On November 7, a few weeks shy of her 89th birthday, Marion Simpson (nee Henderson) passed away peacefully at the McCormick Home long-term care facility.
Marion was born December 1, 1935, the youngest child of Cuyler and Eva Henderson. She grew up in a loving home in North London with siblings Murray and Barbara. Her athletic prowess was revealed early when she joined the neighbourhood boys for baseball games on the grounds of St. Peter’s Seminary at the end of the street. She could hit and throw better than most of the boys and could run twice as fast. She became a local legend in the summer playground programs run by the city as she won virtually every track and field event. Brother Murray (by then a Mustang football and track star) suggested his 16 year old sister join him at the 1952 Olympic Games trials. She thought it would be fun to watch her brother compete but he convinced her to run. She kept winning all her heats and finished with bronze in the finals, earning a spot on the Olympic team.
Marion loved school and excelled at Ryerson Public School (valedictorian) and Central High School (valedictorian and vice-president) and she set her sights on becoming a teacher, enrolling at the University of Western Ontario. Her sister Barb suggested Marion join her on the cheerleading team as there were not many organized women’s sports in that era. Marion’s athleticism changed cheerleading from a traditional singing support group into the gymnastic level spectacle Mustang cheerleading is known for today. She would marvel at today’s Mustang cheerleaders and remind us that her team did the first human pyramid.
She began her working career back at Ryerson Public School teaching grade five students and became known as a caring, esteem-building teacher admired by her students, many who remember her fondly today. She married a fellow teacher from Western, Don Simpson and began to raise their four children in a new home in west London.
Eldest daughter Jan (deceased 2020) shared a mutual love of the arts and together they discussed favourite poems, debated book club choices, toured art galleries and spoke every Sunday about their church choirs. Daughter Christine is her kindred spirit, and nothing made Marion prouder than watching her daughter on TV delivering a feature sports interview as a pioneering female sport broadcaster. Her boys, Dave and Craig, always knew as young men that their greatest cheerleader, Marion, would be in the stands for every hockey game they played on the way to the pros. Marion even attended some school classes on their behalf to assist her boys along the way as she valued education and wanted to ensure that they would keep all their doors open, as she liked to say.
Marion was the family poet and wrote epic congratulatory tales for every family milestone – birthday, anniversary or retirement. She was an accomplished artist who enjoyed a long membership with the Brush and Palette Club. She was a lifelong learner going to lectures on campus and taking courses at Western’s Society for Learning in Retirement. She had a well-defined moral compass that guided her actions and nary a bad word, nor alcohol crossed her lips. Yet she also was incredibly non-judgmental, and her welcoming smile was something she gifted to everyone, no matter their station in life. She’d welcome her kids’ teenaged friends to the cottage one day, and open her home to refugee families arriving in Canada the next. She entertained, fed and encouraged homesick African students on exchange to Western, and served warm meals for homeless folks at her beloved Colborne Street United Church. To know Marion, was to know love.
Craig’s children, Dillon, Kennedy, Riley and Samantha, grew up in Western Canada but got annual visits from their grandma and regularly updated her with noteworthy accomplishments. Dave’s (Diana Inculet) children, Ariana, Elena and Corina had the good fortune to live close to Grandma. As children they had many after school sessions with Grandma, reading, putting on plays, learning to throw a football properly and she never missed an academic, artistic or athletic event.
She will be greatly missed by her great grandchildren, Stevie, Halsey and Eva.
In her last day, her family was at her bedside and her granddaughters were able to sing her beloved Western Mustang and Central Golden Ghosts fight songs as a final send-off. For all who knew her, she was their greatest cheerleader.
Many thanks to the outstanding caregivers at McCormick Home for their support these last four years. To honour Marion’s life, please consider donating to McCormick Home Foundation or the Western Mustang “Adopt a Mustang” program.
Click here to view a memorial slideshow: Marion Simpson Photos