Marie Marthe Alice Tovee, née Ouellet, also called ‘Marty’
Born: Price, Québec July 29th, 1936
Deceased: Whitby, Ontario April 13th, 2024
With deep sadness, the family announces the death of Marthe Tovee after a brief hospital stay. Marthe is predeceased by her parents Louise and Alexis Ouellet and by her brother Raynald Ouellet (Nicole) and her sister, Lauraine Gilbeau (Ronald, deceased). She is survived by her husband of 55 years, David Frank Tovee, her two daughters, Christine Anne Tovee and Camille Alexis Tovee, her sister, Gemma Fredette (Michel) and her brother, Yvon Ouellet (Dianne) as well as three grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
Marthe was born in le Bas-St. Laurent area of Québec, the third child of a deeply devoted and religious québecoise family. They lived in Price and Bic before moving to Chapleau in northern Ontario. Her father, Alex, worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway and owned a barbershop. Many of Marthe’s childhood stories were focused on the family farms, the railway and barbering. Along with her older sister, Lauraine, she finished her schooling at a convent in Ottawa before completing a commercial diploma in Sudbury. She started working in banks as a young woman and lived in Toronto and Hamilton to work for the Toronto-Dominion and the York Trust … exhibiting an independent spirit that was unusual for women of the time.
Earning her own money, she loved stylish clothes and going to the cinema. Marty embraced the city for its hustle and bustle as well as for its melting pot of different cultures and peoples. She returned to Sudbury in 1964 where her parents now lived and eventually took a job at Bell Canada where she met David Tovee, an Albertan who had ventured east. They were married in August 1968. They shared a love of road trips, picnics, and fishing. Soon, they bought their first house in Minnow Lake and welcomed two baby girls into the world: Christine and Camille, in quick succession. After a few years as a full-time mother, she returned to work. Marty delighted in finding order among numbers and balancing financial accounts and she was very good at it. Their marriage was a combination of East and West, French and English, a merging of dualities that gave their daughters a unique perspective on life. Grey Cup Day, the annual championship game of the Canadian Football League was a time-honoured family celebration.
Dave and Marty built their dream home in New Sudbury in 1980. The house combined their talents and craftmanship into a labour of love in stone and cedar. This home was also located near her two sisters, Lauraine Gilbeau and Gemma Fredette and on any given day, the sisters would visit each other or at least spend an hour on the phone in the evening. Many other homes followed as they moved south for David’s work and then back to Sudbury so that Marty could, along with her other sisters, care for their Maman, Louise Ouellet. Then the couple finally “retired” in Cobourg, Ontario to be near their daughter, Camille, and her young family. Marty and Dave, along with Missy the cat, loved the close-knit neighbourhood of retirees on the borders of Lake Ontario.
Home was very important to Marthe and even as she worked outside it, she created a sanctuary for her family filling it with home cooking and baking as well as books and a sense of comfort and security. She could recreate any restaurant meal after one or two mouthfuls and her lasagna has no comparison. She loved to decorate and create unique touches of her own. From her childhood,
learning from her maman and grandmamans, she knitted, and tatted lace, sewed special Christmas pyjamas for her children and painted in many media including tole painting and ceramics and finally jewelry making. Many of her pieces have been given to family members as mementos. Camille picked up her mom’s creative tendencies notably as a photographer and Marty had many of her daughter’s images on display.
Marthe had a special love for animals, especially cats. Blue, Fluffy, Tippee and Marbles were some of the special feline members of her family. In open fields, horses would instinctively follow her, while many other creatures were stilled and attracted to her genuine affection for them.
She placed importance on education and dedicated her efforts to allow both her girls the chance to attend university- one denied to herself. Christine first attended University of Toronto and Camille the University of Guelph. No mother was prouder to watch her eldest daughter cross the stage under the “Dome” of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to accept her degree.
With her children now grown, Marthe volunteered in many organizations including the Sudbury Extendicare home where her own mother had resided as well as the Inner-City Home foodbank in Sudbury. She was drawn to the lonely and the friendless. She understood that being present with someone and to listen were the most precious gifts that she could offer someone in need.
Marty had a gift for uncovering “treasures” and appreciated the skill and effort of the artisan. She loved garage sales, often scouring neighborhoods in Sudbury with her niece, Joelle Cole and antique shops where she rescued many a precious item from the scrap heap. She shared a love of carnival glass with her goddaughter, Renée Fredette.
Watching her three grandchildren, Scotia Alexis, Jackson, Ainsley Gael Jackson, and Gage Strachan Jackson grow and blossom into young independent adults gave Marthe her greatest joy in her later years.
A celebration of life will be held in Sudbury, 10 am on June 1st, 2024, at the Cooperative Funeral Home, 222 Lasalle Blvd E, Sudbury, ON P3A 1W5. It will be followed by light refreshments and a burial in the afternoon.
The family is also grateful to the medical staff and notably the nurses at the Lakeridge Heights Bowmanville Hospital for the gentle and steadfast care of Marthe during her last days in hospital.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made in Marthe’s name at
Inner-City Homes, Sudbury- https://innercityhome.com/get-involved/
Ontario SPCA and Humane Society- https://ontariospca.ca/