Obituary of Marilyn (Lynn) Cecile Fairbairn

Peacefully, with family at her side, Marilyn (Lynn) Cecile Fairbairn passed away on March 29th, 2023. 

She was predeceased by Dr. Robert Fairbairn, her great love and husband of 66 years. She leaves behind her adoring children, Michael, Anne (Sue) and Marcea(Marcy), grandchildren Robert, David, Jonathan, Erin,Keith, Sabrina, Saskia, and Jacqueline, and great-grandchildren Reese, Clara, Theo and Heidi.

Born in 1936 to Opal and Cecil Price, little sister to Barbara (Barbie), Lynn grew up in Fort Macleod,Alberta. She had sparkling blue eyes, an infectious laugh, a dog named Lady, a horse named Penny and best friend, Marlene Charlton. 

While earning her BA majoring in history at UofA, she came home for break and was invited on a blind date to a formal with a boy from the rival town of Claresholm. Her family loved to hear the story of how Lynnie, whowas striking and tall, waited upstairs with two pairs of heels, one low and one high. When her date arrived, her mom called up the stairs with a secret signal that meant, “wear the high ones!”. Her date was 6’3”. 

That same boy would propose to her a few months later in the stairwell of the McDonald Hotel at another formal.

After they graduated, Lynnie followed Bob wherever his medical practice called him. They moved to Calgary, where Mike and Sue were born, and then Redcliff, where Marcy arrived. They lived in Saskatoon, New York, Medicine Hat, and then Edmonton again. There, she went back to school and earned a Bachelor of Education and worked in a home for the disabled. 

When her mom took ill, she came full circle back to Fort Macleod to live in the house she grew up in and care for her parents. She curled, volunteered with Meals on Wheels, served a stint on Town Council, and played ‘Broomball’. The Broomball Ladies’ Club was originally started by her mom’s circle of friends. They had not played Broomball in years, but the name stuck, and the Broomball Ladies played bridge. 

Never having been the type to settle, on retirement they followed Barb and Bob McNabb to Mexico with dreams of golfing in the Mexican sun. Two years in and tired of golfing, they ‘flunked retirement’ as they liked to say, and resettled in Chatham Ontario, where Mike and Sue live today. 

There, they continued their long-held passion of travelling through CMA at Sea cruises. They continued to travel well into their 80s. 

A Celebration of Life will be held for close friends and family on June 24th at McKinlay Funeral Home. 

Donations in lieu of flowers are welcome to the Alzheimer Society of Canada (Alzheimer.ca).

McKinlay Funeral Home, 459 St. Clair Street, Chatham, 519 351 2040