Woman’s gift a windfall for local history
Longtime volunteer Marie Henry leaves $93,000 in her will for tiny Willoughby museum
The little Willoughby Historical Museum got a big gift recently.
It might even be called historic – a donation of $93,645.84, left to the museum by Marie Henry, a longtime member and advocate for local history.
“Within my 20 years in museums, I’ve never received a bequeathment of this stature and this size,” said Clark Bernat, culture and museums manager for the City of Niagara Falls.
“And certainly unsolicited … this took us quite by surprise, and we see it as a wonderful legacy component to Marie Henry’s energies and what she put into ensuring that Willoughby history is not forgotten.”
Marie Henry, 73, died in July 2016. Her obituary described her as “a proud and active member of the Niagara Antique Power Association and the Willoughby Historical Society and (she) also quilted with both.”
She was predeceased by her husband, Dale, and her obituary listed no surviving children. Bernat, who knew Henry since his arrival at the city museums, said she had a longtime dedication to preserving the city’s rural history.
“It’s bittersweet, right?” he said. “Certainly Marie was a staple around the Willoughby museum. She was on our museum committee …. Yes, it’s wonderful her legacy can go on, but it
also provides the memory of the work she did as well.”
The Willoughby museum is one of the two smaller sites operated by the city, along with the battlefield museum on Ferry Street. For travellers along the Niagara Parkway, it is instantly recognizable – a 102-year-old former schoolhouse, with a large farm wagon with two oversized wheels parked on the front lawn.
Artifacts inside mostly showcase the rural history of the Willoughby area, with some dating back to the War of 1812 and others from the early and mid-20th century.
In her will, Henry specified the money was to be used strictly for improvement and maintenance of the Willoughby museum. Bernat said the money will be placed in a reserve fund for now.
“We want to take our time and make sure we do the right thing as to what Marie’s wishes were for the funds,” he said. “She certainly had ideas that the museum would live on and take a greater role in our understanding of our community.”
Emma Chambers, who was curator at the Willoughby museum for 16 years until 2005, said she wasn’t surprised Henry would leave a gift for the museum, though the size of the donation caught everyone off guard.
“She was a volunteer, for sure,” said Chambers, who knew Henry for more than 30 years. “She served on the museum committee when we operated the museum (before the city assumed oversight), she was on the operating committee.
“She volunteered for every event we had and was very, very good with people … . She was a very involved, interested person.”
The museum, open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer, was started by the Willoughby Historical Society in the post-celebration glow of Canada’s 1967 centennial.
Expansion is always a possibility, but not as simple as it sounds since the building is actually owned by the Niagara Parks Commission.
“When you open seasonally, sometimes it gives the perception that they’re not open at all. But Willoughby gets great traffic,” Bernat said.
“It’s along the parkway, a lot of people when they go for a bike ride, they stop and pay us a visit … and it does harken back to the idea of a different lifestyle, and the rest of Niagara Falls’ story.”