Dr. Leala Jean (Sharpe) Erb M.D.

Jean was born in Deseronto, Ontario, second daughter of Andy Sharpe and Madge Potter.  She died in Wiarton, Ontario at Gateway Haven Long Term Care Home.  She was predeceased by an infant brother, Roy, her older sister, Isabel Sharpe Spinks ( June 2017), her husband of forty years, John Troxel Erb ( April 1989), and her third child, David Andrew Sharpe Erb ( June 1992).

Jean will be lovingly remembered and mourned by her three living children and their spouses,  her seven  grandchildren and their spouses  and her fifteen  great grandchildren:   Elizabeth Erb Sherk(John Sherk),  Ruth Erb Merrill(Chuck Merrill),  Peter Erb ( Pam Hearn).  The grandchildren are Peter Sherk ( Amanda Barclay) in Victoria, B.C.; Jennifer Sherk( Bryan Takasaki) in Natick, MA; Ted Sherk in Toronto;  Jesse Merrill (Kelly McCoullough) in Guelph; Willow Merrill ( Mike Todd) in Annan, Ontario; Andy Erb (Beth Chipman) in Vancouver, B.C. and Zak Erb ( Kate Allan) in Owen Sound.  The great grandchildren are:  Nicholas and Rowan Barclay; Rachel, Sarah, Hannah and John Takasaki; Maddie-Faye Cain Merrill, and Lily Eliza and Joseph Merrill;  Simon and Sophia Cox and Ava Todd;  Ezra Erb; and Isaac and Freya Erb.

Jean graduated from the University of Toronto School of Medicine in 1945.  She used her medical training to serve in four locations:  # 1 United Missionary Memorial Hospital in Tungan Magajiya in Niger State, Nigeria 1948-1964; #2. The Toronto Department of Public Health, 1964 to 1986; The United Nations World Health Organization in Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria,  1986 to 1989; and # 4 in Wiarton as a G.P Psychotherapist until her retirement  at age 75 in 1999. In retirement she continued to serve her neighbours, delivering Meals on Wheels and being a great Friend of the Library.

She was a Girl Guide throughout her life, Brown Owl then Grey Owl  at Church of the Messiah, Toronto. She enjoyed playing the piano and passed on her love of music to her family.

Jean lived cheerfully, with great dignity and  accomplishment and trust in God her whole life.  She held her head up high in the face of two great sorrows in her life:  the divorce from her husband, and the death of her first son.   Especially in these last three years when dementia was ravaging her brain and body she was loved for her patience and good humour.  Her family are very grateful to the staff of Gateway Haven for the good care she received as a resident these past three years.

A Service of Interment will be held at the Toronto Necropolis Cemetery Chapel on Mothers’ Day Sunday, May 12 at 2 pm.   200 Winchester Street, Toronto, M4X 1B7. Friends are invited to join the family following the interment at 5:00pm at the home of John & Elizabeth Sherk, 108 Confederation Drive, Scarborough, ON M1G 1A5.

A “Come and Go” Celebration of Life for Friends and Family of Jean Erb will be held in the afternoon on Sunday, June 30, 2019 from 2-4pm. with a pot luck beginning at 5:00pm at the home of Ruth and Chuck Merrill, 502818 Grey Road 1, Georgian Bluffs.

Donations in Jean's memory can be made to Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada World Partners, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Wiarton, the Alzheimer's Society, or Gateway Haven, Wiarton.

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