Marguerite Beryl McLeod

She was born in 1925 and grew up on a farm near Justice, Manitoba, just north of Brandon. There she made her debut singing performance at age 4, and began playing piano at local dances at 12. Always hungry for new experiences and ideas, she found the ideal partner in Tommy McLeod, a dashing instructor at Brandon College, where she had studied for two years. They were married in 1945. Together they raised five children – Beth (Geoff Bilson), Ellen (John Heaney), Ian (Vicki McLeod), Brian (Lorraine Thomas) and Morna (David Firman) – and over the years lived in Regina, Saskatoon, Teheran and Ottawa.

Beryl loved, advised and worried about her children, their spouses, and her eight grandchildren – Max, Kate, Brendan, Martin, Adrienne, Kelly, Thomas and William – and had a special place in her heart for her only great-grandchild Alexander.

During the child-raising years, she always found time for volunteer work, entertaining friends on a grand scale and, no matter how busy domestic life, reading. Beryl was devoted to books and good writing, and she read constantly. A favourite and sometimes dreaded phrase with which she would start a conversation was “of course you know…” when often you didn’t. Later in life she combined her interest in books with an innate business sense as owner of the Book Bazaar, becoming an institution of Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood for more than twenty years.

Beryl also loved music and travel, passions she passed on to all her children. She was a truly gifted singer, giving her last recital at the age of 86, and singing in choirs throughout her life. She was also an accomplished pianist. She and Tommy travelled frequently to Europe, and had additional trips to West Africa, the Middle East and China. The last two places on her travel wish list were Haida Gwaii and St. Petersburg, Russia, both of which she visited in her late eighties.

Beryl’s incisive wit was often directed at people in Canada’s public life. Unlike a lot of people who just compose imaginary letters to the editor when incensed by this or that political folly, Beryl was not shy about actually writing and sending such letters. In fact, many of her observations in conversations with friends and family felt like impending Letters to the Editor. She was devoted to social justice and literacy as causes and through her life spent countless hours as a volunteer.

In 1997 Beryl and Tommy moved to Victoria for their retirement. As with most other aspects of her life, after Tommy’s death in 2008 she quickly took her affairs in hand, selling the house in Victoria and moving to an assisted living residence in New Westminster. She lived there happily, close to three of her five children and four of her grandchildren, until 2016. Late that summer her health started to fail, and the last year of her life was unfortunately one of her most difficult. Her family is very thankful to the staff of the Madison Care Centre for their compassionate care over the past year.

Beryl had many good friends, some of whom she kept in close contact with for decades; she was pleased to declare how good it was all her children were also her friends. We will all miss her caring, shrewd and determined presence.