Mary Carter

The Honourable Madam Justice Mary Y. Carter (nee Munn) October 11, 1923 October 1, 2010 Peacefully, surrounded by family at Sherbrooke Community Centre, Saskatoon, after a rich and full life balancing the roles of mother and grandmother with a distinguished career as a lawyer, magistrate and judge. Loving and dearly loved wife of the late Roger Colenso Carter, Q.C., O.C. Beloved mother of Stephen (Jacqueline), Sarah (Walter), Martha (Brian), Michael (Karen), Mark (Lois) and Adam (Marnie). Doting grandma to Marshall, Colleen and Alexander Carter, Mary Hildebrandt, Catherine, Elizabeth and Rebecca Ulmer, Naomi Schaab (Darcy) and great-grandson Emmett, Rachel Mowat (Brad), Caleb and Zachary Carter, Susanna and Eve Keller, Ava and Samuel Carter. She was aunt to many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by her brothers Dixon, Gordon, Bill and Sandy (Alexander) and sisters Betty Barber and Shirley Hamilton. Mary was born in Cromer, Manitoba and she lived in Elkhorn, Virden and Carberry, before the family moved to Saskatoon in 1938. Her great-grandparents and grandparents were Manitoba homesteaders. Independent, strong women were in the genes. Her grandmother Nurse Mary Munn of Carberry arrived in Canada from Glasgow in 1908 as a single mother of two. Mary's father William G. Munn was employed by United Grain Growers and her mother Jean Munn was an ardent CCF/NDP activist. Receiving her LLB from the University of Saskatchewan in 1947, Mary married fellow law student Roger Carter that year. She practiced with Roger in the Saskatoon firm Makaroff, Carter and Carter from 1948 until the birth of the first of six children, in 1953. In 1960 she was appointed a magistrate. Her work concerned matrimonial disputes, child support and custody, and cases under the young offender legislation. She was appointed to the District Court in 1978 as part of a pilot project for a Unified Family Court and in 1981 she became a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench where she sat until her retirement in 1998 at age 75. Molly Irvine was beloved caregiver to the Carter children though all the years of Mary's legal career. Mary was a walking encyclopedia of the birds and flowers of the prairies and parkland. She could grade wheat, a skill learned from her father. She and Roger had a beautiful flower garden nurtured over many years. A wonderful cook, and an excellent seamstress, Mary sewed most of her own and daughters' clothing for decades. She was a voracious reader and life-long learner, taking great delight in learning French in recent years. Despite all of this activity, Mary found time to speak to many organizations, particularly women's groups. Typical was her brief to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in 1968 on legal matters she felt were at the heart of the problem of the status of women. Balancing a career with family (and she always insisted family was her first priority and greatest pleasure), Mary was a true trailblazer. Special thanks to the caregivers at Sherbrooke and with Bayshore Home Health. A celebration of Mary's life will be held at the Saskatoon Funeral Home at 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 9. Donations in Mary's memory may be made to the Mary Y. Carter Scholarship in Family Law at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, 15 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A6. Condolences may be emailed to mail@saskatoonfuneralhome.com Arrangements are entrusted to the SASKATOON FUNERAL HOME 244-5577.