Melissa Rosella Marion's Obituary
Melissa Rosella Marion, 35, passed away on Saturday, February 20, 2021. She was born on August 1, 1985 in Perth, Ontario, Canada the daughter of Gaetan Marion and Cynthia Pratt.
Melissa is survived by her husband Sean Funk; half sisters Annick Marion and Natalie Marion; stepbrother Andrew Pratt; stepfather John Pratt and stepmother Ann Moore; grandparents Rosa and Ronald Marion. She is also survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and her in-laws. Besides her human family she is also survived by her three cats Lucy, Sookie and Breakfast.
Melissa was so passionate about traveling and exploring her numerous creative pursuits. She surrounded herself with beautiful things that reflected her soul—collecting art, decor, journals, books and records. Milly was an award-winning photographer and adventured all over the world, eager to capture each lived experience.
She first traveled to Iceland in 2010 which became her favorite place to visit. Among the most memorable of her other adventures too numerous to recount here, she spent time in Capotille, Haiti in 2018 to photograph and help with the opening of Bibliyotèk Franketienne, a children’s library.
As an avid bibliophile, she read hundreds of books each year and kept track of each one, attending author events and book signings as often as she could, in support of other writers and the love of reading. Melissa spent her most recent years developing her passion-project: she was busy writing at least three novels.
Writing was perhaps the first-loved of her collected things and her true love came to her via that channel when she met her husband Sean in 2008. It was a true tale of mutual weirdness when they connected via her blog. So many of us were equally drawn to her unique way of capturing and holding close the flashing past moments of life, both with her words and her photos. She was always one to encourage others to follow their true passions, travel more, be grateful and happy and find beautiful things every day while still acknowledging the darkness that deepens and sharpens the light.
“When I was in my early teens my Dad had a farm where I would spend most of the summer. I remember feeling so restless and desperate for something interesting to happen. I spent soo many nights sitting on this huge rock and watching the sky waiting for something to happen to me because I thought I could never make it happen myself. All those summers were filled with such a deep longing for my life to start. I still feel all that restlessness, desperation, and longing. I’m still waiting on something I can’t name. Tonight as I sat on our stoop I felt alive and I thought maybe all of those feelings are just what it is to be human. Maybe everyone is restless and desperate and full of longing.”
—Melissa Marion, written April 29, 2019
Any donations can be made directly to the gofundme page at https://gofund.me/a8defae3
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