Community activist.
Born at Clandeboye on 17 February 1902 to Mary Inkster Sutherland (1863-1934) and William Watt Graham Leask (1858-1929), she married Clarence McDonald (1900-1991) on 20 September 1922 with whom she went on to have six children.
She and her husband spent the first few years of their marriage in Mervin, Saskatchewan then moved back to Clandeboye to pursue farming. There she devoted her time to community organizations and her church. She served on the Board of Clandeboye United Church for several years, convened the Church’s annual fowl dinners, was chairperson for the local Red Cross, participated in Community Club fundraising activities, and held a variety of positions in the Order of the Eastern Star. She was also the Church’s organist for 78 years. During the Depression of the 1930s, she helped spread Christmas cheer to the children of the Clandeboye community, and during the Second World War she made quilts to send to those who were fighting overseas. She and her husband lived in Clandeboye until retiring in 1982 and moving to Lions Manor in Selkirk.
Her contributions to a variety of organizations, and most specifically to Red Cross efforts during the Second World War, resulted in her receiving the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award, presented to her in 1996 by Governor General Romeo LeBlanc.
She died at Winnipeg on 20 February 2005 and was buried in the Clandeboye United Church Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 23 February 2005.
Obituary [Clarence McDonald], Selkirk Journal, 13 August 1991.
“Julia Catherine McDonald,” Synchronizer Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 12 April 2022
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