Esther (Miller) MacGregor - "Marian Keith" (1874 - 1961) Inducted 1980

Oro Township was fortunate to have John Miller, a fine, intelligent, educated Presbyterian to teach in its schools, a man who instilled in his children the joy of learning, good literature and devotion to church.

Mary Esther, one of his four daughters, was born at Rugby in 1874. She earned her teacher's certificate at the old Normal School in Toronto, then taught the Junior Fourth Class in Central School in Orillia. Her love of writing led her to leave teaching, and she devoted herself to writing and Sunday school work. Her first short stories were published in the Westminster Magazine, which was sponsored by the Presbyterian Church.

Her marriage to the Rev. Donald C. MacGregor, minister of the Orillia Presbyterian Church, took place in 1909. The couple served in various churches in Ontario. Esther Miller began writing using her own name but discovered another authoress by that name, so she took the name of one of her nieces and wrote under the name Marian Keith.

Marian Keith loved her home, her church and family but she was determined to write, although it was difficult to find time in her busy life.

Her writings were popular because she wrote of the life around her, of typical Ontario rural communities, and her readers could identify with the fictional characters. Duncan Polite and In Orchard Glen were set in the Rugby and Edgar districts of Oro. The Silver Maple (1906) shows how the clannish rivalries of English, Scottish and Irish immigrants broke down as their children learned to mix with each other at school.

Although she loved children and could hold them spellbound with her story telling, she wrote only one children's book, Glad Days in Galilee.

Marian Keith well deserves a place of honour in Orillia.