The following passings notice was submitted to YFile by the Office of Admissions.
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Darlene Morrison, an admissions assessor in the Office of Admissions, Division of Students, and a long-serving (25+ years) member of the York community. Darlene had been on sick leave since May and passed away, surrounded by her family, at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto, on Tuesday, June 25.
Darlene started at York on January 26, 1987, and spent the balance of her career in the Office of Admissions. Her primary responsibilities centred around admitting applicants to all of our undergraduate programs, as well as to graduate 
programs such as communication & culture and music. She was an expert in assessing applicants from Canadian and American colleges, universities and high schools, and over her many years of service she developed an ability to work with “her” applicants not only warmly and personally, but also effectively and efficiently.
Darlene Morrison
Darlene was committed to turning around applications quickly to get decisions into the hands of applicants as fast as she could. She never hesitated to get right to the heart of an admissions issue – be it with admission requirements, documentation or helping to make applicants feel like they’d made the right choice – and would contact applicants directly to discuss their challenges and goals and to outline next steps.
She was also crucially important to the Office of Admissions as a volunteer, helping whenever she was needed, whether it was to make applicant visits during the day or in the evening, to meet with applicants face-to-face at York or on their own college campuses, to go to recruitment/applicant fairs, Fall Campus Day and Spring Open House, or to do on-the-spot admission and advising at fast-track events. Ms. Morrison never hesitated to go the extra mile for applicants and her colleagues could count on her to work quickly and accurately, to know what needed to be done and to communicate that to York applicants in a meaningful and truly helpful way.
Darlene will never be forgotten by those who knew her. Her sense of humour and love of life were present in everything she did. Feisty and spirited, she enjoyed any excuse to have fun – especially Halloween celebrations (as captured in the slideshow prepared by her co-workers) – and could always be relied upon to ask the “hard questions” during meetings. Her quick-witted comments and laughter, which permeated the workplace, will be missed by her York “family”.
Darlene leaves her son Aaron Marchildon, daughter Nicole Marchildon and granddaughter Jamaya, brother Carl (Sharon) Morrison and nephews J.R. and Alex, and aunt Ruth and uncle Ted Lehman.
Visitation will be held at Rod Abrams Funeral Home, 1666 Tottenham Road in Tottenham, Ont., on Saturday, July 6, from 11am to 12:45pm. A memorial service will be held for Darlene in the Chapel at the Rod Abrams Funeral Home at 1pm, directly following the viewing. Flags at the Keele campus will be lowered at 10am on Friday, July 5, in tribute to Darlene.
The family requests that contributions in memory of Darlene be made to the Canadian Cancer Society Tottenham Branch, 4 Checkley St., Suite 103, Barrie, Ont., L4N 1W1.