MARION KATZ

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

MARION KATZ At the Grace Hospital on August 31, 2004, Marion Katz, aged 92, passed away after eighteen months of deteriorating health. She was predeceased by her husband of 23 years, Syd Katz; and eight brothers plus her parents, Robert and Sara Steiman. Mrs. Katz was born in Winnipeg, February 11, 1912 and grew up along Selkirk Avenue when this area was one of the most ethnically diverse ones in the country. She attended William Whyte School and St. Johns High School for her formal education, then went to work during the early days of the Great Depression at first in Winnipeg and later in her brothers restaurant in Port Arthur, ON. She was married in 1937 to Syd Katz and enjoyed a happy marriage until his premature death in 1960. During most of her life, Marion was constantly involved in a great variety of volunteer activities in the community and for the Rosh Pina Synagogue, where she began as a Brownie leader in the 1950s and eventually became president of the Sisterhood organization for two consecutive years in the mid-60s. A few years later she became president of the Aliyah Chapter of Hadassah. She was also active with the Red Cross, the Cancer Society, the CNIB, and served as secretary of the St. Johns High School Parents Committee. Besides being an avid mah-jong player for many years, Marion took up bridge and became quite proficient at this game as well. In addition, she learned sculpting and watercolour painting. Her travels took her to Mexico, Great Britain, Italy, and the Middle East. She was consistently involved not only with her extended family, whom she regularly visited in California, Calgary and Vancouver, but also with old friends who she felt were socially isolated and needed frequent invitations to her home on holidays and special occasions to bring them closer to the mainstream. Early in 2003, she began to be increasingly plagued by unstable angina, macular degeneration, and Pagets disease so that these, plus the effects of a fractured hip, finally claimed her. Marion Katz is survived by her son Edward; and 16 nieces and nephews. She got along with everyone: friends, family, coworkers, neighbours, acquaintances and strangers. She was kind, compassionate, generous, loving and caring, and thats probably why she lived to the age of 92.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 08, 2004