MARIAN FREEMAN WHITE (SHAW)

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MARIAN FREEMAN WHITE (nee SHAW) December 30, 1916- October 24, 2003 Just as she taught us how to live well, in the last four months our mother, grandmother and friend taught us how to die well. She faced her cancer with the same deep strength and spirit of serenity with which she dealt with the challenges of life. Her life held many tragedies. In 1942 brother Bob Shaw (24) died in an RAF plane in England. In 1949 her mother and niece (9) were killed in a car-train crash. In 1954 brother Neil (32) died of multiple sclerosis and brother David spent 20 years in the grip of the same disease before his death in 1982. Her husband Larry died in 1992 after many years of struggle with manic-depression. In Aug 2000 granddaughter Meghan White (18) died in a car accident and in Nov 2000 son-in-law Keith Cooper died. Somehow, in spite of all these losses she found joy in many simple things and lived a life of reaching out and caring for the people and the world around her. Our Mum grew up in a stone farm house near Gainsborough, SK as the eldest of five children of Fred and Nina Shaw during the worst years of the Depression. As a teenager she enjoyed her friends, dances in town, and playing on a girls hockey team. She connected with the big world as an avid reader and writer for the Torchbearers Club in the Regina paper. At 17 she was off to Normal School with the $75 Grandpa Shaw got from selling a team of horses. She taught in two rural schools before her 1938 marriage to Larry White and a move to Lyleton, MB. We think his spiffy dancing was the big attraction. On the farm and later in Melita they raised four children and were active participants in most community activities. She was a founding member of the Melita Golf Club and joined Larry in lugging water by the bucket to keep the new trees alive. She was a curler, a leader in all sorts of church activities and organized the square dance club for years. She was a historian who kept the family history and this interest expanded to include countless hours spent in the development of the Melita Museum. Her talent as an artist was used to create murals there, and also numerous paintings that are cherished by family and friends alike. Mum was a great cook and last year was still baking for every event in town or making soup and pies for the family. Her passion for gardening was life long and even during her illness this summer she kept an eye on the tomatoes and flowers below her window. She was a recycler before the word was invented by finding a use for every scrap of food and every old envelope. "I never throw anything out" was her proud boast. That approach was part of her attitude to sewing as for many years she made and re-made family clothes and endless costumes. For 30 years she and Dad and then she alone spent winters in their mobile home in Weslaco, TX, where they made many new friends. She led exercise classes and helped organize park social events. The shock for the family was the year she decided to start playing pool. For her children and grandchildren she encouraged education, travel, being active in the community, and helping others. She cheered on each effort, in person or by phone, and took pride in their accomplishments. She will be deeply missed by her children, Don (Louise), Dianne Cooper, Wayne (Faye), and Beth Quesnel (Bob) grandchildren, Michele, Gerri, Jill (Geoff), Tricia, Jessica, Erin, Laurie, Amy (Chris) and Patrick; great-grandchildren, Maureen and Sam, Kalina and Cydney; sister Helen Cope; sister-in-law Joyce Shaw and many other relatives and dear friends. Donations in her memory are welcome to the United Church in Melita or Lyleton, the Meghan White Memorial Scholarship Fund, or any other charity. The Memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at the Victoria United Church in Melita on Monday, October 27 at 1:00 p.m.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 25, 2003