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Sargeant, Miriam Emma (Duncan)
Our world has lost a gracious and benevolent soul. Miriam Emma Sargeant (nee Duncan) was a marvelous friend to all who knew her. She was the only daughter of Lindsay Duncan and Annette (nee Lajeunesse), raised on the farm near McDonald’s Corners, Ontario. As a gifted and hard-working student (one of her hallmark traits), she sought more in life, and followed her mother’s footsteps in becoming a superb teacher, a career that created lifelong friendships with peers and students alike. In 1955, she married Hudson Sargeant from Lanark, and they moved to Ottawa to the home they purchased new and lived in for their entire marriage. Hudson was also an impassioned teacher and community leader and they fit together so very well - all things they did, they did together. They loved to travel, to host dinner parties at their home, collect art from new and aspiring artists from Canada and around the world. This legacy lives in the 23-piece art exhibit they donated to the Ottawa Art Gallery. But perhaps the most significant legacy is the influence they left having supported so many students in the Ottawa area. Miriam retired early to be able to keep Hudson at home as long as possible due to his early-onset Alzheimer’s until he passed away in 1999. After his death, she poured herself into other activities, work in the community, doing lecture/tours at the art galleries, creating an unbelievable garden, and taking French lessons. She particularly enjoyed travelling with friends and young nieces and nephews, introducing several of the next generation to Paris and London. She would have continued to take more travellers abroad, however it was quite saddening that she herself, so very sharp and continuously learning, fell victim to dementia about the year 2007, and in 2012 had to move away from her home to Lanark Lodge in Perth. Miriam was predeceased by her husband Hudson, her brothers Jack and wife Julia, Bill, Herel and wife Clarice, George, and leaves to mourn sisters-in-law Rita (Bill) and Ruth (George). She was also predeceased by Hudson’s siblings, Eldon and wife Dorothy, Doris and husband Roy Armstrong, Georgina and husband Charles Dorion. She will be missed by her many nieces and nephews. There will be no funeral at this time, but a quiet “Celebration of a Good Life - Well Lived” will follow at a later date. Donations in memory of Miriam may be made to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada.