With broken hearts we announce the passing of our wonderful husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. Terrance Wayne MacDonald passed away Saturday, August 21, 2021, at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney.
Terrance W. MacDonald of Howie Centre was born in Sydney, NS. The son of late Shirley I. and the late George W. MacDonald.
He is survived by his loving wife, Tanya; brothers, George L. (Maureen) and Glenn; sister, Sharon; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Fred and Geraldine; sister-in-law, Lori; brother-in-law, Jason (Elizabeth); niece, Jenny (Jordan); nephew, Kyle (Amy); and great-nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his father, George W. MacDonald; mother, Shirley Isabel; niece, Vicki; and granddaughter, Autumn. The early departure of 5 month and 13 days old Baby Autumn was the saddest day of his life.
The birth of both his son, Marcus and his grandson, Elijah, and time spent with Elijah was a highlight in his life. His son, Marcus is named after his best friend, big Markus Schwegler from BC.
During his aviation career, he lived in Wabush, Labrador, Debert (Truro), North Bay and Toronto, Ontario, St. John’s, NFLD and Halifax, in addition to Sydney. He loved Cape Breton the most. He loved anything that could fly including little birds. He flew many airplanes, the smallest plane was an ultralight, and the biggest was the Boeing 737. After his flying career, he developed a love for writing and published two books, The Black Box –Dead Pilots Don’t Talk plus Firsts In Flight (a book about Alexander Graham Bell).
Terry loved hockey and self-taught himself to skate on a puddle in the back yard wearing his mother’s figure skates. He played some intramural hockey at Riverview High School in the late 70’s. He followed the Toronto Maple Leafs as a fan.
His favorite colour was red and he loved his red 1972 Mach One Mustang car, his Mini Austin (Mr. Bean type car) and Red RAM 1500.
ATV’s, snowmobiles, dune buggies and of course, ultralights were his favorite vehicles. Canoes and camping in campers, he found to be fun. He traveled a huge part of the world in airplanes but always wanted to do a ground tour of North America in an RV so he could see the places he flew over from the ground perspective. Covid prevented that.
His favorite southern destination was Cancun. His favorite cat was Meow, and dogs were Shadow, Keshia and Bell. He didn’t particularly like school up until grade 11, he just started to like school in grade 12. Afterwards, he graduated as an Architectural Draftsman from NSCC (Former AVTC) and graduated as Airline Transport Pilot from the Moncton Flight College. Geography, math and writing were his favorite subjects.
Although he did not attend church on a regular basis, his belief in God was instilled by the greatest theoretical physicists of all time, Albert Einstein. Einstein described himself as “not an atheist,” He wrote in 1945, God does not play dice with the universe. There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Visitation will take place at Sydney Memorial Chapel on Friday, August 27 from 4-7 p.m. A memorial service will be held in the chapel on Saturday, August 28 at 2 p.m., with Rev. Albert Maroun officiating. Interment will take place in Resurrection Cemetery.
Words of comfort can be sent to the family at www.sydneymemorialchapel.ca or e-mail sydneymemorialchapel@ns.sympatico.ca
2021
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Terrance Terry MacDonald 2021..
Décès pour la Ville: Sydney, Province: Nova Scotia