Marian Lynn Persson, after a six-month battle with cancer, passed away peacefully in the company of her family on February 17, 2022 at the age of 70. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan on May 25, 1951. Together with her parents Ron and Bessie and her three siblings, Marian lived in a variety of beautiful locations dependent on Ron’s job with Parks Canada including Banff, Jasper, Prince Albert National Park, and Point Pelee. At the University of Calgary she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education, and, just prior to her final semester there, during the Christmas season, she married her beloved Arthur, with whom she would spend the next fifty years.
After both Marian and Arthur had completed their degrees in education, they adventurously took teaching positions in Norway House, a small and isolated community in Northern Manitoba. Many are the memories they made during this time, and for those growing up in the Persson-family it was not uncommon to hear stories about Norway House, including tales of late-night skidoo rides, supply shipments across Lake Winnipeg from Westfair foods, and the warmth of the community that helped them survive the remote and sometimes difficult conditions in which they lived.
Upon leaving Norway House, Marian and Arthur spent a couple of years in Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, and then settled into their home on Aberdeen Crescent in Regina, where Marian would live for the rest of her life. Initially, she took a position as a teacher at Grant Road School, and later moved on to teach at Haultain Community School. However, when her first child, Karl, was born, she resigned to become a full-time caregiver for him and (eventually) her three daughters, Karen, Rachel, and Christina. Things were both busy and lively during those early days, as Marian and Arthur, caring for their growing family, were also the primary caregivers for Maggie Wright, Marian’s grandmother-in-law.
As the children grew older and reached school-age, Marian took on the full-time job of homeschooling them from Kindergarten through Grade 12. With four children in all, the Persson-house was a busy place during school, which consisted of a classical education with plenty to occupy the students. As well as teaching core subjects such as reading, writing, science, and math, Marian also took them on field trips, including the memorable yearly trip to the Canadian Western Agribition, where a particular highlight was the International Stock Dog Championship Trials featuring border collies and their handlers herding sheep. She also supported her children as they pursued numerous extracurricular activities including piano, choir, a paper route, ballet, softball, curling, soccer, painting, pottery, and Bible quizzing.
However, not being one to let a little business get in the way of service to others, Marian was generous with her time and energy in a way that extended well beyond her immediate family circle. She could often be found helping out with childcare and children’s programs at church. For a number of years she volunteered to canvas for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and other charities. She loved to meet her neighbours that way. Together with Arthur on his guitar, she frequently played the flute for church services and the Cursillo weekends through which they were blessed in the later years of their lives together. And these are merely a few formal examples of the generosity Marian showed to others informally and regularly throughout her life; everyone who knows Marian and her kindness to them knows that she was generous to a fault. To know her, was to love her.
Her generosity was also evident in her relationships with new members of our extended family as the Persson-children got married, and she welcomed their spouses (Meg, Cordel, Steve, and Jason) as though they were her own children. She likewise delighted in her relationships with her grandchildren, and loved swimming in the waves with Andrew at Waskesiu, following Sullivan around on his little adventures, going on walks and playing games with Lexi, and reading books to young Gunnar, attentive beyond his years. She always had a special relationship with children, and was enjoying getting to know her grandchildren as they grew up.
Among her hobbies and interests, three in particular stand out: her love of music, her enjoyment of nature, and her love of reading. Equally at home with hymns, classical music, and folk/Celtic music, she enjoyed playing her flute with Arthur and singing in the Vivace choir. She shared Arthur’s deep love of astronomy and science. She cherished her walks around Aberdeen Crescent throughout all the seasons, and particularly enjoyed the rural beauty of Kelliher, Saskatchewan; natural excursions in Banff and British Columbia; hikes during the family’s yearly visits to beautiful Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park; and walks with Christina’s and Jason’s dog Waffle. With regard to books, she raised her children to be avid bibliophiles, reading to them frequently during lunch-breaks and at bedtime. Arthur and Marian also read books aloud together throughout their whole life and would recommend this practice to any couple as a marriage-building technique. In these later years they read books over the internet to their grandson Andrew. Some of these were recorded as complete books to be discovered by the other grandchildren.
Woven throughout all these interests, talents, and contributions, and underpinning all of them, was Marian’s deep faith. Beginning near the end of her years in university when she committed her life to Christ, Marian’s relationship with God was the rock on which she founded her entire life; from this grew her love for her family and the generosity appreciated by so many of her friends. Her Bibles were worn ragged from constant daily reading, and she loved to pray at meals and in daily devotional times with Arthur. Though she was modest about it and readily knew herself to be merely a sinner saved by the grace of God, her faith was solid, living, and practical, and remains a model for those of us who were blessed by it. Having now achieved the fulfillment of her faith, being united with Christ and other loved-ones in heaven, she would be the first to direct us to turn to Christ during this time of loss as we mourn her passing and honour the beauty of her life.
Those of us who remain in this life – witnesses to the blessing that she was and the fierce and love-filled grief caused by her passing – include her husband Arthur; her children, Karl Persson (wife Meg and son Andrew), Karen Maupin (husband Steve and son Gunnar), Rachel McNab (husband Cordel and children Lexi and Sullivan), and Christina Canfield (husband Jason); her brothers, Ken and Roy; her brother-in-law Steve Thomas (children Chris Thomas and Anne Harding); and her sister-in-law Alison Stickland. She is predeceased by her father Ron, her mother Bessie, her sister Judy Thomas, and her brother-in-law Tom Stickland.
The family welcomes those wishing to Celebrate Marian’s Life and mourn her death to attend her funeral at St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church on Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. Guests are invited either to attend in person or join us via livestream through Zoom; to access the livestream link and password, please email Christopher Reed at christopher.reed@sasktel.net. As a family, we are deeply grateful for all the love and prayers we have received from all of you, and very much appreciate your support during this time.
Throughout her life, Marian loved volunteering at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission. In lieu of flowers, please volunteer at Souls Harbour or make donations to support their ministry.

Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Marian Lynn Persson February 17th 2022..

myalternatives_regina

Death notice for the town of: Regina, Province: Saskatchewan

death notice Marian Lynn Persson February 17th 2022

mortuary notice Marian Lynn Persson February 17th 2022