Margaret Janet Leslie

With great sadness we announce the passing of our mother Margaret Leslie on Saturday, August 1, 2020 at the age of 92 years. She will be lovingly remembered by her daughters Janet Berkevitch (and son-in law Greg) and Sara Lee; and many more family and friends. She was predeceased by her husband Murray Leslie and son-in-law Timothy Lee.

Our mother was an incredibly bright woman who possessed a rapier sharp wit. We loved her passion for art, literature, history and politics. During her career years mom taught high school history and later during her retirement spent many years immersed in charity work helping women struggling with addiction. It was also during those years that Mom and Dad had the courage to pick up stakes and move from Ontario to Calgary having fallen in love with being so near the mountains. Over the next several years Mom sharpened her artistic skills and painted many marvellous abstract pieces in acrylic paint which had quickly become her favourite medium.

We admired her continued desire to devour book after book which we believed contributed to how sharp her mind stayed right up to the end. She persevered through many struggles and passed that spirit onto both of us an attribute for which we will always be grateful.

Mom was remarkable in her last hours. She was gentle, good humoured and apologetic that she was causing us more sadness. We were able to express our love and reassure her that apologies weren’t needed. One of the most remarkable things about the relationship between Mom, Sara and Janet over the past year is that with all that has happened we got closer, supported each other more than ever and never once fought. Before she passed Mom expressed to us that she had been very happy, she was ready to go and most of all that she loved us. One of the nurses shared with us that one of her last statements was that she was looking forward to seeing her husband again.

We love you Mom and will miss you very much. Say hello to Dad, Tim, the kitties and puppies for us.

No formal funeral services to be held. If friends so desire, donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (www.heartandstroke.ca/donate) or the Calgary Humane Society (www.calgaryhumane.ca/donate).