Mary Russell Forde

Our beloved Mum/Molls/Nan, (Mary R. (Mollie) Slemin/Woodyatt/Forde), the life of the party, has very sadly left the party in her 99th year of life which she happily lived to the full almost right to the end before taking her final bow on 20th December 2023. She didn’t want to go but thankfully was able to take her leave quickly in the end, and peacefully, dying in her own home in Toronto which she loved, with loved ones nearby.

Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Mum was a character from the get-go – causing mirth and delight to those around her from a very young age. School was never her strong point, at least not the academic part, but socially she couldn’t be beaten – as daughter, sister, friend and precocious charmer. Despite being a little unsure or at least unaware of her own abilities and strengths, she achieved much in her youth – competing in diving championships and winning singing competitions and playing the piano beautifully (by ear) and even writing a song which made its way to dance halls and the radio waves of the day. She spent the summers of her youth at a family cottage on Bass Island in Lake Rosseau, Muskoka, and her love of those lakes and all things water and boats and blue stayed with her all her life.

She found the true love of her life in her mid-twenties, John Woodyatt, and embarked on the life path that she always wanted as wife and mother to two daughters, Hope and Anne – roles which she cherished. Tragedy struck at a young age tearing all of that happiness from her but remarkably she somehow managed to find her way back after the sudden death of her beloved husband, our father, to continue her wonderful ways as mother and friend and bringing joy to all who knew her. She remained strong in that purpose for the rest of her days.

Eventually she found new happiness and a new life with her second husband, Henry (Hank/Papa) Forde, with whom she shared a great love of travel and family and together they built a family cottage on Clear Lake in her beloved Muskoka, which became and still is the central hub for family and friends.

A great wit with a great sense of fun and the ridiculous, she was also always exceedingly generous of spirit as well as material things, never ceasing to spread both among loved ones (and even strangers sometimes!). She had an uncanny talent for bringing others together, becoming a “second-mum” to many and co-parent to her three beloved grandchildren and never was there a better or more supportive mother, daughter, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. To know Mum was to love her, and she will always be loved and remembered by her devoted family and friends.

While never gone from our hearts, she leaves behind in this world her two loving daughters, Mary Hope Jaglowitz and Helen Anne Woodyatt, and their husbands, Guy Jaglowitz and John Lowson; grandson Alex Jaglowitz, his wife, Chelsey Mohr and their son Edson Jaglowitz; granddaughter Molly Woodyatt Lowson; and grandson Harry Woodyatt Lowson; niece Wendy Misener, her husband, Mike Moran and their son Colin Moran; step-son Jim Forde and his wife Arlene, as well as countless friends and extended family – all the loves of mum’s life. Mum would also want to give her particular thanks to longtime companion and caregiver, Monica Lorca, and more recently, Norma Basan, who both lovingly provided mum with exceptional care in the last days of her life. She will be missed enormously but never forgotten.

Details of a celebration of life will be announced early in the new year but for now, our family suggests only that you don a pair of large and stylish sunglasses and raise a very full glass of Chardonnay to a life well-lived and a one-of-a-kind woman well-loved.