Mary (Walton) Greig
November 25, 1912 - July 30, 2013
Mary Greig passed away quietly, in the early morning of July 30, 2013, at Stanford Place, Parksville, BC, where she had been in residence for the past few years. She was in her 101st year and was the last survivor of the six children born to Mary and Luther Walton, of Rocanville, Saskatchewan.
Left to remember her with fondness are her daughter, Maxine Cox, of Parksville, BC, her son & daughter-in-law, Ronald & Anne Greig, of Binscarth, Manitoba, seven grandchildren, 19 G-Grandchildren, 8 G-G-Grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mary Greig was a survivor. Left on her own, following WW II, while holding down a full time job as switchboard operator at the Canadian Wheat Board in Winnipeg, she managed to purchase a home where she raised her two children. This at a time when women, in the workforce, were not tremendously well paid. In later years, it did tickle her sense of humour to see that her indexed pension resulted in her receiving better ‘pay’ in retirement than she had ever realized during her working life. As it evolved, she also collected her pension for a period longer than her actual years of employment with the Wheat Board.
Mary Greig had always had a dream of moving to the West Coast. In the 1940s she put things in motion to fulfill that dream but had to re-group when her mother, Mary Walton, was struck by a streetcar in Winnipeg, and seriously injured. Some 40 years later, after retirement, Mary finally made the move, taking up residence on Vancouver Island, at James Bay in Victoria.
She loved the area and became a volunteer for any number of community associations there, including James Bay United Church. Also, at James Bay United, she was one of a committee of four who started and ran the thrift shop; a very successful venture which largely funded the church from that time on.
There will be a service of interment, the date of which will be announced later.
Her ashes will be settled into the columbarium of the Memorial Society of BC. The family would like to offer a special ‘thank you’ to Dr. Sulz, and the caring staff of the Fairview Wing of Stanford Place, in Parksville, where she received loving care during the last few years of her life.