It would be hard to find someone whose life was more closely woven into the life of Mount Allison University than Dr. Marilyn Trenholme Counsell (’54, LLD ’00).

Marilyn's connection to Mount Allison began long before she became a student. For a time after her father died, her mother moved the family from their beloved Baie Verte and worked at the University, and Marilyn grew up on both sides of the Tantramar marshes.

Over the decades, she became almost every part of the Mount Allison story: student, alumna, neighbour, university physician, honorary graduate, instructor, volunteer, and friend.

As a member of the Class of 1954, she lived in Hart Hall and studied in Mount Allison's close-knit and highly regarded Home Economics program. Like generations of MtA students before and after her, Marilyn formed friendships that lasted a lifetime. The Class of 1954 is a legendary group of people at MtA. Their bond never broke. Every one of their reunions were full of laughter and stories.

As a young graduate, Marilyn ventured to India through an exchange program at a time when few women had such opportunities. She loved to hear and exchange stories with anyone who was from, or had visited, India and often shared stories of her own time there.

After an early career in Toronto as a nutritionist and physician, she returned to the Tantramar with her two young children while caring for her ailing husband and settled into the big brown house across from Convocation Hall, beside the campus that had shaped her life. There, she cared for generations of students as Mount Allison's physician, MLA and, after retiring from the Canadian Senate, returned to the classroom to teach a political science course. The course featured an extraordinary array of Canadian political leaders from across the political spectrum as guest speakers. No one could say no to an invitation from Marilyn. What an experience that was for her students.

The work that defined Marilyn's public life was never accidental. Having grown up in a single-parent household and later raising her two children as a single parent, she understood the importance of health, education, literacy, and strong communities for children and families. She was a strong, highly intelligent and tough woman, who could hold her own with anyone.

Marilyn never forgot what Mount Allison had made possible in her own life. She remained deeply invested in the University because she wanted future generations of students to have the same life-changing opportunities to learn, grow, explore the world, and build the lifelong friendships that she had found here.

As Allisonians, we mourn with her children and grandchildren, the members of the Class of 1954, the people of Tantramar, and all who had the privilege of knowing her. Her absence will be deeply felt.