of Toronto and received a diploma in Occupational Therapy. She worked in Windsor and Hamilton, before beginning her new life in Niagara Falls with our dad, Jim (Elwood) Chase. Three children followed – Ginny (Ian Burns), Sue (Dave Patterson) and James (Cheryl McCrea) with many wondrous years of family life. Our mom was involved in the community in many ways and enjoyed her bridge group and badminton at Stamford United Church. She was an avid mystery reader and crossword puzzle solver. She and dad enjoyed being in nature especially to go birdwatching and were involved with the Niagara Falls Nature Club for many years. They travelled across Canada and the U.S. knowing where the good birding spots were. They were also involved in square dancing for a number of years and liked meeting new people and learning new dances. Her flower garden and African violets were always a source of pride as was her ability to sew our clothes, including those voluminous square dancing dresses. Every fall, our mom worked to preserve many baskets of tomatoes from Dad’s garden. The fruit cellar was always full of fruits, vegetables, pickles and jams to feed us through the year. Starting in her youth, our mom played the piano and pipe organ and loved all kinds of music, playing on her keyboard well into her 80’s. As she lost her sight, she adapted to ‘reading’ with her Daisy Reader and ‘read’ more than 700 books in the last 8 years. Her ability to retell the story of the book that she had read was incredible, so much detail; you would have thought it was true. Mom was a curious and intelligent person who truly believed that “you learn something new every day.” Happily married for 60 plus years until dad’s death in 2012, she eventually moved from Niagara Falls to Heritage River Seniors Residence in Elora in May 2014. A special thank you to two people who added to the quality of her life at Heritage River – to Charlene, whose Sunday visits mom looked forward to and to her table mate, Flora, whose cheery disposition and assistance was always a blessing. She is survived and will be missed dearly by her children and 5 grandchildren – Molly, Hilary (DJ Camidge), Lauren (Nathan Leslie), Meghan and Jaedon and 1 great grandson, Cooper. Our mom was always interested in what they were doing and was proud of their accomplishments. She loved and was loved by her family and friends. She was a quiet and resilient person with an incredible memory. A heartfelt thanks to personal support workers, Harlet, Donna and Aila who made her life easier and more enjoyable during the last year and a half. She appreciated their attention and kindness especially during COVID-19 and felt very lucky to have them in her life. An additional thanks to the nursing staff and other staff at Heritage River for taking care to keep her safe and well looked after for the six years she called it her home. A celebration of life will take place at a later date. Please visit www.grahamgiddyfh.com to post memories.
