GWENDOLYN BERTHA (WHITE) MCDONALD
MCDONALD, GWENDOLYN BERTHA (WHITE) - June 10, 2008 - Loving mother, adoring wife, doting grandmother, caring mother-in-law, Gwen joined Cyril on Tuesday after a courageous struggle with Alzheimer's. Born and raised in Campbellton, NB, she was in her 94th year, the youngest child in a family of six boys and four girls. Her father, John White, was a chemist (pharmacist) from Penryn UK; her mother, Emma Jane White (Thompson) was a teacher from England and was of Scottish origin. In the 1930's she worked in Toronto for the Canadian Tire Company and Dominion Bridge Company, returning to her beloved New Brunswick where she worked for the CNR, Sharp Construction Company and eventually retired from the Soldier's Memorial Hospital in the late 70s. She married Cyril McDonald (a Saint John resident and veteran of the RCAF) on July 26, 1948. Gwen believed in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay; her career spanned almost five decades, including ten years at home raising Mary and John in the early 1950's. Gwen and most of her birth family were survivors of WWI, the Great Depression and WWII; they were a gentle, strong family with Victorian values. Gwen was an especially appreciative person who seldom complained about the tough times, preferring to focus on the good times and the little things that make life special. With her lifelong circle of friends and family she enjoyed several summertime trips to the UK and Vimy, France as well as a number of "snowbird" adventures in Florida. Widely regarded as a "very good friend", she was a past Regent of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, a member of the Restigouche Genealogical Society, the Knox Presbyterian Church and was a keen participant in local bridge clubs. Since the mid-90s she lived in Toronto to be near her children, grandchildren and daughter-in-law. Gwen is remembered by Mary, John, Eleanor, Charles, Sylvia, Kath and her many nieces and nephews from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Fare-thee-well thou first and fairest, Fare-thee-well thou best and dearest. Visitation will begin at noon on Monday June 16th at Maher's Funeral Home, 33 Lansdowne West, Campbellton, followed by a service at 2 p.m. at the funeral home and burial at the Campbellton Rural Cemetery.


