Mary Munson.Courtesy of family
Mary Diane Munson: Wife. Journalist. Rug hooker. Author. Born Nov. 11, 1950, in Campbellton, N.B.; died Oct. 12, 2022, in Halifax, of pancreatic cancer; aged 71.
Mary’s thoughtfulness, especially for family and friends, never left her, even in her final days when she comforted those who had come to comfort her. With typical grace, she accepted the end was coming while none of us could quite believe that her vibrant presence was leaving our lives.
Love, the giving and receiving of it, defined Mary’s life. First, as a “child of the Manse,” as she liked to describe herself, nurtured in a loving home with her United Church minister father, James, her mother Dora, and older brothers, David and Jim.
Mary had a curious nature and empathy for people and their stories: Journalism was a natural fit for a career. After graduation from Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) she began what would be a distinguished 37 years at the CBC, working in Toronto, Charlottetown and Halifax on such programs as Midday, The Journal, The National, as well as Man Alive and Land and Sea.
Mary’s life was transformed in two important ways when she moved to Halifax to work. She took on a daunting professional challenge when she followed, for three years, a young mother dealing with terminal cancer. Mary’s powerful documentary, Angela’s Journey, detailing Angela’s mission to educate people about cancer before her own death, won several awards, including an Atlantic Journalism Award and one from the U.S. Foundation for Biomedical Research.
Mary found personal fulfilment in Halifax when she met Dave Cameron, a steadying force in a life that had had its romantic ups and downs. They were married in 2011. When Mary addressed Dave as “Husband,” you couldn’t mistake the sense of wonder in her voice that, late in life, she’d been so fortunate to find love and bask in the evident happiness it gave her. Mary welcomed a ready-made family of stepdaughters Danielle and Liana, their husbands Bertram and Cliff, and grandchildren Takara, David, Roughan and Rhys. Rhys helped Mary indulge her one true weakness: shopping. Such was their bond that when eight-year-old Rhys was in Venice with her mother strolling the Grand Canal, she remarked: “I’d rather be in the dollar store shopping with Mary.”
A move to Dave’s hometown of Sydney, N.S., meant new opportunities for Mary: she took up and excelled at the art of rug hooking. Many of her friends were recipients of beautiful, handcrafted, works. And here’s something else that’s important to know about Mary: She never encountered strangers, just potential friends. One was centenarian Marguerite Caldwell, whom Mary met when she became a reader for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Shortcomings? She was a gifted cook who apologized for every meal she made. And messy. Very messy. Dave, she joked, was her cleanup crew.
In retirement, Mary continued to research a subject that she’d first produced as a television documentary; the belief in a fairy culture in Cape Breton. Her book, The Fairies in Cape Breton was published in 2021.
Visits to Mary and Dave’s home in Howie Centre were busy times with trips to vintage clothing shops, Ed’s used bookstore, delicious dinners and late-night, wine-fuelled games of Scrabble (that she always won).
Mary’s enduring legacy to her friends is a memory vault filled with laughter and talk. Our lives were enriched by her company. The world is a chillier place now without the warmth of Mary’s humour, her kindness and her love.
Sally Reardon and Marie Thompson are Mary Munson’s friends.
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