January 2026
Joan Marion
For this month, WRAC features musician Joan Marion, who also serves as treasurer for the arts council. She grew up in the Whitemouth area where her parents owned and operated a dairy and beef farm. After she left the farm, she lived in Winnipeg with her first husband and raised three children. For the past 18 years, she has resided in Grand Marais area at her current home, with her current husband.
When Marion was seven years old, group lessons during lunch hour at school ignited her passion for piano. Although her family didn’t own one, she went to her neighbors’ house after school each day to practice. The next year, once her parents realized she was serious about learning this instrument, they bought a piano.
When Marion was a teenager, she’d hear a popular song on the radio and ask her piano teacher if she could pick up the sheet music. Then she’d learn the song. Fortunately, Marion’s teacher lived in Winnipeg and had access to scores from all the latest hits. When her teacher travelled to Whitemouth on weekends to teach private lessons, she delivered the requested sheet music to Marion.
She said, “I’ve always wanted to play piano and needed music in my life. When I first learned to read music, it felt like I had learned magic and was given the key to a very special world. If I had the music, I could learn to play it.”
And she did not get bored. Despite starting at such a young age, she continued until she was 18, achieving Grade 8 Royal Conservatory level. After taking a few years off while looking after her young family, she started lessons again in her early 30’s. While still living in Winnipeg, she found a great teacher who helped her achieve an even higher Royal Conservatory level.
She said, “My teacher, Mrs. Virginia Heinrichs, was amazing and pushed, encouraged and guided me. I’ve always had excessive performance anxiety but with her help managed to get my grade 10 piano.”
Despite the performance jitters, while Marion lived in Whitemouth, her piano teacher, Gail Pischke, music director for their church, encouraged her to provide musical accompaniment for religious events.
She said, “Although I’ve played for Sunday School and occasionally in church, I’ve only every played at one wedding, for my best friend Kim. Like I said, huge performance anxiety!
Several times, Mrs. Heinrichs encouraged Marion to enter Winnipeg Music Festival, as solo performer and secondo of a duet. This teacher also reserved spots for her to play in The Bay downtown. It had a grand piano, and many of Mrs. Heinrichs’ students performed Christmas carols on Saturday afternoons in December.
During these years, Marion began teaching private lessons in her home, and kept doing this job until 2007. This is when she took over the family business, known as “Margie’s Greenhouse,” in Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet.
Running the greenhouse soon became an all-encompassing job, and she played very little. At her business, she didn’t have an instrument and, during the busy growing season, she didn’t have time to play. Two years ago, she retired and realized how much she missed playing.
She said, “So I moved my acoustic Baldwin piano from my house in Winnipeg to my present home near Grand Marais. I’ve always had a digital piano at our place but there is something different about the acoustic. She is a dear friend that I missed very much.”
