Musician and martini lover Marjorie Taft brought music to many throughout her life | Canada Voices

Marjorie Chichester Sutton Taft: Teacher. Musician. Volunteer. Bon vivant. Born June 21, 1927, in Stamford, Conn.; died Nov. 18, 2025, in Etobicoke, Ont.; after a short illness; aged 98.

Marjorie was the life of the party, not because she loved to cook (she didn’t) but because of her bright smile, fun with puns and piano-playing talents. For decades, guests gathered around the piano and sang along to popular standards of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. She was a lifelong learner and teacher, word-game enthusiast and sun-seeker.

Marge’s mother sang to her as a baby and her Aunt Grace held her in her lap and put her toddler hands on top of hers on the piano keys. Marge often said she could sing before she could speak.

During high-school she waitressed at a sanitarium, shelved books at the local library (for 25 cents an hour) and worked at a clothing store. She played glockenspiel in the band and once, when the band went marching, she crashed into a stop sign. “That clang clang was heard for miles, I’m sure.” She was elected president of her high-school Spanish Club (and spoke the language right up to her final days, asking often for “un pedazo” of chocolate).

She loved to swim and suntan, and even won a bathing beauty contest in 1948. Her sister Bev reports that she’d stay at the beach all day, coming home just in time for supper.

Marge graduated from teacher’s college in Connecticut with a double major in music and education. She got good grades and was popular – sometimes she would have a daytime ski date in Maine and then take the train to Manhattan for dinner and a show with some other lucky fellow.

In 1955, at the ski-club fashion show (where Marge was modelling sweaters and playing piano), she met Winnipeg-born William Edgar Taft, a research chemist who quickly captured her heart. They were married in April 1956 and made their home in West Nyack, N.Y., where Marge taught grade school part-time and piano. On weekends they hosted dinner and dance parties. Their first daughter, Karen, was born in 1957.

Ten years later, Marge was pregnant with their second daughter, Beverly, when the family moved to Canada so Bill could start his own business. They settled in Etobicoke and Marge was delighted to discover the Royal Conservatory of Music in downtown Toronto, where she studied with John Coveart. She practised several hours a day; in 1973, Marge earned her Teachers ARCT and in 1977, her Performers ARCT. Eventually, up to 40 students a week went to her for piano lessons.

Her daughters did not study music but Beverly took piano lessons with her mother, which could be stressful – Marjorie had high standards and little patience. Even when Bill sang along to his favourite Broadway LPs she would correct his pitch. She could be tough, a spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child mother. But when Beverly took up singing, Marjorie was her first ever accompanist, and when she became a jazz singer, Marjorie was delighted.

Tennis, parties and church activities (choir singing, filling in on organ, committee work) also kept her busy. In 1991, she started playing piano weekly at an Etobicoke seniors residence and then got the bright idea to bring in singers, creating “Marjorie’s Chorus.” The group swelled to 25 singers, lasted over 20 years and made 30 or 40 visits to seniors homes each year.

Marjorie had a lifelong fondness for martinis, which the doctor asked her to cut out when she was diagnosed with mixed dementia in 2015. And yet, when in the hospital and told she would be on a “liquid diet,” Marjorie didn’t miss a beat: “Will any of those liquids contain olives?” she asked.

Her decline was slow and she gracefully hid her forgetfulness with a warm smile and the all-occasion, “Thank you for your help.” Always competitive and increasingly creative, she made up words in Scrabble as needed, including “pround” (proud of being round) and “quoer” (one who supports the status quo). When Recollectiv, a weekly music session for people with memory issues was started in 2018, Marge was a founding volunteer who didn’t know that she was also a participant.

Into her final days Marge was cheerful and charming, even flirting with the young man who brought the oxygen tank. If she knew the end was nigh, she didn’t let on. She smiled and held our hands, silently expressing her love and gratitude.

Beverly Taft is Marjorie Taft’s daughter.

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