Ruth "Marilynn" Jones

Ruth Marilynn Jones passed away peacefully on Sunday March 26th, 2023 at the age of 86 at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital with her loving family by her side. Marilynn was predeceased by her parents, Clayton & Kathleen Amos of London, Ontario. She is survived by her children, son, Michael and daughter, Susan (David) and her granddaughter, Megan. She is also survived by her cousin, Leslie Cole of Kingston and Kenny Turnbull of Surrey, BC.

Marilynn was born in 1937 in London, Ontario and was an only child. She met her lifelong best friend, early in their school years, Marlene Galloway. Marlene would come to stay for week long visits up until she recently passed. She attended Beck Collegiate studying Secretarial Administration. When she completed her studies, she worked for various companies in London (Supertest, Sunbeam). She met her husband; Frederick Lawrence Jones and they were married in 1959. They moved to Beaconsfield, Montreal soon after they were married. Soon after, they were blessed with twins, Michael & Susan. Many a fun night was spent with their friends, Ross and Joan Flavelle, Stan & Irene Kwasniowski making up names for the twins (Holly & Barry, Ollie & Sollie, Raggety Ann & Andy. Stan & Irene made SO much baby formula in a canning kettle for the twins. The family moved to Clarkson on Stonehaven Drive in the year of Expo, 1969. The main reason for the move was due to the FLQ blowing up their mailbox outside of their apartment building. Ross and Joan Flavelle lived in the same building, the Dixie. They were so excited for Marilynn and Fred having twins, that they adopted two sets of twin girls of their own. The couple separated and Marilynn went back to school to become a Legal Secretary. She worked as a Title Searcher in the real estate industry. After the divorce, Marilynn dated a local Oakville veterinarian, Dr. Anthony Noel-Smith. They went to the Thousand Islands, boating and thoroughly enjoyed life together until he passed. The family lived in Clarkson until 1993. Marilynn moved to Oakville where she lived until she passed. She loved her home and stayed in it until the last two weeks of her life. She was very proud that it was hers. She knew she was blessed to have such an amazing son, who took care of her until the very end. She appreciated everything that Mike did for her, even though she may have never told him. She did tell Susan; how wonderful Mike was and that he ‘actually was’ a good cook. Mom really did not want a deck and Mike went and did it anyways, building it himself. She would have her morning tea on that deck every day, watching the cardinals in the bird bath and admiring the garden that Mike created for her. She knew how truly blessed she was to have Mike. The ICU doctor told Susan that only 1 percent of the people who come to this time in their life come from their home. He admired Michael and respected him deeply for caring his Mum for all these years.

Marilynn was a great fan of baseball and the blue jays, like her mother Kathleen was. Her Dad would practice catching and throwing with Marilyn and her friend Marlene long into dusk. Their hands would be red by the end of the night . Marilynn loved watching her Granddaughter, Megan play baseball too and she came to as many ball games as she could. As well Marilynn was a huge curling fan. This was taught to her by her farther while siting with him for many years after her mother had passed, Marilynn was also very proud of her cousin Ray Turnbull a legend of Canadian curing who taught the rest of the world how to curl, her favorite curler was Brad Gushue who just won the brier for the 5th time, she was very sad to have missed the game while being in the hospital.

Marilynn’s parents were incredibly special to her. The family spent every Christmas, every holiday and every birthday with her parents in London. She took care of her parents when they became ill and elderly. She was devastated when they passed away. Family was Marilynn’s LIFE.

Absolutely the love of Marilynn’s life is her only grandchild, Megan, born in 2000, affectionately referred to as “Little Bum.” When Megan was just learning to talk, she could not pronounce Grandma, so she called her “Bumma.” The name stuck and over the years, Marilynn adapted it to call herself, “Big Bum” and Megan “Little Bum” – to Megan’s absolute delight! Marilynn was a very attentive grandma, she would come to Susan’s home every single morning at 6:00AM to feed Megan, so that Susan could rest. She would stay ALL DAY. When Megan was born…Michael and Susan were “dumped.” Megan was the apple of her eye. Their tradition was New Year’s Eve sleepovers with root beer floats, junk food and Megan would ring an old cowbell, belonging to her great grandfather at 9:00PM. This tradition endured for twenty years! The last two years, Marilynn would call Megan to ring the cowbell.

Susan is going to miss the 7:00PM phone calls from her Mum that inevitably would come just as they were about to start a movie. The calls lasted about a half an hour where they discussed the weather, the Blue Jays, and the gardens and the fact that they had already spoken several times already during the day and nothing new had happened since the last call. So, they said good night and looked forward to it starting over again the next day. Susan is especially going to miss watching the Blue Jays with her Mum this season and the endless discussion of what is wrong with the bull pen and the Blue Jays hitters when they go into a slump.

Michael is going to miss having a mother who was always there for the good and bad, we sometimes argued but it never lasted and I always knew she would be there, the times she nursed me after a surgery and how she cared for and nursed her parents when they where at the ends of their lives, her cooking and especially her apple pies growing up, mom was so sad when we left Clarkson and now she is going back there for here final resting place, Sue and I are so happy we could arrange this for Mum. I spent 50 years of my life living and caring for her and am going to be so lonely without her.

Megan is going to miss a lifetime of sleepovers with Bumma. Sleepovers that started with Bumma’s homemade macaroni and cheese that moved into root beer floats and chips. Ringing the cowbell on New Years Eve is going to continue for Megan in memory of Bumma.

David is going to miss having our big holiday meals with Marilynn. In our house the matriarch sits at the head of the table and David sat across form Marilynn. I going to miss how much she enjoyed having those special dinners and especially dessert.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be given in memory of Marilynn to the ICU of the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. The family wishes to thank the nurses of the ICU for their loving care over the last two weeks.

Please take a moment to sign the book of condolences for the family.