Obituary for Margaret Elinor Adams (Cleveland)
Margaret (Margie) Elinor Adams (née Cleveland) April 9. 1935 to January 9, 2021.
Margie passed away peacefully in her 86th year in Pembroke, Ontario. Born and raised in Blenheim, Ontario, she maintained a lifelong connection to her beloved hometown and friends and family there. Margie taught kindergarten in Kingsville, and at Melody Road and Gulf Stream Public Schools in Weston, Ontario, before “retiring” from teaching in the mid 1960’s to raise her two children. In 1969 she and husband Paul purchased a cottage on Livingstone Lake near Algonquin Provincial Park. “The lake” became a central point to the family’s lives and remains so to this day. Margie’s passion for wildflowers, berry-picking and the natural world became her refuge.
She lived a full life of many interests. Achieving grade 10 in piano, she accompanied many high school and church events in Blenheim. Her piano was an essential teaching aid in her kindergarten classes. Margie survived 40 years of lymphoma and volunteered for many years at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital, giving back the care she received there. She nurtured a love of the north, traveling to Kluane, Yukon, on her own in 1991 to visit son Ian who was working there. She returned to the north as a board member with Strings Across the Sky, an organization devoted to bringing fiddling tradition back to Inuit communities across the arctic. She also took up the cello later in life. Margie developed a love of quilting, making beautiful creations for all her grandchildren and many other relatives. Her prize achievement was permission from renowned Inuit artist Kenojuak to recreate her iconic owl paintings as quilts to raise funds for Strings Across the Sky.
In 1995, following Paul's retirement, they moved to Thornton, ON, and their dream home in the woods where Margie created a wildflower landscape in a hardwood forest. Nurturing her favourite flowers and shrubs from across southern Ontario, their home was an island of natural wonder among spreading suburban development.
Margie is survived by her loving husband of 58 years, Paul Adams and their two children: Beth-Lynn (Hal Atcheson) of Pembroke, ON, and Ian (Kari Stuart-Smith) of Cranbrook, BC, and five grandchildren: Sean, Glen, Colin, Erin and James. Margie was predeceased by her parents Charles (Caper) and Reata Cleveland and her sister Charlene (Villeneuve).
A private service will be held in Pembroke. A celebration of Margie’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Margie’s memory would be appreciated to either Friends of Algonquin Park or your local dementia society.
Margie passed away peacefully in her 86th year in Pembroke, Ontario. Born and raised in Blenheim, Ontario, she maintained a lifelong connection to her beloved hometown and friends and family there. Margie taught kindergarten in Kingsville, and at Melody Road and Gulf Stream Public Schools in Weston, Ontario, before “retiring” from teaching in the mid 1960’s to raise her two children. In 1969 she and husband Paul purchased a cottage on Livingstone Lake near Algonquin Provincial Park. “The lake” became a central point to the family’s lives and remains so to this day. Margie’s passion for wildflowers, berry-picking and the natural world became her refuge.
She lived a full life of many interests. Achieving grade 10 in piano, she accompanied many high school and church events in Blenheim. Her piano was an essential teaching aid in her kindergarten classes. Margie survived 40 years of lymphoma and volunteered for many years at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital, giving back the care she received there. She nurtured a love of the north, traveling to Kluane, Yukon, on her own in 1991 to visit son Ian who was working there. She returned to the north as a board member with Strings Across the Sky, an organization devoted to bringing fiddling tradition back to Inuit communities across the arctic. She also took up the cello later in life. Margie developed a love of quilting, making beautiful creations for all her grandchildren and many other relatives. Her prize achievement was permission from renowned Inuit artist Kenojuak to recreate her iconic owl paintings as quilts to raise funds for Strings Across the Sky.
In 1995, following Paul's retirement, they moved to Thornton, ON, and their dream home in the woods where Margie created a wildflower landscape in a hardwood forest. Nurturing her favourite flowers and shrubs from across southern Ontario, their home was an island of natural wonder among spreading suburban development.
Margie is survived by her loving husband of 58 years, Paul Adams and their two children: Beth-Lynn (Hal Atcheson) of Pembroke, ON, and Ian (Kari Stuart-Smith) of Cranbrook, BC, and five grandchildren: Sean, Glen, Colin, Erin and James. Margie was predeceased by her parents Charles (Caper) and Reata Cleveland and her sister Charlene (Villeneuve).
A private service will be held in Pembroke. A celebration of Margie’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Margie’s memory would be appreciated to either Friends of Algonquin Park or your local dementia society.