Margaret Sabiston

Susan Tremblay Click to the next slide to see a video of pictures from Mom's life as well as recorded birthday greetings to her on her 100th birthday.

Susan Tremblay

Susan Tremblay SABISTON, Margaret (Reinhart) Born May 10, 1918 in Waterloo, ON, died January 21, 2020 in Victoria BC at the age of 101. The fourth of 10 children born to Edward and Emma (Scherrer) Reinhart she lived her childhood in various places in Ontario including Kitchener, Breslau, New Hamburg and Toronto. She was the last to survive of her siblings, and kept in touch with most of them until they were gone, especially in her later years. She had a special way of holding people in her heart and prayers forever once they had touched her life. “Mucky” to her siblings, “Marg” to most until she became “Maggie” at the age of 99, she was bright and lively with a restless, maverick spirit. Her childhood was unsettling for her with the family moving frequently. She had many stories of misadventures especially about her larger-than-life father with his dreams and schemes including bootlegging liquor, her stoic, religious mother who kept things going by taking in sewing and boarders, and her “brilliant” siblings with whom she felt she couldn’t quite keep up. But along with the fears and insecurity she also had deep love, compassion and admiration for her family. She took pride in her mother’s resourcefulness, her father’s joie-de-vivre and her siblings’ achievements. She quit school after Grade 8 to contribute to the family income and set out, briefly, on her own at 15 to Toronto where she found employment as a private maid while she sought her fame as a singer. She worked up the nerve to audition at one place, but it was not to be. Returning to Kitchener, she worked for a number of years in the “rubber factory” (Uniroyal), and had a rich social life golfing, playing badminton, and such. She was involved in a wartime romance with a pilot, who, after returning from the war was killed in a plane crash along with 20 other pilots. At around that time, after taking a comptometer course with the encouragement of her sister, Dorothy (Dots), she ventured out west with her sister, Mary, and moved around between Vancouver, Calgary and Kitchener in the subsequent 8-10 years. In Vancouver, while working at a Chartered Accounting firm in 1954, she met and subsequently married Colin Sabiston. They had three children in quick succession and settled in Prince George, BC in 1958 where they lived until moving back to the lower mainland in 1981. Life in PG for her was primarily family, and she worked hard at making a comfortable home with wonderful, nutritious meals, home-made bread, line-dried laundry, bedtime songs and a clean, organized space. She gave to her family what she valued most – love, comfort, order and security. She did volunteer work and the family took in a foster child, “Patty”, for a year who remained in her heart until the end. Later, she took up golf for the second time and Contract Bridge. She eventually, with the patient tutoring and partnering of Colin, became a “Life Master” bridge player, a momentous occasion for her. She was curious and creative and innovative, rigging up various gadgets with which to clean, organize or exercise and sewed most of her own clothing. She loved a bargain and would boast about how little an item of clothing cost her to make. She made a point of remembering names and details about people that came into her world and took a sincere interest in their lives. She was caring and charitable and brave. In her 80s she travelled, alone, twice, to South Africa to take part in charitable work with her daughter and son-in-law, Chris and Jim. She lived on her own until she was almost 100, driving her scooter to shops while legally blind, waving as she crossed intersections calling out “Coming through!”. Ever the entertainer, she had a fun repertoire of songs and off-color jokes, and couldn’t resist getting up to dance if the music moved her. And always, at her core was a strong, deeply considered, faith that evolved from a Catholic worship to a “personal relationship” with God that gave her comfort throughout her life. She prayed daily with intent, naming every person in her tribe, past and present. She wanted you to know that she was looking after you in that sense, as best she could. Predeceased by Colin, in 1997, and by her grandchildren, Sarah and Scott, she is lovingly remembered by her children Christine Newton (James), Robert Sabiston (Robin McIntosh) and Susan Tremblay, grandchildren Natalie, Beau, Erica and Dustin, several great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, as well as all of the temporary-but-forever family members that were ever in her heart and prayers. A celebration of her life will be planned when we are able to gather.

Susan Tremblay Memories: She always had a lap waiting for Eva.