So saddened to hear Mary has passed. away. She was such a dear friend during our regimental years spent together. Always 'on parade' with a smiling face and so gracious to all. Time passes far too quickly and we don't see old friends as often as we would like.
Deepest sympathy from us both to all Mary's family.
Major John H. (Jack) Harrison and Rosemary Harrison...
I’m hard-pressed to adequately describe our connection to “Mimi,” as everyone called her, and to her husband Bob, who everyone called “Poppa.” Their oldest son Jim became my best and dearest friend in Toronto. He and I met in 1971, shortly after I arrived as an immigrant, and we remained bosom buddies until Jim died two years ago. Jim introduced my wife Christine and me to his parents, who realized that we had no family here in Canada, so they more or less adopted us, inviting us for Sunday dinner and the accompanying revelry at their house a coupe of times a month for the better part of thirty years thereafter. Christine and I remain forever grateful to them for taking in a couple of mutts like us, and then furthermore welcoming our children, others members of our family, and many of our friends to their house, repeatedly and with open arms and a ready glass of scotch or wine.
Mimi was a magnificent woman, calm and loving, but with a steely quality that she could reveal when necessary. She was truly a great, grand lady in the best sense of that term. Poppa would become our daughter Emily’s godfather, and Mimi became our son Matthew’s godmother.
Christine and I were better people for having known her. We loved her very much. May you rest in peace, Mimi, but stay out of the bar because Poppa and Jim are having a few drinks in there and it’s getting noisy, like it always did at your house on any given Sunday.
I have been thinking about Mimi, remembering the wonderfully gracious way she treated me, a total stranger, when Christine and Andy Attalai took me along with them on a visit to the Senior Hardies. Both of them were wonderful, making me feel welcome from the minute I came to their home that first time and, by the time we went home, treating me like a friend. Almost every subsequent visit to Toronto I saw them at one time or another—pool parties, great conversations and nothing mannered or phony about her--just genuine kindness. I am so glad I got to see her one last time in 2014 and know she remained the same wonderful woman she always had been.
The world has lost an exceptional woman. Mimi was so kind and warm-hearted. I loved her like a grandmother. I have thousands of fond memories with her, and Poppa, that span through my whole life. She will be greatly missed, and never forgotten. I send my love and sympathies to the whole family. May she Rest In Peace. Xo
We will miss such a gracious Lady.