Margaret (Peggy) Huska/Hopkinson

July 18, 1936 - November 14, 2021

Funeral Details:

Margaret (Peggy) Huska/Hopkinson began her remarkable voyage on July 18th, 1936 in Toronto, Ontario.

Raised by her grandparents for most of her life, Peggy quickly learned how to please others at a young age and always show a great deal of love and respect for others.
Upbeat and extremely humorous as well as intelligent and caring, Peggy’s path to becoming a nurse was a given.

Starting a career at Oshawa General, Peggy soon became a well-loved nurse at Canada Packers, followed by Hill Refrigeration, Edgar and lastly At the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia.

Peggy was also truly lucky in love. Married first to Harry for 25 years, and followed by Barry for another 25 years of kindness, romance and adventure.

She was a family woman but still returned to school in her 60’s for her degree in Gerontology and accomplished this with Honours, all while still working, babysitting her grandchildren most weekends, singing and playing piano for her church and for The Eastern Star in Innisfil and always enjoying her many travels with Barry across the States, happily hitting as many garage sales as possible along the way.

Her laughter and genuine love for life will be held in the hearts of her son, Harris (Penny) and their sons Neil and Danny forever as well as her closest nephews, Jimmy and Stephen, 4 cherished brothers, Frank, John, Jimmy, and Fred, other children, in-laws, grandchildren, great grandchildren, many other nieces and nephews and her countless and ever grateful friends.

The world just became a little less bright and exciting without Peggy in it but her spark and love will remain lit in all of us, and that makes her existence, truly a blessing.

CONDOLENCES

16 Condolences
  • Sue Feichter
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    A beautiful tribute to a well loved mom, grandma, aunt, mother in law.
    Sincerest heartfelt condolences to Harris and family from Austria.

    • Randall James Harris
      Posted on: Monday, November 22, 2021 Reply

      Peggy is like a mother to me I spent many summers at the farm in Barrie and always felt loved by the whole family you will be missed

  • Morag McMullan Weare
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    What a beautiful tribute to a truly lovely woman. I have many happy memories of Peggy and her kindness to me. She always welcomed both Lee and I with open arms whenever we landed on the doorstep to hang out with Harris. She was gracious and kind and she will be missed. Our deepest condolences to Harris, Penny, Neil and Danny. Rest easy Peggy. Morag & Lee

  • Sandy Friary
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    Harris, Penny, Neil & Danny,

    Though words, however gentle, cannot take your loss away, may you know that our deepest sympathy might help comfort you over the coming
    days and weeks. Peg was a lovely person and she loved all of you deeply. Thinking of all of you, The Friary Family ❤

  • Drew & Al
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    May the cherished memories of your mother / grandmother comfort you all during this difficult time. Deepest sympathies and hugs Drew & Al

  • Stephen Harris
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    Beautifully written, no truer words have been said. Aunt Peggy was truly a remarkable woman. Loving, caring, intelligent, funny, straightforward selfless woman. I will miss your stories and our conversations. Along with our family dinners, shopping trips and just simply spending time with one another. She will always have my utmost respect, admiration and love. Harris, Penny, Neil and Danny, our deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to you all. Rest easy Aunt Peg.❤️🌹🙏

    Love Josie & Stephen Harris

  • Ed Gibson
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    Peggy was a great lady. She was a great listener, and always wanted the best for those around her.
    I’ll never forget driving to church with the Huska’s and Peggy telling Harris and I she better be able to hear us singing the hymns.
    My condolences to the family an all that loved this beautiful lady.

  • Deborah & John Bamforc
    Posted on: Thursday, November 18, 2021 Reply

    Our deepest sympathy on the loss of your mum. Hold onto the wonderful memories of your mum and hold them dear to your heart. Hoping those memories will bring you some comfort for she will be forever in your heart. 💜

  • Daryll Skraba
    Posted on: Saturday, November 20, 2021 Reply

    I can still hear her laughter and music when I think of her.

  • Judith Harris
    Posted on: Sunday, November 21, 2021 Reply

    A beautiful tribute for a remarkable and beautiful women. My sincere condolences to everyone who knew and loved her.

  • James Harris
    Posted on: Sunday, November 21, 2021 Reply

    I have been putting this off…because I feel I cannot capsulise 55 years in an online post regarding my Aunt Peg. She was my fathers sister, my mothers best friend since 1963, and my Godmother. I honestly cannot recall a recallable memory, pre 18, that her face and soul does not occupy. She made me laugh, I made her laugh…forever…even as a child. Each Christmas I hear her highly trained singing voice, accompanied by Uncle Harry, singing “O Holy Night”…my Mother onside as the soprano. The noise…that beautiful, wonderful, warm and heartfelt noise….enabled my sleep. To this day, I need noise to fall asleep….over 45 years later. I cannot express what a loss her death is to me. To make it worse, I could not see her. Our last visit was near Christmas 2019….with my cousins Harris, Penny, Gary and Randy. If only I could have known it was the farewell visit. Peg and I are both quite deaf…at a point during the pandemic it was proposed that I visit her through a fence at a 6-12 feet distance. Well….that would have been absolutely memorably difficult. I almost wish now that I had taken that opportunity….if only for the final memory to be hilarious.

    Peg was a guide to me…always. She guided me through life, Mom’s death, Dad’s death, children, family, everything. She laughed the hardest, was the loudest, and stood out large. Such admirable and fearless qualities. Ones I have adopted. She played with life, knew her stuff, laughed about what she didn’t know, and was probably the most curious human being I’ve ever known. Never satisfied with what she knew….she demanded new, odd, weird, offside, relevent and all things. Not afraid to forage out of her generational norm. I was always smitten in admiration of her desire to know. Between her, my parents, my uncles, aunts and cousins…I grew up free. Todays standards would scream dysfunction…but it was all functional and wanted. I truly cannot envision how she could have been more helpful in her astute realism than she was.

    If I screwed up…she knew. If I did well…she knew. Inquiring, reading between the lines with Kreskin like vision. I always awaited the judgement call. Believe me how seriously I took it. Immediate action required. Yet I knew, her love for me would not change regardless of my addressing or ignoring. I simply wanted her to be proud of me. She always was…regardless. The few times I bucked her, she attributed it to character. How wonderful.

    We argued often, laughed more.

    Trivia fact….she was the only child of 5 born in a hospital. Why? July 18, 1936 was the hottest day in Canadian history until recently. In fact, the hottest summer in Canadian history. My Father was the eldest (born in 1928) of all 5 children. He recalled the summer of 36 as being the summer he got spanked the most. Imagine…being pregnant in the depression, with four boys under age 8, during the hottest summer on record to date, no air conditioning, in a semi detached home, in East York, while your husband is out of town working 6 days a week….ya….you’d get spanked pretty regularly. Younger folk might not understand. Dad always said that his Mother chose the hospital, as opposed to the kitchen table and a lowly paid midwife, just so she could be in a place that wasn’t sitting at 93 degrees daily. That she was rather pissed they released her the day after.

    I will forever speak of her, forever recall her with adoration, forever miss her, and forever lack her input in my life. I loved her so very much.

  • Ashley Jaeger
    Posted on: Tuesday, November 23, 2021 Reply

    I unfortunately did not have had the privilege of knowing Peggy on a personal level during her life, but thankfully through the many family stories and intimate glimpses into her life that have been passed on to me from various members of my family, I can say that she was a wonderful, warm hearted, and loving woman who will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her. I know that her memories and name will be spoken of fondly and frequently with love and affection.

  • Myrna Clark
    Posted on: Sunday, November 28, 2021 Reply

    I am just seeing this about our first Barrie neighbour. Peggy sent over some dinner to Walter and delivered by Marianne and the boys I believe. We have fond memories of all the family. Sae passage to all. Warmly,
    Myrna Clark Gunn

  • Gary j Harris
    Posted on: Monday, November 29, 2021 Reply

    I remember my Aunt Peg to be a great cook her house was filled with music, her at the piano and all of us singing. Aunt Peg was like a mother to me great hugs and kisses,you will be fondly remembered 💖

  • Melissa Harris
    Posted on: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Reply

    After reading everyone’s kind words I truly wish I had of known Aunt Peggy more. My sister Ashley so beautifully wrote and I couldn’t agree more, we are grateful to be able to be told so many stories from her wonderful life.

    I love to sing. One of my favorite songs to belt out especially during the holidays is Ave Maria. Last Christmas, I sang for my family. At one point I looked over at Jimmy and I could see the emotion in his face. He told me that Auntie Peg had the voice of an angel and that I reminded him of her. Hearing things like this allows her to truly live on in our hearts forever.

    May she rest in peace

  • Crystal Huska
    Posted on: Tuesday, December 28, 2021 Reply

    I will miss you more than words can express!
    It breaks my heart that we couldn’t see you for so long, even after I found out where you were moved to! I remember going to your high Rise on collier st, and talking to your neighbours and discovering you had moved.
    Wesley (great grandson) and I were reminiscing about the times we met you at that cute cafe in Elmvale…. Pieces of olde. Grandma loved that place! They made a muffin there called “the kitchen sink”, grandma used to rave about how it had everything and anything in it! We used to meet there for lunch at least once every 2 months when Wesley was 3. Grandma enjoyed seeing her great grandson and catching up with me. We talked and laughed and it was always so much fun ! I have 30 years of wonderful memories of my grandma! She will be so very missed by anyone who knew her. Her witty sense of humour, and she always had great advice!
    “Time heals all wounds.” She used to tell me. Well, gramma, only time will tell if I will ever get over not being able to say goodbye.
    I love you so much! Til we meet again xoxo
    Love from keico, Wesley and your latest grand daughter, Elaina!

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