Margaret Irene Montague Geldart

After battling her cancer with incredible strength, dignity, and grace, Margaret passed away in Victoria on October 23, 2015. Her daughter Anne and the wonderful caregivers at Amica at Douglas House were by her side, so she left surrounded by loving people who helped her through her difficult final hours. She also knew that her daughter Leslie, though unable to be present, was with her in spirit.

Margaret was born in Victoria on March 29, 1934. Her parents, Harry and Jessie Montague, had a commercial greenhouse on Shelbourne Street, where they grew carnations. Margaret had an older brother, Gordon, and two younger brothers, Ken and Bob. In the early 1940s, the family moved to Saanichton, where Harry and Jessie took over management of Woodwynn Farm. In the late 1940s, they moved to Penticton, where they established another commercial greenhouse and a retail shop called Monty’s Flowers.

In 1957, having graduated as a registered nurse from Royal Jubilee Hospital, Margaret married Alf Johnson in Victoria. They had two daughters, Anne (now married to Pat Brennan and living in Richmond) and Leslie (now married to Guy Robertson and mother of JD Robertson and living in Penticton). Margaret and Alf were divorced in 1974.

Margaret married Frank Ploshay in 1980, and they moved down the road to Sidney. He died in 1982. She married Ernie Geldart in 1984. They spent many happy years exploring Canada and the United States in their motorhome, until Ernie died in 1996.

Margaret was always on the move. She visited the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Botswana, Zambia, Ireland, Britain, much of Europe, Mongolia, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, the Canadian Arctic, Haida Gwaii, and anywhere else she could get to. Just three months after her leg was amputated in 2008, she went on a cruise to Alaska, and a month after that she took a long ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Nothing stopped her. When they watched documentaries on TV, Anne would say, “Have you been there?” and Margaret would usually reply, “Yup.”

Even more than travelling, Margaret loved needlework. She might as well have been born with a needle in her hand. She enjoyed garment sewing, quilting, embroidery, tatting, cross-stitching, knitting, crocheting, and other handwork involving textiles. She used to joke that even her nursing career involved needles. She won many ribbons for her beautiful quilts at the PNE and at shows of the Victoria Quilters’ Guild and the Vancouver Quilters’ Guild.

Please join us for a celebration of Margaret’s life and a display of her quilts at 2 pm on November 4 at First Memorial Funeral Home, 4725 Falaise Drive, Victoria. In lieu of flowers, we would be grateful for donations in Margaret’s name to the Canadian Cancer Society, the SPCA, and other animal rescue organizations. Margaret loved dogs, but she was a cat person at heart.