Marlene Gordon

Dear friends and family,

It is with great sadness that we announce that our mother, Marlene Gordon, has died. Mom fell in her care home on Sunday, September 29^th and was taken by ambulance to the Ottawa Civic Hospital. She died six days later on October 5, 2024.  As her daughters, we took shifts by her bedside to ensure that she was always surrounded by love.

Mom was living with dementia and had recently moved to the Memory Floor of her care home, but this did not impede her zest for life. She continued to recognize us, and over the last few years enjoyed our visits and going with us on outings. A few weeks ago, she was asked what she was most grateful for, and without hesitation answered: "To be alive!"

Mom was a monumental force in our lives, and it is hard to imagine a world without her support and generosity. We are diminished without her.

If you knew her, you would not be surprised that she was well prepared in practical terms for the eventuality of her death. She wrote down all her last wishes, gathered her documents, and placed them in ‘the briefcase’ that we were to open when the time came.

It is like having Mom beside us as we navigate the tasks presented by her death. She wrote, “These pages are full of instructions, and makes me think of when you went off to Germany or the Lycée for several months. I always think you are my children and still learning and I must prepare you as best as I can. Who is going to do that for you when I am ‘gone’?????”

She asked that there be no newspaper obituary, or funeral. Public grieving was not her style. She wished to be cremated, and her ashes scattered in places of significance for her. Later this month, we will gather as a family in Ste Agathe at the grave of her beloved husband Bruce to inter her ashes beside him.

Marlene loved animals and often commented on the uncomplicated joy they brought into our lives. If you wish to make a gesture in Mom’s memory, may we suggest that you think of a way to make the lives of animals, particularly dogs, happier and more secure. Hug your pet, walk a dog, or donate to the Lanark Animal Welfare Society.

We invite you to share your memories of Marlene here on her memorial page.

With broken, but grateful hearts,

Gabrielle, Heidi and Christine

p.s. Among the documents in the briefcase were lyrics to a song; they are suffused with Marlene’s life’s credo. May we each take inspiration from her optimistic and generous spirit.

Here’s To Life

(A.Butler and P. Molinary)

No complaints and no regrets

I still believe in chasing dreams and placing bets

But I have learned that all you give is all you get

So give it all you’ve got.

I’ve had my share, I drank my fill

And even though I’m satisfied, I’m hungry still

To see what’s down another road beyond the hill

And do it all again.

So here’s to life

And every joy it brings

Here’s to life

To dreamers and their dreams…

Funny how the time just flies

How love can go from warm hellos

To sad goodbyes

And leave you with the memories you have memorized

To keep your winters warm.

But there’s no yes in yesterday

And who knows what tomorrow brings or takes away

As long as I’m still in the game

I want to play for laughs, for life, for love….

So here’s to life

And all the joy it brings

Here’s to life

To dreamers and their dreams…

May all your storms be weathered

And all that’s good get better

Here’s to life, here’s to love

And here’s to you.