Obituary of Gwen Martin

Wendy (Gwen) Logan Martin, author, editor, geologist and musician lived more fully on a road less trodden than her lifespan may have suggested.

She was born in Bristol, England on 31 Oct 1951 and grew up in a pocket of wilderness on the Scarborough Bluffs overlooking Lake Ontario. She retained a strong affinity for mudflats, the smell of brine and an ocean surf breaking on rock cliffs. She made an ancestral pilgrimage through Britain, lived in Newfoundland and the Rockies, travelled to Europe and conducted field work north of Superior where as a stowaway, she rode home in a box car.

Eventually, she settled outside Fredericton, NB on the shore of Yoho Lake. It was during her earliest years there that a mongrel pup arrived on her doorstep, melted her heart and became the dog of her life. In winter, she had a penchant for posting spiders behind the hot water tank to keep them warm. Once, she acquiesced to a deer mouse who nested and raised a family in her woollen sock. Her vibrant curiosity led her to probe and share the profound mysteries of the living, both human and otherwise. Her creativity inspired her to help shape them. It has been quipped that had the times and circumstances aligned, she would have married Boris Pasternak, the Russian Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature.

Music conveyed her deepest truths and she played the piano by ear. Her unsurpassed generosity and grace enchanted those who crossed paths with her or were gently drawn into her circle. She delighted in the uniqueness of each individual and made every person feel as if there was no one more important to her at that moment. She blessed us with her whimsical sense of humour and an extraordinary inner strength, courage and competence that left us awe-struck. But most of all, she gave us her unswerving love from a heart that miraculously expanded with every beat. Being herself made the world a better place.

Wendy (Gwen) died in Fredericton, NB on 6 June 2024. Her large community of friends, her husband, her siblings by blood, marriage and 'adoption', her cousins, her nieces, her nephew, plus grand-nieces and grand-nephews are grateful beyond reckoning to have had her as an inseparable part of their lives. Everlasting thanks to everyone at the Hospice House for their devoted care and expertise when Wendy (Gwen) needed it most. For those who wish, online donations in her memory can be made to The Hospice House, 621 Churchill Row, Fredericton, NB, E3B 1P5 at hospicefredericton.ca/donate/

“May we all hold in our hearts the ferocious beauty and courage and wisdom that was yours, and let it resonate clearly in our own lives, and echo in the way we love. Rest in peace, my dearest friend, my Anam Cara.”