Marion Grace Gray (née Manette)

It is with great sadness that the family of Marion Grace Gray (née Manette), of Halifax, announce the passing of our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt on March 28, 2025, at the venerable age of 100. Marion is survived by her children: Robert (Tanis McLaughlin), Bruce (Cynthia Langlands), Heather (Steven Parker), and Glen (Werner Bassen); her grandchildren: Lesley (Graham Hart), Melanie, and Adam (Amanda Forsey) Taylor, Jennifer (Cody Barrington) and Olivia Gray; and her great-grandchildren: Phantom-Leo Gray and Leah Hart, who were the apples of her eyes. She is also survived by her sisters: Cecilia LaPierre, who was Marion’s best friend, and is universally known as “Mick” or “Mickey”, and Dianne Warner; her sister-in-law, Nola Manette; as well as many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert “Bob” Gray, her parents, Francis and Ammie Manette (née LeBlanc), and by her siblings: Jack “Jackie”, Gerald (Shirley Chapman), Theresa, Thelma (Harold Askew), Francis “Frank” (Marie Langlois), and Albert. Marion was born on October 24, 1924 to Francis William Manette and Ammie LeBlanc of Birmingham Street in Halifax. She was the second eldest of nine children, which meant she and her older sister Thelma would often help their mother with the younger siblings. She would be sent out to buy peanut butter for the family, which at that time was sold by the pound wrapped in paper, and Marion would eat it off of her fingers all the way home. She loved ice skating at Chocolate Lake, as well as at the old arena on Pepperell Street, where it cost 50 cents to skate. She reminisced about working at Simpson’s department store and at Aronoff’s Shoe Store on Barrington Street, and had said that she wished she could have continued working after she was married. During the Second World War, Marion also worked at Clayton’s, sewing buttons onto the soldiers’ uniforms. Marion fondly recalled evenings spent at Club 83 on Hollis Street, which was a church-organized social club for teens and young adults to gather, socialize, and dance. It was here that Marion met her future husband, Bob, as well as her dear friend and future sister-in-law, Maria Scaravelli. Throughout Marion and Bob’s courtship, they also enjoyed dancing at the St. Mary’s Boat Club. They were married on September 17, 1951, and lived together on Deacon Street before moving to their forever home in Wedgewood in 1958. She continued to reside in their cherished home for 67 years, right up until the final two weeks of her life. Bob and Marion raised four children together and were married for 40 years. They would spend every summer together at a cottage in Sunnybrook, NS, which was like a second home for the family. When the children were a bit older and had taken up downhill skiing, the family would drive down to Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine every winter for vacations. Although Marion was in her late forties, her children convinced her to give the sport a try. She immediately fell in love with it, and skiing became one of her life’s greatest pleasures, which she was able to continue until the age of 75. Bob and Marion were members of a bowling league, and Marion was also involved for years in their neighbourhood’s bridge club. Shortly before Bob passed away in 1992, he asked Marion’s sister Theresa to look after his wife when he was gone. Theresa took the promise she made to Bob to heart, and moved in with Marion for the next 18 years, until Theresa’s passing in 2010. Marion and Theresa were “Grandma and Theresa” to Marion’s grandchildren, who were none the wiser as to how unusual it was to have a bonus grandparent. Marion and Theresa had tremendous fun together playing cards, doing jigsaw puzzles, berry-picking, making jam and mustard pickles, wintering in Florida and renting a cottage every summer on the South Shore, often at Lake Mushamush or on Herman’s Island with the grandchildren. After Theresa’s passing, Marion’s sister Mickey began to come and stay with her every weekend. This was a custom that continued for the rest of Marion’s life, and she so looked forward to those visits. It seemed there weren’t enough jigsaw puzzles in the world for the two of them, as it was a popular pastime. Marion was also an avid reader, consuming more books in a month than most people would in a year. She embraced the advent of the e-reader, though could rarely tell you the title of what she was currently reading on her Kindle, as she went through them so quickly. She would always be gifted books for Christmas, and it was not uncommon to find her a quarter of the way through a new book before we’d even made it to Boxing Day. She was a devoted baseball fan, initially of the Montréal Expos, and later of the Toronto Blue Jays. She rarely missed watching a game, and took several trips to Toronto and to Dallas to watch the Jays play in person. She pronounced Encarnación as “Incarnation”, and couldn’t believe when Vladdy Jr. cut his hair. Marion had a talent for knitting and produced beautiful Lopi sweaters and countless pairs of baby booties, slippers, and mittens for her family over the years. She had an unrivalled sweet tooth with a particular proclivity for anything lemon flavoured. She was the queen of ingressive pulmonic speech (inhaling while saying “yes”), and had numerous ways of shaking her head, all of which would convey a different meaning. She loved watching game shows on television, especially Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. She was stubborn to the last. Marion was the pinnacle of propriety; in 100 years, she never once tried alcohol, nor did anyone ever hear her utter a word of profanity. She was non-confrontational, and if she heard of someone else’s wrongdoing, she would shake her head and say “Isn’t that terrible”. She was kind, generous with her time, and was unnecessarily apologetic; never wanting to burden anyone with her needs. The Catholic Church was a very important part of Marion’s life, and she faithfully attended and supported Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish (later, Saint Benedict Parish) for nearly all of her adult life. Whenever she was asked what the secret is to living to 100 years of age, she would always shrug and offer a platitude like “You just never know”. We strongly suspect it was her ritual of drinking day-long steeped Tetley Orange Pekoe, religiously consumed three times a day, that preserved her and blessed us with her presence for so many years. We are very grateful to have had Marion as such an integral part of our lives for as long as we did and she will be dearly missed. May she rest in peace. Donations in memory of Marion may be made to Saint Benedict Parish, or to a charitable organization of your choosing. A funeral service will be held at Saint Benedict Parish, 45 Radcliffe Drive, Halifax at 11:00am on May 24, 2025.