Margaret Rose Clarke

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our lovely mum, grandmother, great- grandmother, sister and aunt at Neepawa Health Centre (Memorial Hospital) on August 3, 2026, peacefully with her family at her side.

Mum was born in Grassington, Yorkshire, England, on June 22, 1936, the eldest child of parents William and Doris Wall, along with her younger siblings: sister Elizabeth and brothers Gordon and Frederick. In Mum’s early years, she and her sister were raised by her mother and her beloved granny, as her dad was a soldier in the British Army. They didn’t have a lot, but they were very cherished. Our grandmother and her mother were extremely creative ladies and were wizards at creating something out of nothing and making do and mending. These life skills were invaluable to Mum and stood her in good stead throughout her life.

Mum attended schools in Hebden and Sutton-in-Craven, and completed her secondary schooling at Keighley Girls’ Grammar School after her father tried his hand at farming and moved the family to Haworth, Yorkshire. After secondary school, Mum did nursing training.

In 1958, at a Lothersdale Young Farmers dance, she met her husband, William (Bill) Clarke. They were married on August 9, 1958, at Kildwick Church. Their first home was a small cottage on Park Road in Cross Hills, Yorkshire, where their first child, Steven, was born in 1959. Bill and Margaret saved up and bought their first farm, Surgill Head Farm in Lothersdale, a small hill farm where they raised sheep and cows. Patricia was born in 1960 and Catherine in 1961.

In 1965, they sold the farm and moved to the nearby village of Trawden. The children were all in primary school, and Mum took a part-time job in a cotton mill in Trawden, Lancashire. In 1967, Bill was hankering to get back into farming, and a farm came up to rent in Upper Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. At New House Farm, they farmed 300 acres, raised 400 sheep, milked cows and kept a few beef cows. Jackie, their fourth child, was born there in 1972. Mum worked as a barmaid at the local pub, The George Inn, and later worked as a care aide at a geriatric mental institution in Grassington. In 1973, they moved off the farm and lived in the small town of Barnoldswick.

Feeling disheartened with England, Bill and Margaret began considering immigrating to Canada or Australia. At that time, Canadian Employment and Immigration – Agriculture was holding a hiring fair in Manchester, which they attended, and Dad was offered a position as a herdsman in Canada. In 1974, Margaret and Bill, along with their three teenage children and toddler, drove to Tilbury Docks in London and boarded the SS Stefan Batory. They sailed across the Atlantic, landed in Quebec, and continued to their final destination of Blenheim, Ontario.

Mum and us older children worked in the tomato, corn and tobacco fields during the summer. Their youngest daughter, Dawn, was born there in 1977. They soon saved up and rented a 100-acre farm in Arthur, Ontario. Their youngest child, Jonathan, was born in Fergus, Ontario, in 1980. Mum took a job as a health care aide in a nursing home in Fergus.

Farming in Ontario was a challenge, and an opportunity came up to operate a dairy farm in Saskatchewan, so the family moved west. They lived out there for about three years.

They were finding it hard to settle anywhere in Canada and, while on their way back to Ontario, happened to stay the night at the Gladstone Hotel. Bill went into the bar and started chatting with some of the farmers, who told him about some cheap land to rent or buy up in Amaranth.

They made their life on the farm in Amaranth for 40 years and were delighted when their sons joined the farm in the late 1990s.

Mum was a woman who appreciated the little things. She never cared for grand gestures or material things. Mum endured some difficult challenges but took everything in her stride. She never let things get her down, and her motto was always, “Something will turn up,” and most times, it did.

Mum played a big role on the farm, from milking cows, delivering calves and lambs, feeding pigs and chickens, and selling eggs, to running errands to Portage or wherever she needed to go to pick up parts for tractors and farm machinery. She did the bookkeeping, cooked and fed her family and whoever else turned up at the house at mealtime. Her house was always full, and her table was too.

She looked after Dad throughout their married life until he went into care. She loved her family dearly. She was a dedicated grandmother and babysat many of her grandchildren, whom she adored. She loved to crochet, knit and garden. She loved flowers and her little hummingbirds.

She remained at the farm right up until Dad had to go into Third Crossing Manor in 2019. Mum rented an apartment, first at Crescent Lodge and then at Centennial Apartments, to be nearer to Dad.

Margaret is predeceased by her daughter Catherine (Robinson); husband William, of 65 years; son Steven; granddaughter Dawn; brother Gordon; and both of her parents.

She leaves to mourn her children: Patricia (Tim) Scoffield, Jackie (Curtis) Sutherland, Dawn (Marty) Isfeld, and Jonathan (Keri); son-in-law Peter Robinson; 20 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren; sister Elizabeth Thompson; brother Frederick Wall (Anne); sister-in-law Pauline (Roger) Naylor; and many nieces and nephews in England and Canada.

A special thank you to the doctors, nurses and carers at Memorial Hospital in Neepawa for the care Mum received in her final days.

The family cannot express enough their gratitude to the wonderful carers and residents at Centennial Apartments for making Mum’s last years absolutely the best for her.

We are celebrating a life well lived. The family kindly requests that guests wear colours rather than traditional black.