Obituary of Marion Elizabeth Finnigan

Passed away on Friday, December 4, 2015 at Strathmere Lodge Long Term Care Facility, Strathroy, Ontario, her residence of several years. She was 93 years old. Wife to Edgar John Finnigan for 63 years, their union produced two sons; John Finnigan, now resident at Osoyoos, BC., and Richard Finnigan (Sue) at Christina Lake, BC. Marion was also grandmother to Charity Finnigan of London, England, Brendan Finnigan (Angela) of Edmonton, AB and Shelagh Finnigan (Christopher) of Paris, ON and great-grandmother to Corina Mariana Rodriguez, Corbin Bennett Finnigan both of Edmonton, AB, and Chase Alexandra Corbett of Paris, ON. Marion was predeceased by her parents; John (Jack) and Lola Aitken, and brothers; Bill, John and Tom Aitken and by her husband, John Finnigan. She was sister-in-law to Alma Adair, Gladys Grainger, and Beth Coxford who also predeceased her. Born August 4, 1922 at London, Ontario, ‘Marnie’ arrived at North Bay, a mid-teenager, to reside on Klock Avenue (Algonquin) immediately across that avenue from her new high school. Later she followed her husband, John, to his wartime (RCAF) station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. No shift of culture or circumstance would dampen her spirit more than the sight of her freshly laundered diapers drying in sifting coal dust, she observed. In high school, she had made several friends who’d met on occasions prompted by every requirement from solace to celebration. They called it ‘club’. Club endured almost six decades, without description, with not one rule, no formality, and most certainly, with no status assumed, conferred or implied. Sadly, from a list that includes Eunice Ringler, Dawn Webster, Doris Gigg and Doris Fellman, Marion is the last to die. Marion’s working career began in a flower shop (Jackman’s), took her to assistant positions in doctor and dentist offices and on to the Welcome Wagon organization. Along the way, she encountered one challenge beyond the job description. The dentist would not retire even though he was visibly infirm. That’s why, and how, she learned the proper way to yank teeth. Later, retired to the garden she loved, she hit upon a brilliant idea. ‘Shads’; they stink, they fly, they mate, they perish in Lake Nipissing, right at the beach before the house. So, a wheelbarrow transported heaping mounds of Shad casings to the flower beds. The blooms’ colours deepened as expected. Marion’s flowers won at the annual showing of the North Bay Horticultural Society to an extent that only that same wheelbarrow would serve to deliver the trophies to the house. A graveside interment service will take place at St. John Anglican Cemetery on Friday at 2 pm.