Dobson, Marion Sarah (Smith)

Marion Sarah (Smith) Dobson 1907 - 1992

Marion, or Mally as she was called in Canada, was born in 1907 in Montreal. Her parents were George Carington Smith and Winifred Dawes Smith and she had one sister, Pixie, above. She grew up on Dorchester Ave. in Montreal and attended King’s Hall, Compton. Her summers were spent in Tadoussac with her many Smith and Price cousins.
In 1929, in Montreal, she married Benjamin Arthur Palin Dobson and moved to Heaton Lodge, Bolton, Lancashire in England. She would live the rest of her life in England but made frequent visits to Canada and particularly Tadoussac.
She and Ben had three sons. Bob was born in 1931, Chris in 1936, and Andrew in 1942. She had five grandchildren, Richard, Caroline, Jonathan, Nick, and Alexandra (Alex). After Ben’s death in 1962, Marion continued to live in their family home, Whitestock, in the Lake District. Their son Bob took over the family home in the late 1970s or early 1980s and Marion moved to a cottage in the Cotswolds to be near Chris and his wife Pen. In 1982, she moved into a cottage on Chris and Pen’s property and was there until her death in 1992.
Marion was smart and interested in everything, especially anything political. She was very politically astute. She rose up the ranks of the Conservative Party and eventually became Chair of the Northwest area of England. This was a huge volunteer job for which she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1960 for “Political Services.” Her interest in, and knowledge of, politics never waned. She was also a volunteer for the Bolton Nursing Association, the Royal College of Nursing, and the Bolton Hostel Committee.
To quote her daughter-in-law, Pen, “She was a wonderful, loving, caring woman.”

Pen Dobson