Margaret Thurman

Margaret Thurman, beloved wife, daughter, sister and aunt who shared and enjoyed a deep passion for life, passed away in September 2023. She inspired those around her with her love, generosity, joy, courage, and resilience during her full life of 56 years. The cause of her death was complications from ovarian carcinosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that she courageously fought for the final seven years of her life.

Born in, Ontario, Canada in the Spring of 1967, she was the second of four children, and the daughter of a civic-minded businessman and a French teacher with a passion for music and sports, Roy and Joanne Hannaford. Growing up in a family-oriented community, she was a strong student with an aptitude for art, and enjoyed playing water polo, skating, and social activities. She often spent summers at the family cottage at Red Bay, Ontario while forming strong relationships with her siblings, including her older sister Beth and younger brothers Andrew and Edward. In advance of her sophomore year in high school she won a Rotary scholarship for a year’s study in Kanazawa, Japan, igniting a lifelong passion for Japan and a love of travel.

After graduating from high school, she headed to Lichtenstein for a gap-year experience as an au pair, enabling extensive travel in Europe. The role also fed another lifelong passion, the love of engaging and celebrating children. Throughout life, the innocence, enthusiasm, and excitement of children captivated Margaret, and she always found time to thoughtfully cater to their interests. Upon her return to Canada, she completed a degree in economics with a minor in Japanese language. A smart and curious student, she eventually added a post-graduate degree in organizational behavior and a professional designation in human resources. During summer breaks from university, she also served in a Canadian reserve program for students, gaining valuable leadership skills.

Following graduation from university and emboldened by her travel experiences and growing linguistic fluency, she headed back to Japan. Whether the country’s ways helped form Margaret’s approach to life or it was simply a case of being “in sync,” Japan brought out her best. There she took on the role of trainer for a series of Japanese companies, preparing businesspeople for relocation to the west. Following various professional opportunities she first lived in Kobe, then Osaka and later Tokyo, gaining valuable experience and forming cherished friendships with both native Japanese and foreigners. Margaret clearly had a unique way of bringing people together. Her admirable mix of kindness, optimism, intelligence, respect, hard work, and an adventuresome spirit characterized the engaging journey.

Margaret commented that her time in Japan gave her the “confidence to do anything.” She felt a passion for the challenge of mastering the Japanese language, a comfort with her acceptance in the culture, as well as a sense of the importance of “being who you are — even in small ways.” Although she lived for a decade in Japan, she annually made trips to north America to visit family and friends. Then, in 1999 Margaret accepted a position in Tokyo with a team managing theme parks. In addition to further growing her professional skills, she enjoyed the opportunity to be involved with an organization that celebrated and empowered children. In her personal life, she loved creating celebrations of many kinds, for friends, family and especially children, full of sumptuous food, themed cakes, and (during the Christmas holidays) gingerbread houses.

The move to Tokyo proved significant. In addition to exploring new professional avenues, it led to meeting a special person in her life, her future husband David, who was working as an architect for a new theme park. As love blossomed and their Japan assignments neared an end in 2001, they relocated to California, settling in Los Angeles. There they enjoyed the company of David’s family, as well as close relationships with Margaret’s family in Canada. Margaret continued an engaging professional journey with significant accomplishments, eventually taking a senior manager position with a Japanese foods company. The role would last sixteen years, leveraging Margaret’s deep experience with Japanese business in helping manage the company’s north American portfolio.

Married life was good for Margaret and David, full of love, adventure, and discovery. Over the course of 23 years together, Margaret and David enjoyed memorable family vacations in the U.S. and abroad, often with their families, to destinations such as Hawaii, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Vancouver, and Toronto. While the couple never had children of their own, family was an important priority. Margaret frequently inspired and organized celebrations, often collaborating with her mother-in-law Dianne on the family’s weekly Sunday dinners. Margaret also enthusiastically initiated birthday and holiday celebrations with other family members, friends, and colleagues. These typically included custom-made, highly creative cakes and clever supporting decorations, especially for their eleven beloved nieces and nephews. Margaret’s trademark optimism and generosity brought people together, and there is a simple term that captures it all: “Margaret’s magic.”

As 2017 arrived and Margaret looked forward to her 50th birthday, there was a startling discovery: the diagnosis of a rare and aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis. For most people, this jolt might have suppressed the passion for life. For Margaret, it did not. While the cancer was a difficult one, Margaret began a remarkable new chapter of life, merging intense treatments with a sense of determination and hope, continued full engagement in family and work activities. She demonstrated extraordinary vitality, productivity, and enthusiasm, and she explicitly refused to be defined by the disease. In sustaining positivity, strength and resilience, Margaret thrived during the punishing seven-year battle — and her life lasted far longer than expected for typical patients with this challenging disease. Margaret’s approach was both impressive and inspiring.

Through all the treatments – including surgery, radiation, and ongoing chemotherapy three times per month -- Margaret never gave up, embracing the hope offered by research and each new treatment with enthusiasm. Her commitment also led to working with highly skilled and collaborative medical teams, including leading specialists across the country. Margaret’s will to live, to recover, to laugh, to contribute to family and discover new things was typically accompanied with a smile. As she approached the final stage of life, a parade of admiring family members, friends and colleagues, some from other countries, visited to share their love, to honor her, and to draw upon her wisdom and passion. She was as cheerful, optimistic, generous, and resilient during this challenging time as during her other adventures in life.

Margaret lived her life with courage, grace, humor, positivity, integrity, and kindness, and she is profoundly missed. She is survived by her mother, Joanne; her husband, David; her sister Elizabeth (Beth) and her family; her brothers Andrew, Edward and their families; her mother- and father-in-law, Dianne and Granville, and the rest of David’s family, including his brother Michael and sister Teresa and their families; eleven nieces and nephews; and numerous friends and colleagues.

Margaret was honored at a Celebration of Life for friends and family in Los Angeles in November 2023, and in a small family gathering in Hamilton, Ontario in September 2024, where her ashes are interred.

Rest in peace, our beloved Margaret. You make us all smile.

Thank you for the love and magic you brought to all our lives, you live on in our hearts.