Mary Britton (nee Toews)
Mary Britton, of Portage la Prairie, MB, passed away peacefully on January 28, 2023 after a short battle with leukemia.
Mary will be lovingly remembered by her children: Linda (Greg), Jon (Maureen), Diane (Chris), and Dave (Melanie); her grandchildren: Amy (Tanner), Alisha (Kyle), Jana, Cara (Lehman), Cassie (Charles), Ryan (Jaida), Alice (Alex), Jenaya, Nolan, Denae, Emily, and Rhett; her great-grandson, Jacob. She is also survived by 7 brothers, 4 sisters and their families. Mary was predeceased by her husband, Bob, of 31 years, her parents, George and Margaret Toews, and several other family members including a brother, two sisters, and several in-laws, a niece and great-niece, a nephew and great-nephew.
Mary was born in Altona, MB and lived in several different Manitoba communities throughout her childhood. She was the third child of fifteen and as the oldest daughter, she was like a second mother from an early age. As a young woman, she took her teaching certificate and began teaching in a country, one-room class near Hodgson, MB. She was also interested in becoming a foreign missionary to help more people to understand the good news of an eternal relationship with Jesus, which led her to marry Bob and they pursued that dream together. After a number of years of working in churches in different US cities, they came to the conclusion that they would not be going overseas and decided to settle in Morden, MB to raise their four children.
Her family brought her much joy and she loved spending time with close and extended family throughout her whole life. Mary and Bob also shared a love for God and for the Church. They were active members of every congregation they were part of and they deeply desired others to know Jesus too. Mary worked hard, and got involved in her church and local community everywhere she lived - one of her biggest contributions being the years she poured her time and energy into the establishment of Westpark School as one of the founding teachers.
She lived a quiet, yet significant life of generosity, kindness, and passion to make a positive impact - leaving the world a better place for having spent 82 years here. She is now experiencing the pure love of her heavenly Father without any more barriers. We will miss her yet we look forward to meeting again someday.
A visitation and viewing will be held at McKenzies Portage Funeral Chapel from 7pm to 8pm on Friday, February 3, 2023 and a celebration of life service will be held at Prairie Alliance Church at 2 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2023. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery. The service will be livestreamed a link will be available on Mary’s obituary page at www.mckenziesportagefuneralchapel.com.
As expressions of sympathy, donations may be made in Mary’s memory to the Westpark School, 2375 Saskatchewan Ave W, Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 4A6.
A tree will be planted in memory and cared for by McKenzies Portage Funeral Chapel.
www.mckenziesportagefuneralchapel.com