CECILIA DONOHOE

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CECILIA DONOHOE (MARZALIK) Cecilia Donohoe, born in Toronto on October 13, 1923, died in North Vancouver on June 9, 2017, at the age of 93. In almost a century of life in Canada, Cecilia lived the full length of it, from Halifax to Vancouver. She began in Toronto, the second eldest of six, growing up in a big home near the Kingsway. Her father, Walter Marzalik, was a Polish/Russian immigrant from New York who managed the Toronto branch of Kops Bros. clothing factory, where he met Cecilia's mother, the Scotswoman Mary McPhee. Cecilia's family weathered the Great Depression but suffered their own losses, with the death of her father when she was only 16 and of her younger brother a few years later. After graduating from Loretto College in 1942, Cecilia went to work in a dental office, where she met a patient, Edward Donohoe, who had just returned from the war. Ed took her home to meet the folks, and his father was so impressed he penned a poem that began: "Can we forget / How you first came / So like a blessing / Fragrant of the May." Cecilia and Ed were married in 1947 in Our Lady of Sorrows Church and honeymooned in Buffalo. Ed's PR job with the Canadian National Railway took the couple to several cities, where they had a child at every stop: Mary, in Toronto, in 1948; Anne, in Montreal, in 1949; Pat, in Halifax, in 1954; and their final three in Winnipeg: John in 1959, Jim in 1962 and Terry in 1963. At the last stop they lived the longest, making lifelong friends in Windsor Park and at St. Bernadette Parish. Once the kids grew up, they escaped the Prairie winters in Victoria and Vancouver. After Ed died in 1992, Cecilia moved to West Vancouver, where she lived in an apartment that had a view of the water and mountains. It was close to the seawall where she loved to walk, the library where she liked to read the newspapers and Trafiq, her favourite cafe to meet friends. She spent her last three years in Amica and then Evergreen House, where she had great caregivers in between visits with family. Cecilia missed Ed and wished to rest beside him in Winnipeg; her wish will be granted on September 6, their 70th wedding anniversary. If desired, donations can be made to Covenant House, one of her favourite charities. Predeceased by her siblings John Marzalik and Mary Hoganson, she leaves siblings Theresa, Joe (Margaret) and Bernard Marzalik; six children Mary (Peter) Speck, Anne DePape, Pat (Rand) Shipman, John (Joanne), Jim (Beth) and Terry (Pam Roussin); 13 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. She had photos of them all in an album at her bedside, and sent cards to them with little gifts for as long as she could write. She was dearly loved and will be missed by all; as Ed's father wrote: "Shall we forget to bless / The love of God / That brought you here? / Not while the stars are stars / Cecilia dear."

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 17, 2017