In Memoriam

Margaret passed away on April 29, 2021. She was 93. She was predeceased by her husband, Alexander J. Moon (Arts'49). She is survived by her three children, James (Tracey), Richard (Law'81) (Audrey), and Catherine (Artsci/PHE '83) (Ian Cornett Artsci’83); and nine grandchildren, Jack (Artsci’16), Marnie (Artsci'17), and Harris (Sc'00).

Marg was born and raised in Quebec City. She began her studies at Queen’s at the age of 16 and quickly immersed herself in all that Queen’s had to offer: athletics (basketball, tennis), musical society, arts council, and more. She made lifelong friends and had many happy memories from her time at Queen’s. Marg and Alec settled in Guelph where Alec practised law and Marg involved herself in the community. She was a founding member of the Guelph Light Opera Company; board member of the Edward Johnson Music Foundation, which organized the Guelph Spring Festival; served on the board of governors at the University of Guelph for many years; Canadian Federation of University Women's Club; was instrumental in establishing the Guelph Third Age Learning program; and was an active member of St Andrew's Church.

Elizabeth Jean (Betty) McQuay was the daughter of Dr. John B. McQuay (Meds’44) and Mary

McQuay (née Turnbull) – both predeceased. Betty is survived by her siblings, Marilyn (Martin) Chilton, Paul (Arts’71) (Marion), and Janice (Arts’71, B.Ed’73).

Family and friends will greatly miss her smile, her sense of humour, gentleness, and kindness.

Betty grew up in a medical family: her grandfather Russell B. McQuay (Meds’16) and her

father were medical doctors, and her mother and older sister were registered nurses. In 1988 she became a registered nurse. She worked her entire nursing career at Toronto East General

Hospital for many years in intensive care.

Betty studied classical music, and her musical tastes were eclectic, from classical to reggae,

African, jazz, pop, and rap. She was physically active, jogging, golfing, swimming, playing tennis, and dancing. In the last decade of Betty’s life, after she was diagnosed with scleroderma, physical activity became even more important, to help slow the progression of this disease, she continued walking three miles several times a week, right up to the end of 2020. She took up curling and lawn bowling and returned to figure skating. She also returned to the piano and enjoyed playing at family performances at a market in her home village of Mindemoya each summer. Betty visited Manitoulin as much as she could, but she loved travelling elsewhere too, often with family members. On her trips to Jamaica, a country she admired for the richness of its distinctive culture, despite the crushing poverty there, she made lasting friendships. Travelling sharpened her keen sense of social inequities.

Betty took her last breath at Sunnybrook Hospital Palliative Care in Toronto. In the end, it was cancer that took her life, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic also claimed so many other lives.

Anna Matzov of Kingston, Ontario, died unexpectedly on Jan. 16, 2022 at the age of 88. Vibrant, intelligent, warm, and inspiring, Anna was a remarkable woman. Despite facing extreme adversity and many challenges during her life, she was a woman of great substance and heart; her talents were many. She lived several lives in her lifetime.

Anna was born on Dec. 24, 1933 in Pinsk, Poland (now Pinsk, Belarus). She is predeceased by her parents (Josef and Freida Furman) and her husband (Leonid Matzov). She is survived by her brother Gabriel Furman (Zipora), her children Avi Matzov (Kathryn), Irit Matzov (George) and Ron Matzov and her grandchildren Simon, Ian, Rebecca and Jonathon Matzov (Cassie). Anna was a devoted and loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt and friend.

Anna grew up under Stalin’s rule and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Around the age of seven, she and her family were exiled to Siberia; a very cold and unforgiving purgatory where many perished. Even as a child, she found beauty under appalling conditions: the family cow was her best friend and she developed a lifelong love for birch trees typical of Siberia. Miraculously (and ironically), Stalin saved their lives while the rest of her family in Poland tragically perished under Hitler.

In 1946, she and her family wound up at a displaced person’s camp in Germany for four years where she started her high school studies. In 1950, they immigrated to the new state of Israel. Anna embraced her new country and life, quickly mastering Hebrew (her 5th of 6 languages). After serving in the army, she earned her first degree in 1956 (Physics, Math & Statistics) at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She followed her passion for teaching, earning her Teaching diploma a few years later. Anna started her illustrious teaching career by successfully preparing future high school math teachers at the Teaching Seminary in Tel-Aviv. At the time, they also needed a university degree. Anna broke new ground through her approach, resulting in the prerequisite for a degree being removed and establishing a new course for the Seminary and future high school math teachers. In 1967, Anna, her husband and young family immigrated to Canada, settling in Kingston in 1968 where she embarked on a new career path. In 1970, she earned a BA Honours (Russian and Math) from Queen’s University followed by her MA (1973) and PhD (1984) in Slavonic Studies from the University of Ottawa.

Anna taught Russian language and literature at Queen’s for 30 years. She also introduced Scientific Russian, an innovative course which she taught at Queen’s and the Royal Military College.

Throughout her distinguished academic career, Anna taught and contributed to professional literature and was part of the Learned Societies. She was a recognized authority on Boris Pasternak (Dr. Zhivago), and Mikhail Bakhtin and Literary Criticism. Her teaching attracted and inspired students from many disciplines.

A fiercely independent thinker, Anna was a pragmatic optimist with a warm heart and querying mind. Her personal trials and tribulations, from wars to health challenges, strengthened her resolve and resilience to make the best of things. “Never a dull moment” as she would often say. Enlightened and passionate about learning, she was an inspiration, catalyst and cheerleader for many. She had a genuine interest in people of all ages and backgrounds, forging many friendships throughout her life. She found solace in family and friends. She was drawn to the many expressions of creativity, from art, music and literature to teaching, cooking and developing young minds.

Anna valued family, friendship, loyalty, authenticity, originality, an open mind and a good soul. She strove – and succeeded – to inspire many a mind and heart to be our best selves and make the most of life. She never stopped expanding her mind – she was truly “an amazing work in progress.”

Anna was dearly loved and will be greatly missed.

Ronald Francis Mann passed away on Feb. 21, 2022 at the age of 90. He is survived by Helen (nee Lane) (Artsci’84), his beloved wife of 66 years; daughters Janet (Artsci‘78, MBA’84) and Karen Scott (Artsci’82) (Jim), and son Robert (Sc’84) (Ellen); and four grandchildren.

A long-time resident of Kingston, Ron’s was a life well-lived. Soldier, chemical engineer, teacher, faculty member of Royal Military College, active church member and avid genealogist — his life was a broad tapestry; he touched so many lives.