Margaret Giles-Munday

Known for her kindness, warmth, and zest for life, Margaret Giles Munday passed away on February 21, 2022, with her loving husband of 51 years, Ernest Munday, at her side at the Waterford Retirement Residence in Ottawa.

Margaret was born on April 10, 1943, in the small market town of Bedale near Northallerton in the green rolling hills of North Yorkshire, England. An only child, Margaret and her parents then moved to the Camden Town area of London, where her father, James, a World War Two veteran, was a caretaker at an army base and her mother, Gladys, was a housekeeper for a wealthy family. Margaret was in her 20s during the iconic “Swinging Sixties” era taking Great Britain by storm at the time.

But life was about to become even more interesting. Margaret was a true adventure-seeker. She wanted to see the world. So, after finishing her education, she and some close girlfriends, almost certainly at her urging, decided to move to Toronto, Canada, to share a flat and get jobs. On weekends, they explored their new city and went dancing. Margaret was working for the freight claims department for Canadian Pacific Railway in Toronto when she met the love her life, Ernest Munday, then also a CP Rail employee. They married in August 1970 in Camden Town, then returned to Toronto where Margaret studied teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) at Humber College. To her Canadian relatives, having a new family member with a posh English accent was very exotic.

By 1978, Ernest was working for a Canadian airline and then got a job with Saudi Airlines, which meant a move for the couple—and their pretty Siamese cat, Sam—to Jeddah. The climate suited Margaret perfectly; anyone who knew her knew she wasn’t a fan of cold weather, either in Canada or Britain. They would stay there for 16 years.

Not the type to have stayed at home as an “expat’s wife” (although she could make a mean Chicken Marbella), Margaret got an administrative job at the Canadian embassy and then became chief secretary at a private school, Jeddah Preparatory School. She loved both of these jobs, and along the way made several workplace friends. She and Ernest took many trips to Canada and to England over the years; Margaret especially looked forward to spending time with her mother. The couple were godparents to nieces Paula and Lisa in England, as well as to their nephew Steve in Canada, but there were many more nieces and nephews on both sides of the pond. Relatives will remember as kids getting Christmas gifts every year, whether shipped or brought in person on a visit. “When I was young, Aunt Margaret asked me questions, and was interested in what I had to say,” recalls one nephew. Adds a niece, “She was always fun-loving and kind. Well-dressed, too.” And she loved a good conversation about current events, from politics to the Royal Family.

Margaret, affectionately nicknamed “Basil” by Ernest, really enjoyed Jeddah life, including going to the souks (open-air markets) on weekends despite having to cover her head and shoulders with a headscarf as required by the law of that land. She enjoyed exploring the merchants’ selections of everything from groceries to housewares to hand-woven rugs to Arabic brass coffee pots.

When it came time for the couple to return to Ottawa with Sam the Cat, Margaret did so reluctantly. Probably because of the cold. But the friendships remained, and she and Ernest maintained relationships with people they’d met in Jeddah and other places, people from Ireland, Spain, France, Australia, the United States and Chile; they were regularly on the phone to them. They even got together with some for cruises, including two of their closest friends, Marion and Michael O’Leary of Ireland. And they made new friends after moving into their bright and lovely new home on Quinterra Court, becoming close with some neighbours. Margaret enjoyed going to fitness classes at an Ottawa recreation centre with a group of friends. She also studied hard for a very difficult certificate course in ESL; she passed it, and so was able to continue working in a field where she could meet and be of some value to newcomers to Canada. “She had a special connection to her students,” says Ernest.

There was one more big adventure and dream to fulfill: An eight-month stint in Saint-Étienne-des-Oullières in the famous Rhône wine region in 2011. There, they rented a flat and lived the French village life—attempting to learn French but having little luck due to the friendly locals who insisted on trying out their English. When they weren’t off on road trips around France in their 1986 Mercedes, they were enjoying fresh croissants from their favourite boulangerie or a glass of wine at a local café, sometimes in the company of new friends from their walking club, the Hash House Harriers.

Margaret will be missed by so many. As one long-time close friend in Ottawa says, “She valued her friends and always let them know that they were loved.” Her family will remember her love for life, how pleasant it was to be around her, her sparkling eyes, and the lovely, warm smile she always had for all.

In her most recent years, Margaret struggled with dementia. (At some point recently, her love of the Royals, especially the Queen, grew stronger, as did her disdain for a certain recent ex-US President.) One close friend describes the disease as having “taken the best of her, bit by bit.” She kept smiling, but Margaret worried about her mother far away in England, whom she no longer realized was long gone. She wanted to go see Gladys. Perhaps, that same friend speculates, Margaret now has her wings, and can go to her mother. Definitely, she has finally found peace again.

A celebration of the life of Margaret Giles Munday will take place in spring on a date to be determined.