Merry Harper

HARPER, Merry
November 25, 1949 - July 18, 2024
Merry passed peacefully with her husband and daughter by her side. She leaves behind her husband Eric; daughter Anne (Paul); granddaughter Everly; stepbrother Drew (Susan); brothers-in-law Ron (Marilyn), and Roy; and dog Piper. She died on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria after a long battle with pneumonia.

Merry was a wife, mother, grandmother (GG), friend, dog and art lover, and an ok bridge player. Merry was born in Regina and lived in many cities across Canada including Toronto, Sarnia, London, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Windsor and finally Victoria.

Merry loved learning and enjoyed getting educated. She attended the University of Western Ontario graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Throughout her life Merry got a Master of Library Science from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Law from University of Manitoba, and finally a Master's of Arts in Political Science from the University of Windsor. Merry continued to her learning when retired by taking numerous classes in all manner of things.

In 1972, she married Eric Harbottle and started working for the Saskatchewan Government in the legislature as the first female assistant clerk. They went back to school at the University of Western Ontario both gaining master's degrees. Upon returning to Saskatchewan, she worked with the Executive Council in an administrative position. Later. she was appointed the Provincial Librarian. She was responsible for the operation of the province wide book sharing library. In 1978, she had her daughter Anne.

When her family moved to Winnipeg. Merry became a lawyer and worked mainly in Family Law. She took a position with the Manitoba Telephone System (MTS) in their regulation area. She assisted in helping the company move to be federally regulated by the CRTC. An accomplishment for which she was very proud.

She left MTS when her family moved to Windsor, Ontario. In keeping with her love of learning, she then went back to school again. She gained a Masters Arts in Political Science. She then started teaching in the Political Science department of the University of Windsor. Finally, she took a job was as a Law Professor at the University of Windsor teaching Legal research and writing a subject, she was extremely fond of.

She retied in 2006 and moved to Victoria, BC. It was here that Merry met and became friends with so many wonderful people. She joined Newcomers/SWANS and quickly joined many groups in a variety of activities. She was in multiple book clubs, a bridge group and a painting group. She participated in many dog walking groups which let her enjoy the presence of her great love...DOGS. While she had numerous dogs over the years, she enjoyed Maxx and then Piper on these walks.

Merry will be greatly missed by her family. She was married to Eric for over 50 years. During their retirement they enjoyed travelling especially to their place in Hawaii. They enjoyed their daily discussions on many topics. As a mom, Merry was always there for her daughter and they would talk almost every day. However, her greatest joy was being "Silly GG" to her granddaughter Everly. She got great enjoyment singing and playing with Everly. She stated that her family was her greatest accomplishment in life.

Merry will be remembered as a smart, articulate, strong woman who was always there for her family and friends. She will live on in our hearts. The family would like to thank all the staff at Island Health that cared for Merry at the end. Every one from the nurses and doctors to the cleaning staff were wonderful and caring.

A Celebration of Life will happen at a later date.