Obituary for Donald Mc Laren
Don McLaren passed away unexpectedly and with family by his side.
The piano is silent. Don was more than a piano player; he understood the instrument. They were at one with each other. Before iPods, before Karaoke, before CDs, cassettes, or LPs, Don was the music at parties. He would play the piano for hours while his friends sang and danced. Name a tune; he played it. Didn’t know the name of the song? Hum it; he played it.
At 16, Don believed air cadets should have an official march like the air force, so he composed one. The air force bandmaster wrote an arrangement for official ceremonies, and the Winnipeg Tribune documented the first performance.
Don instilled a love for music in his family. Each Christmas around the piano was magical. His grandchildren know the words to the latest hits, plus “The White Cliffs of Dover”, “The Old Lamplighter”, and many others in the family songbooks.
When people were starting to buy second TVs for their homes, our family bought a second piano – one upstairs, one downstairs. Don taught dozens of students who were keen to learn to play the piano or whose parents thought they should be. In later years, with his son Grant on the guitar and his friend Art Lawrence on the banjo, Don carried a keyboard to seniors’ residences and played old-time tunes.
Few 89-year-olds play football or baseball, but music is for life. Don continued to play piano until just recently.
Don attended Lord Selkirk School for his entire education, except for a final year at United College. Days after turning 19 in 1947, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a life-altering experience. He spent 14 months in hospital.
Don married Susan Thomas on October 7, 1950. Three months later, the TB returned, and he spent another 10 months in hospital. Then another six months in 1953. “He was on his way to Never-Never Land,” a doctor told Susan callously at the darkest hour. In 1954, with Susan pregnant, Don went back to hospital for one final year. He came home to a wife and son, and more children soon followed. As did good health until recently when age caught up with his lungs.
In his younger years, Don worked at Eaton’s meat department, the Roxy Theatre, and Canadian Co-operative Implements.
In 1955, he landed a dream job in the record/music library at CBC. For 30 years, he was surrounded by music and crossed paths with budding musicians destined to become international stars. He managed the library’s transition from index cards to microfiche. In one of his final acts before retiring, he wrote the record library’s first purchase order for CDs instead of vinyl records. When your job is your hobby, it’s never work.
Life got busy in retirement. For the first few years, Don worked part-time researching land titles for a law firm. He loved the work and especially all the walking.
Mostly, though, he spent time with his family. In 1986, he and Susan treated the entire family to a fabulous vacation at Walt Disney World. And with grandchildren came hundreds of outings for school concerts; little league games in freezing cold, sweltering heat, and pouring rain; gymnastics tournaments; school and university graduations; vacations; and, of course, celebrations with family and friends.
At those celebrations, Don often regaled us with delightful poems he had written for the occasion. His “Grandpa Don” children’s stories remain favourites of his adult grandchildren. His performances of “Albert and the Lion”, complete with wardrobe, were captivating. He was a master of one-liners and puns for every occasion, cracking his last joke in hospital a few hours before passing.
Don was elected to the Assiniboia school board in the mid ’60s. He was asked frequently to emcee events, and he taught public speaking to those who were nervous or just wanted to polish their delivery. He showed true leadership by setting aside his driver’s licence when he felt the time had come to stop driving.
Don had mastered cribbage while in hospital, and Susan would chide him for not letting his grandchildren win. But they knew when he was playing to lose, and they didn’t like it. To the end, he remained a force at the crib board.
For Don and Susan’s sixtieth anniversary, the family purchased a commemorative bench in Kildonan Park, the site of countless days spent with grandchildren skating on the pond. Don was thrilled he “didn’t have to die to get a park bench!”
Susan’s interest in genealogy prompted Don to search for lost family in Scotland. This created wonderful new relationships with cousins, and the families have been visiting each other in Scotland and Canada.
Above all else, Don cherished his family and frequently expressed his feelings of love for us and pride in each of our accomplishments. He loved his 89 years of life in a way that only someone on his way to Never-Never Land at 25 could.
Missing Don and loving the memories are his children Greg (Gloria), Glen (Anne), Grant (Debbie), and Gail Richter; grandchildren Jeff (Jenn), Christina Slipec (John), Andrew (fiancé Julie Blaich), Connie Bazin (Christian), Tom (fiancé Amanda Varis), Candace, Kevin, Brendan, and Ashley; great-grandson Brayden; loving cousins, and many good friends.
Don worshipped his wife of 66 years, and when Susan passed away in February, his was a loneliness known only to those who have given themselves fully to another. Also predeceasing Don were his parents James and Anna (Frankcom), his sisters Edith Mossop (Jack) and Elsie Carmichael (Bill), his brothers Gordon and John (Rose), and his beloved parents-in-law, George and Irene (Peter) Thomas who loved and cared for him as a son.
Don’s family thanks the paramedics and the staff of Victoria General Hospital for their concern and compassion during the hours Don was in their care. We also thank the residents and staff of Lindenwood Manor; you are an inspiring group of people!
Don enjoyed radio and music of yesteryear. If you would like to make a donation in memory of Don, please consider CJNU Radio (Nostalgia Broadcasting Cooperative Inc.), 1350A – One Lombard Place, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 0X3; cjnu.ca/donate/.
Our family will gather privately at a later date. Choose when and how you will celebrate Don’s life: Play a song on your favourite instrument. Sing. Tell a joke. Laugh. Write a story. Show loved ones they are special.
“Living in Memory”
Funeral Arrangements in Care of:
Wheeler Funeral Home,
Cemetery & Crematorium
1800 Day Street – 204-224-1525
Please sign the book of memories at
www.wheelerfuneral.com

Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Donald Robert
Mc Laren – 2017.source

avis deces Donald Robert
Mc Laren – 2017- avis mortuaire Donald Robert
Mc Laren – 2017