ELSIE SYLVIA MARGARET MACLEAN

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ELSIE SYLVIA MARGARET MACLEAN

June 1, 1923 - June 11, 2024

With great sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved Elsie at the age of 101 years at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre. Elsie was predeceased by her husband George Campbell (Cam) MacLean, her parents, Emil and Agnes Christensen, and by her four sisters. She will be lovingly remembered by her son, Cam, daughter-in-law, Joy, grandchildren, Campbell and Joanna, nephew Jim Wood and family, and many others.

Born in 1923, a child of the Great Depression, Elsie did not take life’s gifts for granted. She had fond memories of growing up in the house her father built on Queenston Street which, at the time, bordered on open prairie. She enjoyed summers at Grand Beach with its white sand dunes and lively dance pavilion, and recalled being in the middle of wallpapering the cottage there with her mother at the time the war broke out in September 1939. During the war years, she worked in a secretarial capacity for the Air Force. And in 1946, she married her husband, Cam. The two of them led a very social life, attending many engagements and festivities over the years. Elsie and Cam were always the picture of elegance on the dance floor.

Elsie cherished her Danish heritage; Christmas Eve family dinners always included a convivial round of akvavit, and a special prize for whoever found an almond in their rice pudding.

While Elsie fully supported her husband in his many high-profile, community-building efforts, her disposition was more suited to the peace and quiet of their lakeside cottage than to sitting at head tables. She had a huge love of creatures great and small be they her pet cats and dogs, or the many four-footed and feathered visitors that frequented her yard by Lake Winnipeg, a love she passed on to her grandchildren. Fun-loving, Gramma was always ready for a game of cards, Crib, or Yahtzee, and to take her grandchildren for a swim.

Kindness, goodness and friendliness were in her nature. In a patch of clover, she would point out the one with four leaves for you to have. She was a source of inspiration in her own inimitable and quiet way. We will treasure our memories of her.

Donations in Elsie’s memory may be made to the G. Campbell and Elsie MacLean Endowment Fund, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre, or to a charity of your choice.

In keeping with Elsie’s wishes, a private Celebration of her Life will be held.

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 20, 2024, Jul 20, 2024