MARILYN RIENDEAU (June 24, 1939 - June 23, 2025):
With broken hearts we share the sad news that Marilyn Faye Riendeau (nee Hart) passed away in Thunder Bay, Ontario on June 23, 2025 on the eve of her 86th birthday.
She was born and raised on her grandparents’ farm near Calderbank, Saskatchewan on June 24, 1939 and lived her life in service to others. She was a “Jill-of-all-trades”, working hard on the farm while raising her three children, running a successful Shell Gas Station and Restaurant in Moose Jaw with her partner, Dolores Sinclair, driving delivery truck for Canada Post, camp cooking in the Alberta oil patch, providing a safe and loving group home, and finally working with the Thunder Bay Children’s Aid Society.
Marilyn was a wonderful conversationalist, with a special gift for making you feel loved and always taking the time to listen when you needed an ear. She volunteered at Providence Place in Moose Jaw and was involved with the Tenants Association at High Park Towers, where she resided for many years before returning to Thunder Bay to be with family. Her love of music knew no bounds, she played guitar a little but was best at the air guitar, and she was always a great dance partner at a party. She loved sharing stories of her past (what she called simpler times) and we are so blessed to have had her in our lives.
We take some comfort knowing that she has been reunited with many beloved family members who passed before her, including her Granny May Johnson, Grandpa Ed Johnson, mother Dorothy Havers, father Roy Hart, step-father John Havers, special Uncle Raymond Johnson, sisters Judy Havers and Rita Hart, brother Howard Hart, and her many great aunties and uncles.
We extend our thanks to the wonderful staff of 1-A at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre for their care and compassion during Mom’s stay.
She is greatly missed and survived by her three children, Leilani Garry (John), Rodney Riendeau (Lorraine) and Scott Riendeau, three precious granddaughters, Jessika Riendeau (Richard Tribe), Jenna Garry (Charlie Randle), and Kyla Rennie (Sam), her sweet great-granddaughter Annabelle Marilyn Randle, her sister Joan Havers, and brothers David and Dennis Hart, as well as many special nieces and nephews.
We will carry her with us always and do our best to live our lives with kindness as she taught us.
A private family celebration of life will be held in accordance with her wishes.
“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” — Etienne de Grellet
