June 17, 2009
The media coverage following Mic’s death provided some glimpses into her career, her character and her many accomplishments but did not do justice in describing the wife, daughter an sister we loved and the life she packed into the years she was able to spend with us. Here is the rest of the story of the person we knew so well and the loss we mourn every day.
Mic and her older sister Mel grew up in Grafton Ontario with a childhood typical of smaller communities. She was in Brownies and Guides, went to camp through church and started to develop her leadership skills working as a camp counselor. She excelled in school and was consistently on the honour roll. An avid reader from an early age, she typically had a book in every room of the house and would read them all concurrently. Always athletic, she was involved in figure skating for many years, played rugby and baseball as well as spearheading a concerted drive to form her high school’s first girl’s wrestling team. An avid swimmer, she qualified as a lifeguard and was consistently in the family pool. She even combined her two passions for reading and fitness by figuring out how to read a book while swimming laps.
Even as a child, Mic was a very social person who balanced a few very strong friendships while maintaining a wide circle of friends across the community and, eventually, around the globe. Certainly in her home town, Mic knew everybody and everybody knew Mic. She always enjoyed children; she worked in a daycare and taught Sunday School during her high school years. As she grew, she took an interest in world events and the plight of others leading to her sense of service and a desire to assist those in need. Her interests led to her being accepted under a Rotary International programme where she spent one year in Brazil on a high school youth exchange. In addition to returning speaking Portuguese fluently, this experience highlighted her interest to find a career where she could make a difference in the world which ultimately led to her joining the military. Based on the impact she made while in Brazil, and with the Rotarians who sponsored her, Mic was subsequently selected to represent those who had done exchanges by giving an address to over 2500 Rotarians in California. Years later, Mic maintained her connection to Rotary through friends who were still in involved in youth exchange and other initiatives such as polio eradication, and planned to join Rotary once she returned to Kingston.
Mic thrived at RMC with its emphasis on broad, balanced development in academics, athletics, leadership and languages. She thoroughly enjoyed the intellectual challenges of her programme and many of her professors have told us of their memories of an enthusiastic student who was always seeking to expand her knowledge beyond what the course covered. Like most university students, Mic had her strengths and her weaknesses. She excelled in the Arts. She loved ideas more that formulas, mathematics was not her strong suit and she struggled with first year calculus. While this likely led to her subsequent difficulties with the advanced phase of Artillery training, Mic passed calculus with her trademark perseverance and the help of some classmates leading to her constant desire to assist her colleagues when she could help out and her willingness to reach out to others when she needed assistance.
