Central to her life was her role as wife and mother, one she filled with love and care. She leaves behind sons and daughters-in-law Allan and Jeannie, Ron and Ingrid, and Paul and Julia. She also found great joy as grandmother – her preferred nom de guerre was “Mutti” – to eleven grandchildren, and, more recently, as great-grandmother to ten.
Outside the household, Margi had a richly varied life. Raised in the occupied Netherlands – an early memory was sneaking male relatives needed food and supplies as they hid from Nazi impressment – she came with her family to Canada in the 1950s. A brief spell as a maid gave her access to a large library, which helped her improve her English and started a voracious consumption of English literature from lowbrow to the classics.
Soon after, Margi qualified as a Registered Nursing Assistant working in mental health and later elder care. She set this aside to focus on a then young and growing family. After the children matured, she and Allan became partners in the Beamsville accounting firm of Charles P Dorland & Associates. At “Charlie’s” she had a particular knack for reassuring clients often afraid of the Byzantine complexities of government forms.
Margi was also active in the community in particular with various church groups and, for a number of years, led Sunday afternoon services at Linhaven Long Term Care Home.
Family and friends are invited to Hulse & English Funeral Home (75 Church Street, St Catharines) on Thursday, July 4, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm for a visitation. A private graveside committal service will occur on Friday July 5 at 11:00 followed at 1:00 by a service celebrating her life at Providence Christian Reformed Church, Beamsville.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.11.1