Martha Lucienne Caskey (née Symonds)

Martha Lucienne Caskey (nee Symonds) was born in Ottawa in 1946 and died in Ottawa on 10 June 2025. She grew up in Ottawa, one of Lucienne Symonds (nee Danis) and Norris Symonds’ two daughters. She worked for many years at Nortel Networks as did her husband, Michael. They married in 1970 and shared a deep love for the outdoors. Both travelled around the world looking at birds – trips to the Amazon, Australia, Costa Rica, Kenya and many other “exotic” locations. Martha travelled a good deal for her job as well – to such places as India – all evidence of her adventurous spirit. And her many capabilities. (She had a Master’s degree in Mathematics.)

Both Martha and Michael loved cats. Over the years they provided a home for many and thought that they had gotten the best of the relationship. They moved to the country, built a house in the midst of a large woodland, and spent their time observing nature and feeding thousands of birds, especially over the winter. They put in a large fishpond and filled it with Koi. Overwintering the fish in the frigid Ottawa winter temperatures was a test of Michael’s engineering skills.

Martha herself over many years arose in the pre-dawn hours to join a group of dedicated bird-banders. Lifetime friendships were forged here. She was a licenced bird bander, a lifetime member of the Innis Point Bird Observatory and founded her own Dunrobin Bird Observatory. She was immensely proud of her contributions to this field of amateur science which has in turn contributed greatly to our knowledge of birds in her part of Canada.

Martha is survived by her sister, Lynn Symonds (Paul Dawm) and her three sisters-in-law, Elizabeth Caskey, Rosemary Caskey, and Patricia Caskey (Warren Slade) as well as her nephew Matthew Kent (Liz Kent) and niece Heather Kent. All the family have wonderful memories of time spent together during holidays, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners together. Martha and Mike thought visits to Vancouver in December would mean that they would get away from the snow until it didn’t. Both Martha and Micheal had a very close community connection with their neighbours in Dunrobin which included more than 30 years of New Year’s celebrations and helping and supporting each other.

Martha spent her last hours with many good friends in her new apartment in Ottawa and will be missed by all her family and friends. Donations in memory of Martha can be made to the Humane Society or any cat rescue organization of your choice.