Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Clay, Karen, John, Mary and Melanie.
Please accept my sincere condolences on the passing of your wife and mother. I have a host of happy memories of our beloved "Maggie" and would like to share some of the humourous ones. As a young teenager, when we were neighbours on Hobart Crescent, Maggie invited me to join her on the front steps for a cigarette. She noticed the trepidation on my face and with her infectious laugh said "don't worry kid, I am not going to rat you out." She didn't. It took me a couple of tries to get my driver's licence which subjected me to her good-natured teasing. But when I did get it she rewarded me. Since I could drive a standard, Maggie let me drive her really cool Plymouth Roadrunner at full throttle up Greenback Rd. She came with me & I am sure Clay did not know about this.
I remember her half-hearted attempt at discipline (because she was obligated to do so) following the numerous parties Marc and I had while our parents were in Europe. She was trying to be serious but it ended up as a hug and a "forget about it." There was the time we tried holding each other up while dancing together at my sister Kathy's wedding reception. Clay and my father "Squire" as Clay called him, played chess. I came along one time. Marg and I sat down stairs, consumed some beverages and watched the Blues Brothers on VHS. It took nearly 4 hours to watch it as we critiqued every song. We could not agree as to who the better musican, Dan Akroyd or John Belushi. It was always entertaining to converse and hang out with her and as one of the "kids" I felt privileged to be able to call her Maggie. She was one of a kind and the coolest adult from the generation before me I have ever known.
Ian B. Carruthers, Winnipeg, MB
