Marj Heldman was born in Waterloo County in the hamlet of Shantz Station on October 14, 1930. As a youngster, Marj enjoyed a variety of sports and participating and following her favourite teams became an integral part of her life. Through baseball, both hardball and softball, Marj met her husband, Lorne, and they married in 1958.

However, by that time, Marj had already discovered bowling as she joined the Intercity Ladies Major League representing Waterloo Lanes. In 1954, Marj also qualified for the Ontario team championship as, for the first time, the best bowlers in Ontario, both north and south, qualified for the provincial championships at the Sportsmen's Show.

In addition, Marj worked on Sunar Industries in Waterloo and a colleague was Hall of Famer Walter Valentan. Together they would coach and instruct the youth bowlers at Waterloo Lanes and one of their best students was another of tonight's honorees, Marney Galawray.

Meanwhile, at home, Marj and Lorne had four children, Stephen, Brian, Kevin and Kim, and, as such, weekend bowling tournaments became difficult to schedule. However, Marj took to the Open and, beginning in 1965, qualified eleven times, with ten years as a singles representative and the ladies team and one year on a mixed team. During the 1966 roll-offs at Towne Bowl, Marj bowled a perfect game on her way to qualifying for the singles and the ladies team.

At the provincial level, Marg won three Ontario championships. Her best showing was in 1978 when she won the Ontario and Canadian single titles and, at the National finals in Thunder Bay, Marg was also selected to the Canadian All Star Team. Prior to that, she won with the mixed team in 1967 and followed her singles win with a return trip to the Nationals with the Conestoga Ladies team in 1979. However, these teams were unsuccessful, losing to Manitoba and British Columbia respectively.

While Marj also won the high average title in the Intercity Major League on several occasions, she also rolled a 1657 five game score that still stands as a provincial record to this day. Overall, Marj's career spanned forty-five years, from 1949-1994 and her husband Lorne was one of her biggest fans. Sadly, Marj passed away in 2004, but along with Lorne and her four children, there are six grandchildren who can look back at a lifetime of memories of their mother and grandmother, Marj Heldman.