Dedicated. Kind. Unflappable.

Marla Somersall devoted her life to people in need

By: Zoe Pierce

Whether it was helping women build businesses in rural Tunisia, leading homeless and addiction support organizations or delivering meals to vulnerable Manitobans, Marla Somersall spent her life dedicated to lessening other people’s suffering.

Over a career that took her from North Africa to Prince Edward Island and back to Manitoba, Somersall held leadership roles in a range of social service and non-profit organizations, always drawn to work that centred on supporting people in need.

Most recently, she served as executive director of Meals on Wheels Winnipeg — a non-profit organization that provides meals to people who are unable to prepare them for themselves.

Kelly Scrivener, client co-ordinator with Meals on Wheels, said Somersall was a very calm and respectful person who led with gentle direction and fostered a collaborative workplace.

“She was a really positive, wonderful human being who really cared about the community and cared about vulnerable people in the community,” Scrivener said. “And I think that came through in everything she did.”

Somersall died March 5 at the age of 61, about two years after taking on the role at Meals on Wheels.

“She was just a really honest person,” said her daughter, Sonia Gaiess. “Who you met was really who she was.”

Born in Winnipeg in 1964 and raised in Souris, Somersall returned to Winnipeg to attend the University of Manitoba before deciding to pursue social work. She went on to earn her bachelor of social work at the University of British Columbia.

“I can’t even imagine her having worked in a different type of field other than social services, where you’re focused on supporting people in need,” Gaiess said.

After graduating, Somersall moved to Tunisia, where she spent six years working with government and community organizations to develop social enterprise programs for rural women. The initiatives focused on helping women build income-generating skills through crafts, food production and small business development.

“I think it was what she loved to do, and she brought a very similar model back when she came back to Canada,” Gaiess said.

Returning to Manitoba, Somersall became executive director of Samaritan House Ministries in Brandon, a non-profit that supports people experiencing poverty, food insecurity and homelessness.

While in that role, she received national recognition for her work in the food bank sector, earning the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions.

As Somersall’s other daughter, Nöelle, moved east for school, Somersall also made a move of her own, heading to Prince Edward Island, where she became executive director of the PEI Humane Society.

“Animal welfare is its own beast, but really at its core, she approached it as a social worker,” Gaiess said. “I think she really added a lot to that organization because of her background.”

Jennifer Harkness, who was hired by Somersall as communications and development director at the Humane Society, saw first-hand how that background shaped her leadership.

“She saw everyone as equal, and that was what was truly remarkable about her,” Harkness said. “I know we worked with animals. But animals are often connected to people that live in poverty and abuse and neglect as well, so some of the problems that we see in animal abuse and neglect are also connected to the other things in our society, and so Marla’s skills, because she had worked in those areas for so much of her life in non-profit organizations, working with people, working with people in poverty, in food insecurity, she understood all of that, how these worlds connect to each other.”

Among the many memories Harkness has of Somersall is one involving a cat who refused to leave her alone.

Smitty arrived at the Humane Society with health issues, and staff decided to keep him at the shelter while they worked on improving his health. He eventually became the unofficial shelter cat.

“He’d always end up on Marla, on top of her desk,” Harkness said. “And she would complain non-stop about Smitty, and would be like ‘Get out of here, you’re bothering me.’ But at the same time, she was falling in love with him and eventually Smitty became her cat. It just makes me smile thinking about the two of them.”

Somersall later returned to Manitoba, continuing her work in the non-profit sector with the Winnipeg Children’s Access Agency, where she supported supervised visitation services for families navigating the child welfare system.

“She just had such a fantastic, calm, professional and dignified way of supporting people, even when they were at the end of their options within the system,” Gaiess said.

Somersall then went on to lead the Behavioural Health Foundation, an addictions treatment organization, before taking on her final role at Meals on Wheels Winnipeg.

Her leadership style became apparent almost immediately, according to Scrivener. About six months after Somersall joined the organization, the office building was flooded, forcing staff to respond to the unexpected crisis.

Rather than panic, Scrivener said, Somersall quickly organized the response, co-ordinating with the building management company and insurance providers while arranging for the office to be renovated.

“She was a very calm, quiet individual, especially in the face of adversity,” Scrivener said. “She just handled everything so calmly, and she was so capable.

“She took on a great deal of large projects for us. Some she was able to complete, and some she had just started before she passed away. So she’s left us in a very positive and strong position as an organization.”

Outside of work, Somersall loved gardening and cooking, often spending weekends preparing meals and listening to music.

“I don’t think you would be able to pull that answer out of her if you tried,” Gaiess said when asked what her mother would have been most proud of.

“She wasn’t the kind of person who wanted validation or needed any of it. She knew what she was doing had an impact on people, and that’s all she really cared about.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca