Maria Charlotte O'Neill

NOV. 8, 1931 – MAR. 8, 2017

Maria O’Neill (née Doerig) began life in the small town of Appenzell, Switzerland, where she developed her lifelong love of walking and hiking, first carried on her father’s back in the surrounding Alps. One of eight siblings, it was Maria who caught the travel bug. Following her early studies in business administration, she cultivated a love of languages that took her to Cambridge, London, and Perugia, Italy to study English and Italian. In 1961, she left Europe, continuing her language studies in California and Guadalajara. In California, she worked at Stanford University as a secretary in the Department of Applied Physics and Engineering and in the bookstore, where she met her husband-to-be, John O’Neill. In 1963, they left California and immigrated to Canada, starting a family in Toronto.

Maria raised her three children, Daniela, Gregory, and Brendan, in Toronto, instilling in them a deep love of learning and a connection to both Toronto and Appenzell that lives on in her grandchildren, Dylan, Taite, and Penelope. Throughout their childhood, sunny, rainy, and snowy days were filled with activities participated in together. Her boundless energy easily kept up with three young children and many times outmatched theirs and was truly inspiring as they got older. Her unwavering love, support, and guidance was always felt.

Maria obtained a Teaching English as a Second Language Certificate in 1980 from the Ministry of Culture and Recreation and completed a B.A. in Bilingual English from York University’s Glendon College in 1988. Her love of language, teaching, and meeting people from around the world came together starting in 1979 when she worked for over 15 years for the Toronto Metropolitan Separate School Board as an ESL Instructor-in-charge at St. Anthony’s School and then an ESL Instructor to Adult Learners at Our Lady of Lourdes, Monsignor Fraser College, and La Salle School – St Paul Campus. She retired only when it became mandatory in 1997.

Maria loved seeing Toronto grow over the years and enjoyed sharing its diversity, abundant arts and cultural events, and unique parks, ravines, and trails with family and friends. She forged many close friendships as a result of her longtime involvement in the Women’s Section of the Toronto Swiss Club, the Association of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the “Lunch Bunch,” the Tuesday Movie Matinee Group, the Bruce Trail Club, the Canadian - Swiss Cultural Association and volunteering over many years at events, such as the Trinity College Book Sale and as a tour guide for the Toronto Music Garden. Her love of learning, travel, and walking continued at full-speed after her retirement. For over 17 years, she enthusiastically completed a wide variety of courses as a member of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at the University of Toronto and Living and Learning in Retirement at Glendon College. She travelled around the world with friends, exploring many different cultures and countries. Closer to home, she continued to enjoy and marvel at the beauty of the scenery and seasons along the Bruce Trail and in Toronto’s ravines and parks.

Maria’s energy, positivity, conversation, and laughter will be fiercely missed by those who knew her and called her mom, nana, aunt, sister, or friend.

Surrounded by her children, Maria died of advanced colon cancer, diagnosed less than a month earlier. Her children are very grateful for the superb care she received, and the support they all received, from Dr. Amanda Li and the nurses at Sunnybrook Hospital’s K1E Palliative Care Unit.

As she wished, Maria will return to Switzerland to soar high above Appenzell on the Sigel in the Alpstein region where she remembered, as a child, being carried on her father’s back on long hikes. A Celebration of Life for Maria will take place on Sunday May 28 from 2 - 5 p.m. at Glendon College (2275 Bayview Ave. North York) in the Sky Room on the 3rd Floor of the Centre of Excellence in York Hall (for directions and parking: http://www.glendon.yorku.ca/about/directions/). For more information, please contact a family member at the email addresses below.

In lieu of flowers, Maria wished for donations to support the maintenance of the Bruce Trail. A donation she has made to the Bruce Trail will result in a permanent plaque in her memory along her favourite part of the trail overlooking Georgian Bay. If desired, donations can be made online at https://brucetrail.org/donations/donate or at the celebration of Maria’s life.

Condolences, photographs, or memories of Maria you wish to share with her family can be directed to Daniela and Derek ([email protected]), Greg and Anita ([email protected]), or Brendan and Janet ([email protected]).