I recently visited Elphinstone resident Marion Toffan – both of us wearing masks – and enjoyed her delightful art-filled home. Born in Winnipeg, Marion was leader of an all-girl band called the Suffragettes when she was young. She played guitar and hung out at the old Modern Drum Shop – a fixture in those days, where the likes of Neil Young and Randy Bachman and a wide range of jazz musicians hung out. Marion says, “Coffee was always on and owners Reg Kelln, a jazz drummer who got down to Nashville, and Ed Sersen, one of Canada’s finest drummers, provided a homey atmosphere. Gordon Toffan lived across the street from me in the same pink duplex as jazz vocalist Fran Marie Berryman (Sparks). He became my roadie for both the Champagnes and the Suffragettes. His Aunt Annie Toffan was a well-known Ukrainian wedding folk violinist.”
At art college Marion flouted the art “rules” but completed her degree. After marrying Gordon, they moved to Calgary, where he got a job at Parks Canada. Marion was taken on as an assistant curator at the then Alberta College of Art, now the Alberta University of the Arts. Eventually they had to leave Calgary due to Marion’s lung condition, the solution being to move to a warmer climate, which landed them in Elphinstone in 1990. They bought a house that had been moved here from the Expo 86 lands. Sadly, Gordon died in 2002, but Marion remains staunchly independent and walks everywhere.
Marion has kept up with her artistic and musical interests. The house is a veritable art gallery, with every wall a testament to her creativity. She developed a unique “automatic” drawing technique whereby she quickly sketches the feeling and dynamics of an event, for example a concert, filling in the colours later. Each piece captures a story complete with symbolism, much of which she only discovers in working up the sketch. She began this fascinating technique while teaching drawing at adult night school, starting with quickly sketching the gestures of actors at Calgary’s Theatresports – an improvisational theatre troupe, the first one in Canada, begun by Keith Johnstone and now known around the world.
Her amazing musical instrument collection includes a Baldwin electronic harpsichord developed in the 1960s, the type used in recordings by the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and the Beatles. She treated me to a mini concert, playing both the harpsichord and her Yamaha piano simultaneously. After their move to Gibsons, Gordon took over the Adult Education publications position for several years and Marion played piano concerts for people at Kiwanis Village along with flautist Beth Gleason.
Marion is a font of knowledge about plants and filled my brain with botanical information about the plantings on her property, including the medicinal properties of the English hawthorn. She emphasizes the need to understand the importance of trees’ roots and stresses the need for plant diversity. Friends of Marion’s have told me that she will go to great lengths to help them with health concerns. She has been known to get on the bus to personally deliver photocopied pages from her botanic “bibles,” as well as herbs and plant leaves, to friends and even strangers alike. In the words of one friend, “She is very generous and kind. I’ll bet there’s 100 people from Gibsons to Sechelt that she’s helped.” Hats off to a talented and generous Elphinstone neighbour!
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