Marilyn Dorothy Greaves

24 April, 1940 – 30 March 2022

Marilyn passed away on March 30, 2022 from cancer in the Palliative Care Unit of the Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital.

Marilyn was born in Cobourg Ontario on April 24, 1940, the beloved daughter of Reginald and Dorothy Martin. She adored her brother Ted who was 8 years older. Marilyn remembered her Dad taking her with him on the ferry which ran between Cobourg and Rochester, N,Y., where he worked as the purser. She attended the Cobourg Collegiate Institute and during her high school years she attended the Mary McMillan School of Ballet. After graduating high school Marilyn began her training as a nurse at the Wellesley School of Nursing at the Wellesley Hospital in Toronto, receiving her RN diploma in 1962. Her first job was working at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. In 1964 she married Harold Greaves, also from Cobourg. They spent a year in Vancouver where Marilyn worked as a nurse while Harold studied Library Science at the University of British Columbia. Shortly after their return to Toronto they moved into their home on Neville Park in the Beach area. Their son Geoffrey was born in 1971 and their daughter Kate arrived in 1974. During this time Marilyn earned a BSc in Nursing from the University of Toronto (1972) and she began her career as a Nurse Educator, working first at the Quo Vadis School of Nursing and later at Humber College. In 1987 she earned an MA from Central Michigan University and wrote her thesis on cross-cultural nursing. After Harold and Marilyn divorced she bought a house on Cedar Avenue in the Beach where she lived for 40 years.

Marilyn was full of vitality. She was always off for a swim in the lake or at the pool, or a skate, or a day of skiing, right up to the last years of her life. She had an adventurous spirit. After retirement, Marilyn began to travel, mostly solo. It started with work as a nurse educator in the middle east where she adapted to the culture while also enjoying the ex-pat life. She had a routine for her solo travels. She had her packing down to a fine art, carrying only a small bag. She loved deciding where to go next the night before and setting out on local transportation. She visited the Middle East, Turkey, Morocco, Europe, South America, Singapore, Korea, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Often she would visit friends or family or link up with a group tour. Mostly she was alone but never lonely as she was vivacious and friendly and met people along the way. On her return she would regale us all with stories of her adventures. Marilyn had many friends from all the different stages of her life and she made a point of maintaining those friendships. Marilyn moved with the grace of a ballerina. She had an elegant way of dressing and almost never threw out a piece of clothing. She was fun, enthusiastic, entertaining, and curious about the life and culture around her. She lived life to the fullest which made her terminal diagnosis easier to accept. She felt she had done everything she wanted to and was grateful for a full and rewarding life.

Marilyn is survived by her son Geoffrey and daughter Kate. She is predeceased by her parents Reg and Dorothy Martin, and her brother Ted Martin.

Marilyn’s funeral was held at the Church of St. Peter and St. Simon in Toronto on Saturday April 2, 2022, with an interment at the Heritage Cemetery of St. Peter in Coburg on Tuesday April 5, 2022. If so desired, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care or the Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital.