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Brenda McDonald Obituary
Our mum, Brenda Olive McDonald, 93, of Vancouver, took her last breath in Sechelt Hospital on November 23, 2024. While we are deeply saddened by her passing and will profoundly miss her, we feel blessed to look back with love and admiration at a long life well lived.
Born in London, England, to John William and Olive Rosa (Buck) Nicholls, Brenda was predeceased by her two siblings, Marion Heptinstall and John Nicholls, her three husbands, Thomas Guy (1977), Harold McDonald (2003), and Brian Wooding (2023), and by her daughter-in-law, Susan Wiggin.
Demonstrating the fearless and adventurous spirit that would be at play throughout her life, Brenda moved to Canada on her own at the age of 21, settling in Toronto. There, she found work as a secretary at the CBC, but on a lark in the summer after her arrival in Canada, she piled into a car with a gang of newly found girlfriends — some of whom would remain life-long pals — and drove across the country to Vancouver. Invited to a party on her first night on the West Coast, she met and fell for the deep brown eyes and Irish lilt of her first husband, Tom. She married him on December 30, 1954 and together they built a beautiful home in West Vancouver, where they raised their family.
She graduated from UBC with a teaching degree in 1977, soon after her beloved Tom had suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. She quickly found a position just two blocks up the hill from her home at Hillside Secondary, where she taught English, French and Drama. Her teaching career lasted just nine years — which, she often pointed out, was one year short of pension eligibility — as she couldn’t resist the lure of her long-time passion for acting (and despite her father’s plea when she’d first left England to “avoid actors and the stage”). It was a wild professional u-turn, but she had the enthusiastic and unwavering support of her second husband, Harold. It was the start of a career which she pursued as long as she could, finally retiring at the age of 88 after 33 years in the business. She performed on stage, in film, and in training and educational videos, as well as doing voice-over work. She was also very active in community theatre with North Vancouver Community Players and United Players in Jericho.
Her first film gig of note was as a body double for Katharine Hepburn, and over the years she shared the set with many of the greats (and nearly-greats) — and had stories about them all. As Vancouver became Hollywood North she enjoyed memorable turns on many locally shot series, including X-Files, Stargate: Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, and the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She kept cherished photos on her wall from movie shoots with Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Anthony Quinn, Paul Hogan and many others. She is known by many for a single line delivered while playing the nun in Elf: “But the children love the books!”
Acting mirrored her own fearlessness and gift for invention and reinvention, and working among young people in the film business kept her mind agile and engaged. Brenda had great verve, was a gifted storyteller and conversationalist, the stylish, charming focus of any party and an inspiration to many. She delighted in learning new skills, playing games, and always sought and saw the funny side of life. She adored her grandkids, all of whom enjoyed a deep and special connection with their Gran, and she loved to play with them, learn from them, and surprise them. Above all, she loved to laugh with them. On their birthdays in their early years, each of them would receive a poem written especially for them by Gran: one of the many ways her love of words and language was passed on to all.
She was forever a crackerjack, maintaining her independence by keeping her driving licence until she was 92; and once she’d given up her car, she was still making enquiries about car share memberships! She was a lifelong learner, deciding later in life that the saxophone might be an interesting challenge, as well as enthusiastically jumping into many art classes, often together with Brian Wooding. Mum and Brian had a beautiful last decade together, a lovely epilogue to lives of shared experience: living through the war, music and entertainment from their early years, literature, churchgoing, immigration to, and raising families, in Canada. Their time together was full of laughter, singing, and wonderful good cheer.
She was accomplished, active and curious, and while she walked every day, sport for her wasn’t so much for participating as it was for enthusiastically watching and rooting for her favourite hockey team and tennis idols. She was a passionate — and forgiving — Canucks fan, with partial seasons tickets for many years, and family and friends who were lucky enough to live near her were often treated to games where she was reliably one of the loudest fans in her section. Those who shared that passion are having a hard time forgiving the team for never quite achieving the final prize during her lifetime. She loved the players with great character — Linden, Naslund and, of course, the Sedins — but even above and beyond the Canucks, one sports icon stood alone in her estimation: Roger Federer. She would abide no criticism of Roger within her earshot.
Brenda will be deeply missed by her children, Brian (Anna), Elizabeth, Michael (Jill), and Maura (Steve), grandchildren Ryan (Kathleen), Louise (Bryan), Andrew (Laura), Hannah (Mat), Liam (Sarah), Brendan (Savannah), Jackson (Jamie), Graeme (Mallory), Thomas (Waverley), Michaela (Jon) and Malcolm (Faith), and her eleven great-grandchildren. Brenda is also survived by her step-families whom she embraced as her own — Harold and Brian’s children and their families — as well as her sister-in-law, Leslie.
A celebration of life will be held in the new year at St. Catherine’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver. Cremation has taken place under the care of Devlin Funeral Home, Gibsons.
In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to Canucks Place, Doctors Without Borders, or the Sechelt Hospital Foundation.
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February 12 1931 November 23 2024 93 Years Old
Death notice for the town of: Gibsons, Province: Colombie britanique
death notice Brenda Olive Nicholls McDonald February 12 1931 November 23 2024 93 Years Old
obituaries notice Brenda Olive Nicholls McDonald February 12 1931 November 23 2024 93 Years Old
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Brenda Olive Nicholls McDonald February 12 1931 November 23 2024 93 Years Old and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
