On January 5th, 1944 Donald Francis McQuay was born in Glasgow, Scotland during an air raid and came to Canada a few months later. Growing up on the family farm in Whitby, ON, he learned the value of hard work and dedication. He went on to have a successful career as a Principal, Senior Environmental Geologist with Gartner Lee Ltd. and later AECOM Ltd., where he was highly respected and admired by his colleagues and clients.
He was the beloved husband of Jann for 53 years and the best dad to his two sons Michael (Vanessa) in Victoria, BC and Darren (Carolanne) in Saskatoon, SK. Don cherished his 12 grandchildren (Meghan, Grant, Allison, Natalie, Grace, Nathan, Katie, Robert, Adelaide, Ivy, Lily and Fern). He was the caring brother of Robert, Mary Ellen, Sean, and Nancy.
Don will be remembered for his kind heart, his unwavering commitment to his family, and his passion for his work. He had a zen approach to life, gardening, woodworking and taking care of his treasured ‘88 Chev Caprice.
On April 13, 2023 Don passed away in Victoria, BC. His presence will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
A Memorial service was held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at 3:00pm in the Sequoia Centre at McCall Gardens, 4665 Falaise Drive, Victoria, BC. Heartfelt thanks to the wonderful staff at Saanich Peninsula Hospital for their most compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, donations to the hospital in Don’s memory would be appreciated.
~ Fare Thee Well, Love ~
Condolences may be offered to the family below. To view service click on arrow below,
McCall Gardens
www.mccallgardens.com
17 Responses
Scrolling through the Internet led me to this bit of sad news. I remember Don and his cherished Chev Caprice with the ginormous cell phone battery under the rear seat back in the early 90s. He did love that car! My memories of Don are of kindness and gentleness, always calm and collected, even when teenagers were acting goofy in the basement. My thoughts are with your family and my memories of good times in Whitby. JC
To all those who were blessed with meeting or knowing Don McQuay I will reaffirm that his smile, gentle presence and abundant patience made each of us a better human being.
Hello, Jann, Mike, Darren and your wonderful families.
Sending you all giant hugs. Don was a wonderful, caring person and he will be deeply missed. I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice. Mike (Thomas) might have, of course. 😉 But I never saw Don be anything but kind, gentle and patient. I’ll remember him walking around the old neighbourhood, or chatting with Dad, or fussing over that car of his.
Jann, Mom and Dad loved spending time with you and Don. They were always talking about your Cedargrove trips, and what the dogs were up to, and who won at Aggravation.
I’m sorry we can’t be with you tomorrow. We’ll be holding all of you in our hearts and in our thoughts.
Lots of love,
Erin
Dear Jann and family, our heartfelt condolences on the passing of Don, from his former Gartner Lee colleagues Steve Usher, Glenn Reynolds, Dale Leadbeater, Tom Wlodarczyk, Mike Roy, Gord Wichert, Kimberley Tasker, Katherine Gibson, Dan Gibson, Sandy Hitchcock, Bryan Valve and Jennifer Owen. Our careers were all touched positively by Don, through his wisdom, experience and patience. He will be missed. We have collectively made a contribution to the Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Murray & I send our love & thoughts to cousin Jann & family. We will miss Don immensely, he was one of the kindest person we knew. So many childhood memories. Love cousin Helen
Dear Mike, Vanessa and family. We send you our condolences. We will pray for the repose of Don’s soul. Peter and Diane
Don was a great mentor during my early years as a young consulting engineer at Gartner Lee. I benefited from his sage advice and always tried to emulate his calm demeanour during stressful times at work. I was so sorry to hear of Don’s passing and offer my deepest sympathies to the entire McQuay family. RIP my friend.