Obituary: Marion Jean Woodman

Marion Woodman (nee Boa) was born in August 1928 in London, Ontario, Canada and died on the 9^th of July 2018, a few weeks short of her 90^th birthday.

Marion, a preacher's daughter, became totally devoted to her two younger brothers, Bruce and Fraser, after her mother fell ill with tuberculosis when Marion was only four years old. In fact Marion often talked of putting little Fraser into a baby carriage and wheeling him around everywhere she went. It was often said that the Boas were a force of nature unto themselves. When Bruce (1930-2004) was just two years old, he was found at the local street corner directing traffic. Later Bruce went to London (England) and became an actor known for such films as The Cherry Picker, and Superman as well as the television shows, The Avengers and Fawlty Towers. Fraser (1932-1992) also tried his hand at acting in London (England), but decided to return to his hometown of London, Canada where he taught English and Theater in high school alongside his older sister, Marion.

I will never forget the moment many years ago when I discovered a copy of Fraser's thesis from the Jung Institute on Marion's bookshelf in her Toronto apartment. Inside the front cover Fraser had inscribed it to his sister: ‘To my dear sister Marion, who tried the best she could for her brothers’. I would say that Marion's relationship with her two younger brothers was vitally important to her. When Fraser, and then later Bruce, became fatally ill, she sat by their bedside, not leaving them for a moment until they had passed away.

The Boas were strong and independent people. One of the most amazing stories I am able to relate about Marion is that when she was about three years old, she went missing from the family home. They were living at the time in Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada, in a home given to them by the parish where her father, Andrew Boa, served as the minister of the parish. Hours went by and little Marion was missing and nowhere to be found. In the meantime