Community builder Marg Ewing set to celebrate 80th birthday

By TINA BEAUCHAMP

Marg Ewing has played an important role in the Beach community for decades, and she will be celebrating her 80th birthday on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Marg was the first born of three siblings and nine cousins who grew up on a sheep and cattle property at Chintin Grange, 40 miles from Melbourne, Australia. The farm had been in the family since 1859.

She attended a small primary school at Darraweit Guim, consisting of 20 students and one teacher before going to boarding school in Melbourne at just 10 years of age.

It was at boarding school where her love of sport really began along with making many Australian friends that she still keeps in contact with today.

Marg then went on to Teachers College in Bendigo, 100 miles from Melbourne, and taught in several country towns before leaving in 1969 on her World Trip!

First stop was Halifax and then she made her way to Toronto and started teaching in 1972 at Wilkinson Public School on Donlands Avenue in Toronto.

The kids took to her right away. With Marg’s adventurous spirit, athleticism and her love for the outdoors the students especially loved the extended recess time that Marg gave them and the many field trips she took with them.

After teaching for a few years she went on a whirlwind trip and then came back to Toronto and back to teaching.

She later worked at Kew Beach School in the supportive reading clinic; helping children that struggled with their reading.

In 2009 Marg and her sister Jenni walked 490 miles along the Camino, Ronsavalace to de Santiago, Spain and a challenging 14-day walk along the Larapinta Trail in Central Australia in 2011.

A few years later Marg organized a hike along the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland with a group of friends.

Marg has returned to Australia many times and has always been there for her nieces and nephews weddings, funerals and special family occasions.

She has been married to Bruce (who turns 90 in June) for 36 years.

Marg has three children from her previous marriage – Sarah (48- has Rett Syndrome), Thomas (46 – girlfriend Miki), and Scott (43). Marg also has two stepchildren – Bruce’s kids from his previous marriage — Mike (59 – wife Lisa and two kids – Tristen 25 and Dylan 23) and Kris (55 – husband Jim).

Marg took care of Sarah at home for more than 35 years. Sarah was well known in the Beach as Marg and Bruce integrated Sarah into the community with their many walks along Queen Street East every day.

This is one of the reasons Sarah has been able to keep fairly mobile with her disability.

“We used to laugh about how Sarah used to get all the ‘Hellos’ on their walk – as they had integrated so well, making Sarah part of the community – a beautiful thing,” said Marg’s stepdaughter Kris.

Sarah now lives at Reena House – a 24-hour care in a home for adults living with individual and developmental disabilities. Marg continues to visit with Sarah each week and organizes programming, music therapy and Pegasus group.

At 21, Sarah no longer had a place in public schools and started with the Pegasus organization that was founded by Marie Perrotta in 1994.

Marg served as a board member with Pegasus from 1994 to 2020.

“Back in 1993 Marg and I became aware that young adults who would need support for their whole lives, would face long wait lists at established agencies. Most likely they would have nothing to do and nowhere to go after finishing public school at age 21,” said Pegasus founder Perrotta.

“As I began immersing myself in all the aspects of founding, operating and providing leadership to a new agency, Marg assumed a major support role, which she continued for over 25 years. Marg became every agency’s dream — the person you could always count on. The person who would get the job done, efficiently and with good humour.”

Marg had many roles as Pegasus board member including being actively involved in fundraising events.

“In the early days, Pegasus had to fundraise pretty constantly, and this found us doing everything from ice skating to face painting. We held epic garage sales, went bowling, delivered hundreds of buckets of cookie dough in frigid weather, held gala evenings, and of course cooked and baked,” said Perotta.

“Marg was without fail part of these teams and she often helped the team get and stay organized. She learned the ropes and adapted as Pegasus grew and changed. Marg approached her work as a Board member with the same intelligence and good sense, never forgetting Pegasus’ roots and its unique philosophy.”

Pegasus provides adults with developmental disabilities meaningful activities and community engagement to facilitate growth, dignity, and choice.

“Marg’s many friends joined her and contributed their own skills, showing an impressive commitment to Marg and to Sarah. These friends became key members of the community we so wanted to build around Pegasus. While there are many reasons that a person contributes to their community, I always felt that Marg’s contributions stem first of all from a deep and broad based generosity. This seems to underlie everything she does,” said Perotta.

Marg still participates in running bingo for Pegasus one to two times a week to fundraise and raise awareness. She also attends Pegasus events at the Marty Eckler Centre with Sarah.

Along with her husband Bruce, Marg opened The Great Escape Book Store in 1996 on Kingston Road and ran it for 15 years before selling it to Katya Nosko (who had worked part time for them) and who remains a good friend today.

That was just another way that Marg and Bruce were seen as community builders as friends from all their different chapters visited the book store not just for books but for a chance to visit with Bruce and Marg. It was (and still is) a very warm, friendly and welcoming place for the community.

Marg was and remains a key member of the Parkview Hills Sponsorship Group that brought two Syrian families to Canada, the first family in 2016.

During the first year Marg played a major role in settling the three older children into school, providing homework support and also was instrumental in getting the two boys into a high level soccer league.

Her support of the family has remained constant and she is the de facto grandmother to the two youngest – Julia and Mounir.

She regularly visits them in Oshawa, organized a birthday party for Julia when she turned nine and recently attended a volleyball tournament.

She is always there for the family whatever their needs and makes sure they get to experience fun events like going to the island in the summer.

Marg is now also a great support to Bruce who is dealing with Multiple Systems Atrophy (Parkinson’s-like) and in need of care.

And in between all the time she spends giving to others she plays tennis, pickleball, squash, table tennis through her membership at Mayfair Lakeshore (sometimes two to three different sports in one day).

She has a core group of “squash ladies” that she hangs out with and they continue to organize a group trip once a year. The first one was to Newfoundland in 2019.

She also loves to hike and is a regular golfer. And her favourite Toronto sports team is the Blue Jays.

Marg has a huge rich circle of faithful friends and is a fabulous presence in their lives.

She is known amongst some of her friends as the “border collie” for her knack of herding everyone together for various events.

From her many friends, we wish Marg a happy upcoming 80th birthday.