Merilyn St. Martin

We learnt this week that our long time colleague Merilyn St. Martin passed away. She had retired maybe a year ago.

Merilyn, who we nicknamed The Bird Lady, was a unique and interesting personality. In an industry with cookie cutter personalities, she stood out in a very good way. She was always friendly and had a  great sense of humour. She was  passionate about life, not work, and did not take herself too seriously. It was sad to see illness really rob her of the last few years at the company. She was not the same person I had met a decade earlier.

Merilyn got her Bird Lady nickname after she rescued a small bird that was knocked unconscious after striking our office tower. A real problem in downtown Toronto. Merilyn nursed the bird back to health. Of course when the bird regained its bearings, it did what birds do and flew around the office. There are no windows in the office tower and we were on the 12th floor. For a couple of days the bird would fly all over the office floor, dive bombing people in their cubicles. They called in a company to find and remove the bird, but they were never able to locate the bird. People would report periodic sightings months later. I think we got a memo asking us not to attempt to nurse unconscious birds in the office. But that was Merilyn!

Merilyn ran the Lotto 649 pool in the office. She asked me if I wanted join? I told her I was interested in sharing in the winnings, but not contributing to the pool. I told her that if they won the big jackpot, she would be hearing from my lawyer. That whole idea ran contrary to her sense of fairness. She was a  champion of the underdog. An artistic person in an industry that rewards conformity.

Merilyn will be greatly missed. It is very unfortunate that she did not get to enjoy her well deserved retirement.