Emerson, Melissa (nee Taylor)

EMERSON, Melissa – born in 1941, died peacefully with her family at her bedside on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Ontario. Melissa, devoted and loving wife of Garfield Emerson, was mother of Melissa Hylton and of Taylor Emerson, ‘Nana’ to grandchildren Slater, Minnie and Harriet Hylton, and sister of Ann Turner. Melissa’s life was attuned to the eternal verities and values of human existence. Her first care was for her family. Her familial loyalty to her parents Dr. Alan Taylor and Wilhelmina Taylor (née Slater) of Windsor, Ontario, extended beyond their passing. Following her first high school dates with Garfield in 1958, she pursued her own career and graduated from Toronto General Hospital as a nurse in 1963. Following their marriage in 1964 and working as a senior nurse at Sick Kids Hospital in ophthalmology, she supported Garfield as he pursued his legal education to graduation. On the birth of daughter Melissa and then son Taylor, Melissa left a promising nursing career to become an at-home mother to raise her children. Her thoughts never wandered from maternal concerns for the welfare and wellbeing of her children and grandchildren to the time of her passing. “When’s Missy coming?” “Where’s Taylor?” “What are the grandchildren doing?” she would inquire almost daily. Melissa’s personality was joyful. She welcomed life’s unfolding adventures and tribulations with positivity, optimistic cheerfulness, inquisitiveness, and steadfast determination, always with a natural, unpretentious friendliness to all. While not an extrovert, she enjoyed social and fun gatherings. Family birthdays and Christmas celebrations were extravagant occasions. Outside her family, Melissa became close friends with many with whom she associated, numerous of whom confided in her for her frankness and commonsense approach. Humanity, humour, generosity, and life enjoyment founded her many personal relationships with her diverse friends and those she met. Urban-born, raised and educated, with childhood summers at Muskoka’s Lake Rosseau, Melissa’s life changed culturally when Garfield bought a windswept 100-acre agricultural farmstead in Mulmur Township with a sole tree and a solitary 19th-century Victorian brick house standing starkly in the open fields. Without hesitation, she accepted the challenges. An active member of the Toronto Garden Club, Melissa transformed the arable fields into country estate property over the next 43 years. Extensive gardens were designed to surround the main buildings. Thousands of trees, more than 40 species, were planted, springs released, ponds dug, and dry stone walls positioned. With the main home re-reconstructed and furnished with her interior design talents, a second house was built for family. The dismantled barn foundation, first converted into a stonewalled garden, was, with the coming of grandchildren, repurposed at her direction into a pool house and inground swimming pool for their enticement and enjoyment. During her final year, Melissa welcomed, without unease, the personal and loving attention she received from her several caregivers, to whom she expressed her warm thankfulness daily. Melissa, from her wheelchair, regularly asked them, “How can I help?” Melissa Emerson was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, at a private family graveside ceremony officiated by Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. A reception to honour her and her memory will be held at the York Club, Toronto, on the afternoon of Friday, September 20, 2024. Melissa’s family has endowed the Melissa Emerson Horticulture Fund to promote horticultural community activities and research and to provide scholarships, bursaries, and awards to students enrolled in horticulture and related courses at Canadian educational institutions. In remembrance of Melissa, tax-receipted donations may be made to the Fund at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/m/102830 .