Marjorie Marich

Marjorie MARICH, age 94, died peacefully on July 19, 2025 at Brock Fahrni Pavilion in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

She was born on December 27, 1930 to parents Gordon Frederick BLACK and Alberta “Birdie” (HILL) BLACK in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. She grew up at 181 Bay Street, Gravenhurst, Ontario. The house is now known as the Albert Hill Building. The house was built by her grandfather Albert HILL Sr (former Mayor 1913-1914) and it received a Muskoka Heritage Foundation Stewardship Award in 2001 and was added to the Municipal Register in 2012. Albert Sr was a noted blacksmith, evidenced by the wrought iron fence on the property. He owned a large farm, and also a livery stable, where two sons worked. They are all buried in the HILL family plot in Lakeview Cemetery. Marjorie gave all her HILL family historical records and photos to the Gravenhurst Library Archives.

Her parents Gordon and Birdie were teachers in Gravenhurst, and Gordon was a Canadian Army veteran of WW1 (CEF England) and WW2 (POW Camp 30). They operated a general store in the front of the house. The family vacationed at a cottage on a point at Pine Lake which was owned by Birdie’s father Albert HILL Sr. The girls would play with all the HILL cousins.

Marjorie married George MARICH and later divorced; they had no children. She taught school in Barrie, Ontario at the nearby Canadian Forces Base Borden. She also taught in a Canadian Forces Base School in Ruhr Valley, Germany, which operated from 1953-1971. She moved to Vancouver BC and taught kindergarten in several schools and then at False Creek Elementary School for twenty years. She loved the children. She enjoyed attending the BC Retired Teachers’ Association meetings. She was a strong supporter of the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto where her younger sister Catherine NUNNEY worked for many years, dedicated to improving the lives of kids with disabilities. This care was not available for their little brother Kenny.

When the parents died, Marjorie and Catherine spent summer vacations in their home in Gravenhurst. They delighted in going on the city’s Muskoka Lake steamship boat cruises, and especially loved their trip to Ireland where they stayed in the same castle where their mother Birdie had stayed. The sisters visited back and forth in Vancouver and Toronto. After her sister died, Marjorie continued to spend summer vacations in Gravenhurst. Untill her recent illness, she enjoyed cheering the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs hockey teams and was also a Blue Jays baseball fan; during past visits to Toronto, she and her sister Catherine went to a lot of baseball games. Marjorie inherited the love of books from her mother Birdie, and she enjoyed having beautiful flowers on her balcony in Vancouver.

Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents Gordon Frederick BLACK (1976) and Alberta “Birdie” (HILL) BLACK (1974), her two siblings: brother Kenneth Gordon BLACK who died in 1950 at age 11 and sister Catherine Leone (BLACK) NUNNEY (2005). Nephew Kenneth Robert NUNNEY died in about 2016.

She was the third grandchild born to Joseph Henry and Phebe Ann (ASHBY) BLACK of Bexley, Ontario. She is survived by first cousins Phoebe McLELLAND, Lorna McNABB, Marilyn McINTOSH, Don BLACK, Sylvia CARSCADDEN, Catherine BLACK, and Ernie BLACK. First cousins Norman Albert BLACK, his sister Doris KESSELL, and Peter BLACK are deceased.

Funeral Service will be held at 1:30 pm on Monday, August 18, 2025, at CAVILL-TURNER FUNERAL HOME, 215 – 1 Bay Street, Gravenhurst, Ontario P1P 1H1 Phone: (705) 687-3242.

Interment will follow at the Lakeview Cemetery, 230 Wagner Street, Gravenhurst, Ontario P1P 1C3. The BLACK family is of Irish heritage and a piper will bid farewell at the graveside. Live Streaming will be available.