Marilyn Angela Monk was born in Hanover on Wednesday, March 19, 1947 to parents Earl and Audrey (Bruegeman) Monk. She was welcomed by older brother Keith (1943), and they were later joined by younger siblings Douglas (1949), Patricia (1953), Allan (1954), Richard (1956), Ivan (1958), Donald (1960) and Sandra (1966). Sadly, Earl and Audrey’s firstborn, a daughter passed away.
As a child, Marilyn grew up on Concession 8 of Brant and attended public school at Malcolm. She went on to high school in Hanover, going as far as Grade 10. She lived with her maternal grandparents while in High School and worked at Norm’s Restaurant. Once out of school Marilyn started work at Larsen & Shaw in Walkerton where she lived with Great Aunt and Uncle Eddie and Ella Mortimer. Marilyn then moved to the Aurora / Richmond Hill area in the late 60’s and took a job at Excel Auto Parts, in quality control, until the plant closed.
In 1997, and at the age of 50, Marilyn returned to the Hanover area. She took a job at Hanover Travel, then Valve-Train Industries in Carlsruhe before spending time at West Brothers. She decided to retire in her early 60’s and created a home for herself in Walkerton.
When it came to her free time, Marilyn absolutely LOVED playing bingo. She would jump in the car and travel anywhere for a game. She also had a fondness for Scratch and Nevada tickets and bought her fair share in her day. Like all of us, she always proclaimed that her next purchase would be “the winning ticket.” It is probably not a big surprise that she also enjoyed the Hanover Slots. But alas… when Marilyn wasn’t trying her luck at lottery games she enjoyed travelling, taking in all of the United States except California yet including Alaska and all of Canada except Labrador. Marilyn drove it all and her travelling companion was Lorna Gritten. She was truly an adventurer.
We have been told that Marilyn had a real talent for watching TV with her eyes closed… yep, you read that right! Apparently it was quite common for her to fall asleep when watching some of her favourite programs, like The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. However, she would always refuse to admit she was sleeping. She is the only person we know that could stay up until 5 a.m. “watching TV” and then get up a few hours later and put in a full day of work … amazing! 🙂
In her younger years, Marilyn liked to read pocketbooks and was often teased for her knowledge of restaurants. Let’s just say she enjoyed eating meals out and knew all the restaurants in the area. She was also known to have been in the occasional accident shall we say, but like most of us always insisted it was the other person’s fault. Imagine!
Marilyn loved her family dearly and was especially close to some of her nieces and nephews. She tried to help out whenever she could. She was content with the life she lived and had few regrets. Perhaps we could all learn something about being content with life from Marilyn.
Sadly, Marilyn passed away after a short battle with cancer at Hanover & District Hospital on Monday, November 25, 2019 in her 73rd year.
Beloved sister of Keith (Shirley) of London, Patricia Carmount (Kim Peter) of Hanover, Allan (Sandy Smith) of Hanover, Rick (Pam) of R.R. #1 Hanover, Ivan (Sheila Wettlaufer) of Hanover and Sandra (Kevin) Grubb of Neustadt. Marilyn will be sadly missed by her many nieces, nephews and close friends. She was predeceased by her brothers Douglas, Don, a sister in infancy, and her parents Earl and Audrey (Bruegeman) Monk.
Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Saturday, November 30, 2019 from 11 a.m. until the time of the memorial service at 1 p.m. Inurnment at a later date in Hanover Cemetery.
Memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society or Heart & Stroke Foundation would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
