Maud Jocelyn (Joy) McLean / Great-grandmother, public-speaking teacher, radio host, choral manager, author. Born Oct. 12, 1924, in Kingston. Died Nov. 18, 2008, in Oakville, Ont., of complications from Alzheimer's disease, aged 84.
John Dunbar McLean / Great-grandfather, artist, advertising executive, avid gardener, churchman. Born Aug. 23, 1920, in Langley, B.C. Died Nov. 14, 2008, in Oakville, Ont., of a heart attack, aged 88.
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John and Maud McLean fed off each other's skills. They began running organizations together in 1946, and never stopped. One letter of condolence from a former teen in their church group said she hadn't known that a couple could fight, settle the argument and still love each other.
John's lifelong passion as an artist, combined with his knack for recording and organizing, made him an incredible observer. He and his two siblings were adopted by their aunt in Toronto after the death of their mother. He finished high school in 1938 and took a job at Kodak, his lifelong employer. At the start of the Second World War, he joined the Queen's Own Rifles, and was commissioned as captain.
Maud Hicks had a great love of music, joining the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at 18. In 1944, she married Lieutenant John M.G. Smart. He was killed when his minesweeper Esquimalt was torpedoed by the submarine U-190 in Halifax.
Married less than a year, Maud returned to Toronto, where she met and married John. They had three sons, Keith, Derek and James.
With the youngest in school, Maud taught public speaking for women. She moved on to a long career as "Joy" McLean on the daily 15-minute live CBC radio program Kindergarten of the Air, then into teaching music and history at Deer Park senior public school.
Maud wrote several books, her crowning achievement being My Dearest Wife, a biography of her grandfather Sir James Edgar. She wrote it with historian Robert Stamp, but never fully enjoyed the congratulations of readers because of her Alzheimer's.
John's art continued all his life, using palette knife and oil. Retirement intensified his church involvement and gardening, and expanded his landscape watercolour technique. A month before his death he went out west by rail, a lifelong dream, and saw his great-granddaughter in Winnipeg.
The final days of Maud's Alzheimer's proved too great for John's heart. He died in the parking lot of her nursing home, four days before her passing. They leave the memory of their biennial Show and Tell Festival, held on all floors of their house with art, songs and laughter. Maud's story of a stuffed rabbit named "Raddat," written to their grandchildren's delight and illustrated by John, is a lasting memory of creativity, their love of family and their giving nature.
Keith McLean is John and Maud's son.
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