In Memory of
Murdock
MacLean
MacLean
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Obituary for Murdock MacLean
MacLean, Murdock, Truro 90. The family of Murdock MacLean sadly announce his death on June 17, 2018 in Truro. Mourning his passing are his loving wife of 70 years, Jessie; daughter, Jesslyn Aulenback (David), Dartmouth; sons, Rod (Debby), Winnipeg and Stephen, Truro; grandchildren, Anne Smith (Jonathon), Saint John, Wendell Aulenback (Lynn), Timberlea, Heather DeJaegher (Travis), Winnipeg, Andrew MacLean (Dawn), Gimli, Manitoba, Sarah MacLean, Salt Springs N.S.; brother, Robert of Marble Mountain Cape Breton; sister, Sara Mattinson (Glenn) of Peterborough Ontario. A visitation starting with a Masonic Service will be held on Friday, June 22nd from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, June 23rd from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, both in Colchester Community Funeral Home, 512 Willow St,. Truro. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Montreal by visiting www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org. Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.ColchesterCommunity.com
Murdock Roderick MacLean was born on September 3, 1927. He grew up and attended school in Valley Mills, Cape Breton. He and Mom married in Little Narrows on June 2, 1948.
He started working for CN rail as an operator on September 7, 1945 in Orangedale, Inverness Co. under the tutelage of Buddy McMaster. Throughout his career he held many different job titles, he was an operator in Avondale, Port Hood, French Village station in Upper Tantallon, a Freight Agent in Bridgewater and the Manager of CN Express in Truro and Stellarton. He retired on September 30, 1982 moving to Truro at this time.
He had many good qualities. Some of his defining attributes were his love of family and friends, his outgoing nature, his frugality, his willingness to help those less fortunate, his devotion to the Masons and Shriners, his love of harness horse racing, and his incredible memory and recall.
His 68 year involvement in the Masonic Lodge and Shriners resulted from the early realization that following that path made him want to be a better person.
He worked with horses while growing up on the farm and it developed into a passion for horse racing that evolved from spectator to owner to trainer and driver. After retiring from CN, he began training race horses full time until his second retirement at age 65. The connection with the horses remained and he would always attend the races in Truro as a spectator. There were four or five friends that would sit in the same row, Ronnie Hoare being one of them. The conversations solved the world’s ongoing problems but they slowed down over the years with the increased need and use of hearing aids by each one of them.
After retiring from the horse racing business, he bought his first computer. He used it to track and improve investments, watch horse racing, and record the family history on some freeware called Brother’s Keeper. He was an exceptionally good source of information regarding investing and the stock market. We would share a telephone call every Saturday morning at 8:00 am Manitoba time and he always shared his excellent research about what was looking good and maybe not so good. It certainly improved our portfolio.
The family tree project took quite a few years ending with 675 families and 2297 individual names in the data base. He put in countless hours of research covering things like census records from 100 years ago, meeting face to face with descendants of the settlers of the old neighbourhood of Valley Mills, River Denys, Marble Mountain, Militia Point and reviewing books such as “The History of Inverness County.” Included with the multigenerational data on births, deaths, marriages, and children, were stories of the lives of the people and how they lived. He committed a large portion of the information to memory and never ceased to amaze us with responses to questions about specific people and families like Rory MacLean - number 1 born in 1795 or Rory MacLean -number two born in 1828.
He enjoyed playing checkers on the computer against online opponents. He told us that he had to lie about his age because some of them would quit if they found out he was in his eighties. He was hard to beat.
In addition to covering horse racing statistics on the computer, he subscribed to a couple of horse racing channels on television. Lots of time was spent after supper watching the likes of Shadow Play, Some Beach Somewhere and Wakizashi Hanover “pacing up a storm”.
His frugal nature was a practice learned early growing up in humble circumstances. It took him a while to discard something that had long passed its expiry date. Questions about the need to keep something that long were most often responded to with the quote from his Mother that whatever the item it probably had “one more turn in it”. That covered clothes, shoes, pens, watches, and vice grips. He ended up with quite a collection.
He lived a healthy lifestyle and thanks to Mom, they ate a healthy diet with homemade everything which contributed to his longevity. He loved to walk for exercise and travelled his route most afternoons around 2:00 o’clock. He would walk up Purdy Drive to the top of the hill continue up to the top of Upham Drive, then down Industrial Avenue to Glenwood Drive and back up Purdy Avenue. I used to go with him when I was home and he set a good pace. The last stretch up Purdy Avenue was good for his wind he would say. “Try it sometime and you’ll see”. Also try it while you are talking the whole way because that’s the way he did it. An example of his outgoing and social nature was how he would explain to me who lived in almost every house, where they were from, how many children they had and what they did for a living. Everybody knew him and they all waved when he walked by.
Our Dad was a good man. He lived long and enjoyed excellent health until the last year or so. We will miss him. This poem titled “Life” by Frank Milne was found in his personal documents:
If you have shared another’s load
Or eased another’s pain
If you have soothed a troubled soul
Your life has not been in vain.
If you have cheered another’s heart
Or made a sad face smile
If you have calmed another’s fear
Your life has been worthwhile.
If you have said a tender word
Or dried another’s tears
If you have spread your share of love
Then you have been needed here.
If you lent a helping hand
Through times of care and strife
If you have done a little good
You have made the most of life.
Murdock Roderick MacLean was born on September 3, 1927. He grew up and attended school in Valley Mills, Cape Breton. He and Mom married in Little Narrows on June 2, 1948.
He started working for CN rail as an operator on September 7, 1945 in Orangedale, Inverness Co. under the tutelage of Buddy McMaster. Throughout his career he held many different job titles, he was an operator in Avondale, Port Hood, French Village station in Upper Tantallon, a Freight Agent in Bridgewater and the Manager of CN Express in Truro and Stellarton. He retired on September 30, 1982 moving to Truro at this time.
He had many good qualities. Some of his defining attributes were his love of family and friends, his outgoing nature, his frugality, his willingness to help those less fortunate, his devotion to the Masons and Shriners, his love of harness horse racing, and his incredible memory and recall.
His 68 year involvement in the Masonic Lodge and Shriners resulted from the early realization that following that path made him want to be a better person.
He worked with horses while growing up on the farm and it developed into a passion for horse racing that evolved from spectator to owner to trainer and driver. After retiring from CN, he began training race horses full time until his second retirement at age 65. The connection with the horses remained and he would always attend the races in Truro as a spectator. There were four or five friends that would sit in the same row, Ronnie Hoare being one of them. The conversations solved the world’s ongoing problems but they slowed down over the years with the increased need and use of hearing aids by each one of them.
After retiring from the horse racing business, he bought his first computer. He used it to track and improve investments, watch horse racing, and record the family history on some freeware called Brother’s Keeper. He was an exceptionally good source of information regarding investing and the stock market. We would share a telephone call every Saturday morning at 8:00 am Manitoba time and he always shared his excellent research about what was looking good and maybe not so good. It certainly improved our portfolio.
The family tree project took quite a few years ending with 675 families and 2297 individual names in the data base. He put in countless hours of research covering things like census records from 100 years ago, meeting face to face with descendants of the settlers of the old neighbourhood of Valley Mills, River Denys, Marble Mountain, Militia Point and reviewing books such as “The History of Inverness County.” Included with the multigenerational data on births, deaths, marriages, and children, were stories of the lives of the people and how they lived. He committed a large portion of the information to memory and never ceased to amaze us with responses to questions about specific people and families like Rory MacLean - number 1 born in 1795 or Rory MacLean -number two born in 1828.
He enjoyed playing checkers on the computer against online opponents. He told us that he had to lie about his age because some of them would quit if they found out he was in his eighties. He was hard to beat.
In addition to covering horse racing statistics on the computer, he subscribed to a couple of horse racing channels on television. Lots of time was spent after supper watching the likes of Shadow Play, Some Beach Somewhere and Wakizashi Hanover “pacing up a storm”.
His frugal nature was a practice learned early growing up in humble circumstances. It took him a while to discard something that had long passed its expiry date. Questions about the need to keep something that long were most often responded to with the quote from his Mother that whatever the item it probably had “one more turn in it”. That covered clothes, shoes, pens, watches, and vice grips. He ended up with quite a collection.
He lived a healthy lifestyle and thanks to Mom, they ate a healthy diet with homemade everything which contributed to his longevity. He loved to walk for exercise and travelled his route most afternoons around 2:00 o’clock. He would walk up Purdy Drive to the top of the hill continue up to the top of Upham Drive, then down Industrial Avenue to Glenwood Drive and back up Purdy Avenue. I used to go with him when I was home and he set a good pace. The last stretch up Purdy Avenue was good for his wind he would say. “Try it sometime and you’ll see”. Also try it while you are talking the whole way because that’s the way he did it. An example of his outgoing and social nature was how he would explain to me who lived in almost every house, where they were from, how many children they had and what they did for a living. Everybody knew him and they all waved when he walked by.
Our Dad was a good man. He lived long and enjoyed excellent health until the last year or so. We will miss him. This poem titled “Life” by Frank Milne was found in his personal documents:
If you have shared another’s load
Or eased another’s pain
If you have soothed a troubled soul
Your life has not been in vain.
If you have cheered another’s heart
Or made a sad face smile
If you have calmed another’s fear
Your life has been worthwhile.
If you have said a tender word
Or dried another’s tears
If you have spread your share of love
Then you have been needed here.
If you lent a helping hand
Through times of care and strife
If you have done a little good
You have made the most of life.
Affiliations
Masonic Lodge
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